We have very bad eyesight, but we still depend primarily on what we see when traveling.
There are a lot of us around, and our numbers are increasing rapidly: "Here come the Baby Boomers, and they're squinting!"
Our limitation is not usually obvious. Most of us do not carry white canes or use guide dogs. Our vision impairment is not a "visual" impairment.
The quality and quantity of illumination is very important to us. Usually we like evenly distributed, moderately bright light with low glare.
Most of us depend on high visual contrast; i.e., light on dark or dark on light, for maximum visibility of objects and signage.
Many of us have lost all or most of our color perception, so "color" contrast by itself may not create "visual" contrast. A yellow nose on a concrete step may not be noticeable. Red electronic characters displayed on a black background may be hard to see.
We don't read braille, but we can use raised characters by feeling them, like a number on a hotel room in a dimly lit corridor. But don't ever expect one of us, or any blind person for that matter, to read an entire multiple word message on a sign by feeling raised characters (even though the A.D.A. Accessibility Guidelines require that kind of sign).
Most of the design choices that aid our navigation are cost-neutral; i.e., it does not cost any more to design a building feature that is easier to see.
High visual contrast need not compromise aesthetics. It can be achieved by a navy blue column in a powder blue concourse, or by a chocolate brown border at the edges of a beige hallway, or a burgundy door jamb on a white wall.
A reflective finish can be very helpful on an object and very mischievous on a walking surface. Polished metal handrails signal the proximity of a stairway, and an escalator's shiny metal can do the same. But a polished lobby floor tends to camouflage the presence of an object to be avoided on that walking surface (a "Slippery When Wet" sign, for example).
July 2002
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