101 The Accessible User Experience

8:15 AM - 9:30 AM Wednesday, May 17

Let’s be honest: As soon as you see the word “accessible,” your eyes tend to glaze over, right? Because honestly, how interesting can accessibility be? When you think about design, you want sleek and sexy, shiny and stylish. Sometimes, the idea of accessibility can be like a bucket of water on a campfire—not the kind of sizzle you normally want for your website.

In this session, you’ll learn about folding everyday accessibility into the user experiences you create. You’ll explore how to create something that everyone can access, no matter what they are using to access your content. You’ll turn design on its head, examining the human aspect of your work. You’ll examine the guilty habits you can easily fall back on, exploring opportunities to move your work forward. This session will move the accessibility discussion into real life. Join in to talk about content and design for all.

Robin Smail

User Experience Designer

Penn State University

Robin Smail, a user experience designer at Penn State University, focuses on the connections between design and accessible learning in higher education. Robin helps to imagine and build things that make the Penn State community more open and connected. Recent work includes Penn State's Digital Badging Platform, an open education resource bank that offers students resources based on individual learning preferences, and the administrative usability of an intelligent collaboration research application. Robin holds a BS in information sciences and technology from Penn State, and is an award-winning speaker and passionate user advocate.

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