Comments on: Use Icons to Visualize Data, Not Just Decorate

By: Ann K. Emery

Ann K. Emery — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 16:26:06 +0000

Yes, I’m glad you pushed back to your communications department. Like you mentioned, just use alt text to describe the image. Change is hard when we’re used to doing things a certain way for so long, and our brains come up with unnecessary hurdles.

What do you mean by “overly read into the demographics represented?”

By: Michelle Grochocinski

Michelle Grochocinski — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 20:25:49 +0000

Thanks for another great blog post. I can’t believe Icons have been there the whole time! They make pieces quicker to read; I’m a fan.

I was excited to use the WeePeople font, but my communications department pushed back. Their concerns were that 1) the images are not accessible to screen readers (i.e., it would be read as the letter “a,” for example, rather than “silhouette of a person”) and 2) audiences may overly read into the demographics represented. Their solution was for my to use jpegs with alt text instead. Just thought I’d share in case others come across these accessibility concerns.

By: Ann K. Emery

Ann K. Emery — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 15:37:30 +0000

In reply to Gloria Albertini. It's a font called WeePeople! I'll write a how-to blog post soon. Stay tuned.

By: Gloria Albertini

Gloria Albertini — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 07:15:19 +0000

OMG, I’m a great user of gingerbread people and your post made me reflect on the bigger impact of realistic human silhouettes, thanks very much Ann!
Unfortunately, I didn’t know which software I can use in order to make them.

By: Angela Oleksiak

Angela Oleksiak — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 15:08:40 +0000

OMG I love seeing this! This affirms what I shared with our team in a training, “Decorate your house, not your slides. Icons, clipart, font styles, font colors, animation, and slide transitions should all be use with purpose and intent. Not because you just learned how to use that function and it’s fun and flashy”. Thanks for this affirmation!

By: Ann K. Emery

Ann K. Emery — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 22:39:24 +0000

In reply to Ellen Wilson. You'll simply google "download weepeople font," download the file, and "install" it on your computer. There are video tutorials about symbol fonts inside several of the online courses so you might possibly have access to detailed instructions, too.