At the Information Access Group, we regularly get questions about which images to use for accessible communications. Here’s our advice.
If you’re working with adults, photos are the way to go
Our testing with adults with intellectual disability has taught us that this particular target group prefers photos in Easy Read documents, rather than icons and illustrations. In general, people respond very well to authentic images that they can relate to.
Sometimes, we advocate for a mix of the two media – photos where available, and icons and illustrations to enhance the meaning of those photos, or to explain other complex concepts where photos are not available.
We absolutely love PhotoSymbols – the amazing set of Easy Read images developed in the UK. We give an enormous shout out to Pete Le Grys and Karl Seymour from PhotoSymbols – they lead the way in this area.
To make sure that our products also reflect the diverse Australian community, in 2015, we decided to take our own photos to supplement the PhotoSymbols that we use.
These photos include a broader representation of the diverse Australian community than we have been able to offer in the past. They include a person from an Aboriginal background, people with disability, an older person, a younger person and a range of other culturally and linguistically diverse models. The use of these images is exclusive to clients of the Information Access Group.
We also use a range of stock photos, depending on the publication, or we may draw on our client’s image library. We don’t use Boardmaker or ComPics in our work because we don’t think they suit the needs of the audiences we work with.
There are licensing arrangements with the images that we use, and we manage this very carefully. We respect the teams who produce the images we use, so we can’t share them freely. Please do chat to us if you are interested in using any of the images we use and we’ll point you in the right direction.
What about children?
As many of you know, we have recently developed an image set that suits the communication needs of children and young people. Called ShowMe Images, this set is designed to engage younger audiences with colourful and respectful images. They are very high quality and can be resized and used in a range of flexible formats.
Our first set, called Education Essentials, is available now and our new set, called Life and Social Skills, is not far away from launch. If you’re interested in staying up to date with the launch of that product, head on over to ShowMe Images and sign up for updates.
Our intention in developing ShowMe Images was to create a set of images that reflects the Australian community and Australian settings. We’ve purposefully included people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and have included Australian activities and locations.
What do you think?
If you’ve got ideas about the kind of images you’d like to see more of, please drop us a line.
We’d love to know what your needs are and how we can help you produce the best Easy Read publications possible. Developing products to meet the needs of your audiences is our specialty, and we appreciate any new opportunities to learn.
