The handbook's main components were primers split by accessibility, AI, ethics, and more. These primers included long execerpts of references, teaching, visual graphs, case studies, and divided into a folder system.

Hierarchy was the key to resolve staring at blocks of consistent text. We created a productive system of organization that allowed for titles to be easily spotable.

The primers were very well researched and written by the SRCH team, thus there were many references to case studies, external links, and internal links. To have this variation meant there needed to be a visual reflection of these interactions. We achieved this through icons and the icorporation of sidebars to display additional information that the text references.

One of the biggest confusions with early iterations of the website was the navigation of the primers. We eventually resolved this by placing a search bar to find specific topics within the primers as well as a quick introduction to navigating through the pages.

The original website jumped right into the primers and the dense blocks of texts without considering the user's prior knowledge to this website. It was imperative that we fix this challenge for users to understand what SRCH could be used for.

The original website had multiple distinct and complex icons that represented how the links would appear when clicked on which unfortunately backfired and created an ambiguity of navigation.

Previously, the text had very few differentiations in size between title and body text. There would also be heading of small sizes with bold and underlines with black text which could be confusing as underlined text is typically associated with links as well as the size reducing the prominence of the text.

The landing page provides a clear call to action and proper background on the website's primers. Additionally, the landing page introduces the top navigation bar which gives the user an agency to explore the primers or to learn more about SRCH itself.

These features allow for a more accessible experience as it provides visual variation that the user has the agency to toggle between and topic titles bolded to easily identify changes between topics and subtopics.

Previously, models were taken from external sources or created unrelated to the SRCH. So I was tasked with matching the models to our visual identity, not only to visually appeal more to the user, but also to easily digest the information and provide visual breaks between the text.

Another challenge that we came across is creating a responsive design such splitscreen visual of how the website would adapt. Due to the information dense nature of the website, it was important to maintain the information accessibly, while also being aware of the reduced navigation available during splitscreen.

The search bar placements creates confusion of the distinction between the search bar located in the navigation and the search bar appearing on the home page. Thus, the navigation bar would adjust to the appropriate search bar and the primer pages would only reveal one search bar to avoid confusion.

Through this project, I became fascinated with the hidden challenges behind making a design "simple/accessible." Many designers I know find accessibility to result in something that is "boring", however, I find it exciting to bring creativity into the world of accessibility.

This project gave me access to conduct user interviews with students who used assistive technologies and get firsthand feedback from users who will actually interact with the website in the future. It was interesting to see how different assistive technologies provided new challenges and how my decisions were directly impacting the user.