Blind and partially sighted people access information in a range of ways.
Just under half of visually impaired people, around 43%, report that they read standard print, either with or without the aid of a magnifier.
What patrons say …
“I always miss the described shows because I never know they’re on until it’s too late.”
Printed material
Existing theatregoers are the target group most likely to give you a good return on your investment of energy, time and money. We need to persuade them to tell their visually impaired friends and family all about audio description. We also want to get our message across to people who used to attend but don’t any more because their own sight loss means the quality of the theatre experience they have has deteriorated.
The best place to get your message across is in the season brochure. We know that people don’t usually read the booking information pages in season brochures (otherwise they wouldn’t ask box office staff the questions they do). So we need to put information that explains the benefits of audio described performances in the main pages of the brochure. It’s a good idea to make sure that information on this page is accessible.
What you can do …
• 14pt Arial in black (as in the RNIB’s guidelines).
• Avoid italics and large sections of CAPITALISED TEXT– use bold for emphasis.
• Simple, high contrasting colours like black on white or yellow.
• Avoid red on white or two bright colours like yellow and red together.
• Avoid pale colours and tints.
• Don’t put images behind text.
• Avoid gloss finishes.
