Designing Dizzy: Digital Displays & Neurological Disorders

Originally Published on LinkedIn: Article Source

Welcome to Part 2 of Designing Dizzy!

I encourage you to read Part 1 if you are "new here", to understand my background and why am addressing accessibility and design.

Have you ever experienced a VR rollercoaster? Perhaps you have ridden the One World Trade Center elevator to the observatory? Have you visited Spyscape in NYC and rode their elevator "experience"?

TRIGGER WARNING: The next 3 videos can be problematic for anyone with vestibular or neurological differences to view.

One World Trade Video

Spyscape Video

VR Rollercoaster Video

All of these examples are digital display experiences designed to alter your sense of movement and place in space. Many people might find these experiences fun, I don't but I also have vestibular dysfunction and a neurological disorder.

If you have ever experienced a digital display being used to trick your mind and body to make you feel like you are moving, falling, going faster, flying you can understand the general sensation I am referring to. In some cases when these digital displays are paired with physical motion, a faux rollercoaster car, a moving seat, any slightly tilting platform or surface these are usually considered "rides". The slight surface movement paired with the digital displays visual output are designed to trick your brain to believe it is moving in the way you are seeing.

Let's take a step back to understand how the body and brain works for a quick moment.

Your balance system is your internal gyroscope designed to tell your brain where you are in space. It takes information from 3 sources, your eyes (visual data), your muscles (proprioceptive data) and finally your inner accelerometer or gyroscope in your inner ear (vestibular data) this information is processed by your brain to communicate your "place is space". Here is a great article that explains this in more detail (in case your are in the process of designing some VR experience and want to really make it feel real).

This is some of the behind-the-scenes magic of VR and large format digital displays, that are designed to make you feel like you are someplace else. Cool right? Well maybe.

In most cases these experiences are designed with safety in mind, you are in a controlled environment, their intention is to alter your perception of the environment and senses. Their design is intentional, your safety is considered and most of the time warning signs are clearly displayed and often waivers are signed before you engage with these experiences.

Why am I talking about rides? I wanted to set some foundational understanding of altering experiences so any reader could understand not only intellectually but also more physically or viscerally what I am about to describe.

Now... let me take you on a journey below ground. You descend several steps, you might dodge a pizza-toting rodent or step over a suspicious odorous puddle. You swipe your ticket or phone for "the ride" and continue to the platform. You are not looking for platform 9 3/4... you are simply there to decide uptown or downtown. Welcome to the NYC subway system. (Remove the pizza rat and this example can reflect most subway or tube systems globally)

I want to be very clear that I am not throwing shade at digital displays in any way. The purpose of this article to articulate the importance to content in context. I love digital displays, they offer so many things for both the advertiser and the consumer. However, I feel it's incredibly important to advocate for more guidance around creative and content in the context of higher risk locations. I want to build awareness to creators, creatives and strategists, they need to audit and evaluate the content they are placing in locations that introduce potential danger based on the environment and/or location.

A subway platform, a busy intersection or crosswalk, a display next to or near a staircase. My general rule of thumb is, if you close your eyes and walk a few steps, is this environment a place where you could become severely injured or harmed by taking those few steps?

The purpose of this article to articulate the importance to content in context.

If the answer is yes, we need to work to be more responsible about what our content and creative looks like in those environments. Is there a lot of flashing? Are elements on the screen moving quickly? Is large text scrolling by rapidly? These are all questions we need to be asking about the content that is being placed on displays in these "high risk environments".

Why? Remember the experience rides I shared above... Unfortunately a single digital display or video wall can trigger a severely disorienting response in any person with neurological differences. I am not exclusively talking about people with vestibular dysfunction, we are covering a broad range of neurological differences ranging from vestibular dysfunction, seizure disorders to autism and more. Anyone with sensory issues faces these challenges and when these are introduced in environments that also have inherent risk, it's a ride we all desperately want to get off. While it may be a few moments of fun when you are visiting a theme park, imagine navigating a world like this each time you need to go get some groceries, meet a friend for brunch, go to an appointment or going to work.

I use the subway platform example because it's an extreme one. The platform is narrow, the trains passing by are loud and the entire experience is sensory overload from visual, auditory, olfactory and proprioception.

I can't tell you how many times over the past few months I have stood on a platform, seen and ad that caused me to immediately reach desperately for one of those vertical support beams. Trust me nobody want to touch a pole on a subway platform or train, but when you have to choose between hugging that pole or tumbling onto the tracks... the pole is your best option.

Several times I have seen ads run and have been tempted to reach out to the creative director at the company, begging them to hear to my concerns. But I don't, I haven't, I didn't. Instead I am writing this. Perhaps I may share the link with them as my way of asking for their consideration in the future. I don't even for a second feel these decisions are intentional or out of disregard, I truly believe there is just a lack of knowledge, understanding and awareness that this situation effects nearly 1 on 6 people in the world. Not all people with neurological conditions are impacted by the stimuli I am mentioning, but a majority are. We have a responsibility as we introduce more and more technology and digital displays into our environments to ensure that these screens are not introducing an accessibility issue and in many cases a safety issues to a large population.

I am not a physician, I am a designer and innovation expert. I am huge supporter of emerging technology and digital transformation. I am also a person that has been disabled by a neurological condition. I am also guilty, guilty of creating content in the past that was not considerate of a large demographic of people. It took my personal experience with this for me to recognize a huge problem in the industry.

While I certainly hope most people reading this never experience what I have, I do hope that the next time you are creating something, an ad, a video, a store design, a lobby you ask yourself these simple questions:

• Where is this content going to be displayed?

• What is the environment?

• Is anything about this content potentially triggering?

• If I closed my eyes and walked, could I get really hurt here?

If the answer is yes or maybe consider changing your content or design.

If you are really unsure, just ask. Please feel free to reach out to me and I will help you or connect you with resources that can support you.

-- Dana: designing dizzy

(This article was written with the help of speech to text tools - because I'm dizzy - please excuse typos or grammatical errors)