Accessibility¶
A really key part of making figures is making sure that they are accessible. This means that everyone can access and interact with your figures, and extends to all the ways you share your work. It’s all well and good making a beautiful diagram, but if some of your audience can’t understand it then you’re both missing out!
Things to consider include:
Colour choice - you can use a site like accessible colours or colour contrast checker to check that your colours are suitable for people with colour blindness.
Font size - make sure all text is large enough to be clear (even from a distance if you’re presenting a poster).
Language - If you’re presenting a poster to a mixed audience, they may not all understand the jargon you use everyday.
Microphones - if you’re presenting work at a conference, always ask to use the microphone. Even if you think your voice is loud enough to be heard throughout the room, there may be people present who need the microphone to be used to be able to hear you.
Figure legends - make sure your figure has a comprehensive legend or alt text. If someone is not able to see a plot, for example, this means they can still benefit from the insight you gained from making it.
Video captions - if you’re creating video content, make sure you include captions. If you’re using automated captioning software, make sure to check them - this is particularly important for any unusual scientific terms that the software may struggle with.
There are R packages available which make graphs more accessible to visually impaired users:
sonify - for data sonification.
BrailleR - generates alt text for basic graphs.
tactileR - for creating tactile graphs.