How to design for autism? – desres23.designandcommunication.net

Studies have shown that when it comes to performing regular daily tasks, such as shopping, socializing or learning, people with autism tend to feel more comfortable online. Having that in mind, it is very important to make websites and online platforms accessible to people with autism, especially if they are being used as educational tools.

A lot of people with ASD are visual learners, which means that children an easier time understanding and learning if they are visually stimulated. However, rapidly changing information can be overwhelming, which is why it is also recommended to follow simple layouts with a clear and consistent structure to avoid sensory overload.

When it comes to colors, with ASD prefer more muted colors, compared to neurotypical people. In a testing that was conducted in 2016., preferences for the yellow color were much lower for children with autism, while green and brown were most preferred:

“In order to explain these results, the fact that the yellow color had the highest luminance value among the colors tested should not dismissed. The observed aversion to this color might reflect hyper-sensitivity of children with ASD to luminance. There is also a general consensus that yellow is the most fatiguing color (Kernell, 2016). It is well known that our eyes are provided with three different types of cone cells for color perception, L, M, and S, which correspond to the perception of red, green, and blue light, respectively. When yellow is perceived, however, both L and M must be involved. The perception of yellow should thus be the most heavily sensory-loaded of the perception of any type of color. Its perception is bearable for TD children, but could be over-loaded for children with ASD whose sensitivity to sensory stimulation is enhanced.”