An eye-opening identity

muZieum

The challenge

MuZIEum is all about sight. The Dutch word ‘zie’, meaning ‘see’, is at their core. But how do you design an identity that is about seeing but also about not seeing? That appeals to those who see it, but also to those who have difficulties seeing it?

The result

When talking about lack of vision, we often think about the things we can’t do. We designed an identity that is focused on the possibilities instead of the impairments. One that is accessible and inclusive. And an identity that gives a positive feel, empowers and educates at the same time.

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A special experience

Muzieum isn’t your average museum experience. Run by people who are visually impaired themselves, you truly get to experience first hand what it’s like to have a visual impairment. And on top of that you get an insight into the lives of the people who work there, showing you how they found their way around- and with their not-so-normal eyesight.

Opens your eyes

We’re used to speaking in terms of impairments. The things that we can’t do when something is not working as usual. The concept for Muzieum is all about turning that around. Hence the tagline ‘Opent je de ogen’, Dutch for ‘Opens your eyes’. Focussing on possibilities, not on restrictions.

Hyper legible, hyper accessible

Being accessible is important in all of our work. But for this project it was a no-brainer to take it a few steps further. Choosing a legible font and making sure our contrasts and code were in order just wasn’t enough. Instead, we made accessibility an integral part of our design. Leading to a unique colour palette and functionality.

Real world inspiration

During our research for this project we came across a variety of tools helping those who are visually impaired. Those tools led directly to functionality like our colour switch and our colour palette.

The most legible font

Atkinson Hyperlegible is named after the founder of the Braille Institute. It has been developed specifically to increase legibility for readers with low vision, and to improve comprehension. Crafted by Applied Design Works to increase character recognition and the readability of written content.

Differentiated letterforms

Similar letter pairs are differentiated from each other to dramatically increase legibility

Recognizable Footprints
Character boundaries clearly defined, ensuring understanding across the visual-ability spectrum

A visual language based on visual impairments

A visual impairment is not as simple as seeing, or not-seeing. There are a wide variety of visual impairments and each of them have different characteristics. They all bring their own challenges with them and there’s not one golden rule of presenting information that will work for all of them.

Taking the characteristics of these impairments, we’ve created a visual language that is visually attractive, educational ánd let’s visitors online and -offline experience what it’s like to not have standard vision.

Distorted with a purpose

Muzieum is all about experiencing a visual impairment yourself. So, only making a visual language depicting those visual conditions wouldn’t do justice to that experience. Typography with a specific distortion depicts how someone with a visual condition would experience seeing that text.