Mind's Eye

Audio description is considered to be an integral part of many arts organisation's strategies to help improve accessibility. Training and expertise are essential when delivering such a service. Mind's Eye is a long-standing and leading audio description (AD) provider that delivers audio description services for theatre, ballet, opera, film, galleries, museums, and online arts across the UK.

Mind's Eye ensures audiences are kept entertained by an effective method of narration that provides a visual description and supporting information for visually impaired consumers.

The Mind's Eye's legacy website, despite being of high quality previously, required an update to bring it inline with modern design patterns and on-going user expectations.

Anne Hornsby, founder of Mind' Eye and a leading expert in her field commissioned Aly Sébastien to develop a digital platform that would not only showcase the brand but deliver the right information to the key audience in a meaningful and sincere way.

For someone who is blind or partially sighted, using the internet comes with a set of challenges. How can these types of users derive the same level of satisfaction when using the website?

Points to consider to make the website accessible to all

Strong contrast & distraction free design

Clear information architecture

Hand-written code for screen readers

The UX research phase is an essential step when aiming to deliver a digital product that meets the needs of the business strategy and the user.

We should aim to build empathy with the users, by a series of exercises and studies, so we can identify what matters to them. We can do this by conducting user surveys, gathering analytical data, and creating how might we questions.

Another highly effective method of diagnosis is the 'interview'. Interviews can be conducted with nominated user groups or held with individual experts in their fields. By conducting an in-depth expert interview with Mind's Eye, Aly Sébastien was able to gain a greater understanding of the challenges faced by visually impaired users as well as a deep grasp of the objectives and goals of the business.

Essential aspects such as the logo, colour palette, presentation of imagery, typography, layout and navigation were all handled with care.

The brand, which has become synonymous with quality and expertise, had to resonate with the users and create a point of differentiation in the minds of the audience. This step formed the underpinning of a user-centric mobile-first design that guarantees intuitiveness, a fluid user journeys, and a product that engages and fulfils the needs of the user.