Design Health Materials for People With Low Vision

If you design text-based health materials, it’s important to make them accessible to people with disabilities—including those who have low vision. This means responding to their communication needs and preferences.

Why should I make health materials accessible to people with low vision?

When you design materials for people with low vision, you allow these users to understand and use the materials. Using this design approach helps make your materials effective. It may also be required by law. 

Design print materials for people with low vision

You can use design to make print materials—such as forms and brochures—accessible to people with low vision. Here’s how.

Use strong contrast

Use strong contrast between text and background. For instance, use black text on a white background.

Use a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters

A mixture of upper- and lower-case letters is easier to read than all uppercase or all lowercase letters.

Use matte paper

Matte paper is easier to read than glossy paper.

Produce large-print materials

Think about producing large-print materials. These materials follow a host of guidelines that make them easier to read. Some people with low vision use large-print materials.

The following tips are based on the 2022 American Council of the Blind guidelines for large print.

Body copy

• Make body copy Arial 18 points.
• Make body copy flush left and ragged right.
• Use an extra return between each paragraph.
• Use line spacing of 1.15. 
• Use underlining (not bold) for emphasis.
  
  

Heading and subheadings

• Make headings and subheadings bold. 
• Make headings and subheadings flush left and ragged right. 
• Make headings Arial 22 points and subheadings Arial 20 points. 
• Use an extra return between each heading or subheading and body copy.
  
  

Margins

• Make all margins (top, bottom, left, and right) 1 inch.
  
  

Lists

• For all lists, use a hanging indent.
• For bulleted lists, use large, solid, dark bullets.
• For numbered lists, make sure the numbers are the same size.
• Use numbered lists only where appropriate.
  
  

Columns

• Link two related columns of information (as in a table of contents) with leader dots.
• Use only one column per page.
  
  

Notes and citations

• Place notes and citations at the end of documents.
  
  

Produce braille materials

Think about producing braille materials. Braille is a writing system that uses characters made of raised dots. Some people with low vision use braille.

Design electronic materials for people with low vision

You can also use design to make electronic materials—such as websites and apps—accessible to people with low vision. Here’s how.

Make websites easy to navigate

People with low vision may have trouble using a mouse or touch screen. So make sure they can get around using just a keyboard.

Use clear headings

Use clear headings for webpages and sections. This helps users tell what’s on each page and in each section.

Make electronic content work with screen readers

Make sure your electronic content works with screen readers. These software programs turn electronic text into speech or braille. Many people with low vision use screen readers.

Present content in a logical order, with key content near the top of the page. And use alt (alternative) text to describe electronic images. People who have trouble seeing can read alt text with a screen reader.

Use strong contrast

As in print materials, use strong contrast between text and background. For instance, use black text on a white background.

Make health materials accessible to people with low vision

Using these design tips will allow people with low vision to understand and use the materials.