Design study, Waterfront
Shoreline Access for All
A self-initiated design study: Announce new beach access mats and loaner beach wheelchairs, and get people to reserve a chair.
These are self-initiated studies, not client work. Each is a fictional campaign; none was commissioned by, produced for, or approved by any agency or organization.
The brief
- Line of business
- Waterfront
- Audience
- Wheelchair users, older adults, and families with strollers who have found the shore hard to reach.
- Objective
- Announce new beach access mats and loaner beach wheelchairs, and get people to reserve a chair.
- When and where
- Daily, May to September, Shoreline Park beach
Concept A: The Water's Edge 12
Centers the simple joy of reaching the water, something many people have gone years without. Type style.
Concept B: How to Borrow 12
Explains exactly how to reserve a beach wheelchair and where the mats run, so nobody has to guess. Scene style.
Concept C: Sand Meets Match 12
Pokes fun at the real obstacle, soft sand, with a playful line aimed at the beach and never at people. Grid style.
Spanish adaptation of The Water's Edge 12
The first direction adapted rather than translated: the headline, supporting line, and call to action rewritten in Spanish, with the layout reflowed for the longer text. Type style.
What was checked
Every one of the 48 pieces was checked as it was composed. The lowest text contrast measured anywhere in this study is 5.20 to 1, against a minimum of 4.5 to 1. Type sizes are in the units of each format: pixels for digital formats, and for print, units of the drawing at the sizes shown.
| Format | Minimum type size | Smallest set | Lowest contrast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poster, 18 by 24 inches | 11 | 13.2 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Flyer, letter | 11 | 13.5 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Social story, vertical | 13 | 13.0 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Retractable banner | 10 | 10.0 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Display ad, 160 by 600 | 10 | 10.0 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Social post, square | 13 | 13.2 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Display ad, 300 by 250 | 10 | 10.0 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Postcard, 6 by 4 inches | 13 | 13.2 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Event cover | 12 | 12.0 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Billboard | 12 | 12.0 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Email header | 11 | 11.0 | 5.20 to 1 |
| Display ad, 728 by 90 | 10 | 10.0 | 5.20 to 1 |