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This is a picture of one side of my apartment building. The ramp is meant to help people with disabilities get up to their apartments, but it's been built in a way that could hinder someone with a wheelchair if there was an emergency. The railings around the porch create a very narrow entrance to the ramp, and to get on to the ramp itself from the last two apartments, you have to walk all the way to the end of the porch, make a tight turn through the rails, then come all the way back down, which is a little time consuming and would not be ideal if someone with a disability had to leave the building quickly. It's great that the building has this amenity in the first place, but a suggestion could be to create more space at the top of the ramp so there is more room to maneuver. Another suggestion would be to totally redesign the porch, maybe take out the ramp that is there now and instead expand the porch and build a ramp that has an entrance at the front of the building, instead of the side. This would eliminate the problem with the narrow walkway, and also make it much more quickly available to anyone who might need to use it in an emergency, regardless of which end of the porch their apartment is on. The slight change to the design of the porch and ramp would make getting up to the porch or leaving easier for everyone, and also safer.

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While visiting the Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire, Iowa, I found this example of poor exhibit space design around the stern-wheel steamer Lone Star - an 1868 Mississippi River towboat. To the right of this photograph, there is a set of stairs that lead to more exhibits about other parts of LeClaire history - however the stairs are narrow, and dissuade unassisted children and elderly to visit the exhibit; disabled persons must go outside to go around the other side of the building to enter a lower entrance. A simple ramp instead of a staircase, or alongside the staircase would do wonders towards providing access for all. (Also take note of the small forward staircase on the front of the ship; I didn't include this due to the overall endangered nature of the National Register listed ship)

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I visited the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah over spring break and since their museum is located in a historic building, they had a few poorly design exhibits. One was an original log cabin that was located inside the museum that didn't have a ramp leading into the cabin that would make it difficult for strollers and wheelchairs to enter and the door frame was too narrow as well. Many of the display cases were also too tall and too deep for anyone whose eye level was below the average. There was also a large ledge in front of the exhibit that would prevent wheelchair from viewing the exhibit closely.

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I went ahead and browsed the internet for design flaws ad came across one image that I can relate to in almost house/apartment I have lived in so far. The design of drawers, spacing and doors seem to be a common mistake for home builders. I understand the advantage of having more storage space in let's say a kitchen or bathroom, but to squeeze something in that will create trouble in later designs is poor design outlooks. An easy way to fix this problem is to design the doorway and drawer better with either making more space between the two or not having one. It wouldn't hurt the sale or anything of an unwanted design!

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Over spring break I went on a cruise to the Caribbean and it had a sports bar full of authentic sports memorabilia. One thing that stood out to me was three baseball bats the were signed by three different players and they were left out in the open for anyone to touch. All three of the signatures on the bats were smearing off because they were not enclosed. All they ship would have to do is put them in glass box so that they were still visible or at least put a sign that says do not touch. This would still allow everyone to enjoy looking at sports memorabilia that didn't have any smudged signatures. Another thing they could do to make the rest of the artifacts easier to look at were put blinds in so the glare wouldn't make it difficult to look at.

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One section of the Buffalo Bill Museum was devoted to the entirety of Buffalo Bill's life. Every object had a story described in great detail, but sometimes it was honestly way too much as we discussed in a previous module. What ended up resulting was some of the signs and writing were incredibly small and hard to read even for me. While I was there I heard numerous visitors (especially elderly) complain they could not read most of the information. I would suggest cutting down the size of the information and enlarging the font.

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Trucks or other cars with a lot of suspension can be really really hard for elderly people or children or anyone with a variety of disabilities to get into. I think one alternative would be an extra step which could come out when the car door was opened.

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This is a picture from the Johnson County Historical Society where I volunteer. This is from our temporary WWI exhibit that was just recently put up. The table in this image is roughly 3 feet tall and the white sheets of paper on the table top are the exhibit text including some quotes and information about Iowans during WWI. As you can see the lack of a slanted table top would make it hard for anyone to see whose eye level is below even 4 feet tall. The text associated with the portrait also is likely to small to see from a distance. Additionally, within the photo you can see the reflection not the portrait which may make it hard for some people to see if they are not positioned just right.

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This is a picture from my family home (please excuse the messiness) that has always been an example of bad design to me. Instead of a proper "ground floor," the entrance leads to the staircase, which connects the upper (2nd) and lower (basement) floors. There are many problems with this: the staircase is too narrow for multiple people to use it at once, the entrance is also too small and clogs up the "traffic," and (related to the problem with all houses with stairs) none of the floor are wheelchair-accessible. In order to solve this issue, I would redesign the entire home and put the "upper floor" on the ground and the "lower floor" fully underground. Instead of a staircase immediately in front of the door, I would move it back towards the far end of the house to allow greater freedom of movement and ease of access for those who use walkers and wheelchairs. Finally, I would widen the stairs and turn them into a ramp for similar reasons to those mentioned above.

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I found this photo online and saw it as a poor example of design. There is a spot designated for handicap parking near the main entrance of the building which is great. The problem is that the curb of the sidewalk to the main entrance is not raised, making it difficult if the visitor was in a wheelchair. Although it is good they are accommodating visitors with disabilities with a close parking spot, they need to make sure all elements of design are benefiting those with disabilities, including the sidewalk curb.

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"Don't be happy, worry." I think the choice of the different colors and fonts for what was supposed to be two segments of text was the attempt at making this mean "Don't worry. Be happy." Unfortunately, it doesn't read like that. The most obvious solution for this design flaw is to reorder the words and maybe use proper punctuation. A complete redesign would allow for the intended message to be presented rather than something kind of offensive and silly.

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While sifting through design flaws on the internet (pretty funny to look at), I came across this image of stairs. The stairs themselves are fine, but the carpet pattern is very scary to me at least and if I came across these stairs I think I'd look for a different way down. This carpet pattern is an optical illusion and the owners of the building can improve it by simply changing the carpet to a different design just for the stairs, or maybe look into getting a caution sign if they do not want to spend the money. At least there are railings on both sides though!

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The main issue is that the important information about the building (publisher of many famous American poets and writers) until the last third of the plaque. So rearranging the information would really help this plaque.

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I chose to look at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History. This is a map of the building and the purple areas are designated parts of the Museum. As you can see, the Museum spans three floors and is very spread out. One issue is that there is only one accessible entrance for the entire building, and it's pretty hidden. The one elevator of the building is slow and sometimes breaks down (which is a problem within itself). Another issue is that the only bathrooms in Macbride are on the ground level, so in case of emergency and a visitor is on the third floor, they would need to walk a long distance to get there. The side doors leading into Iowa Hall are lever handles so if someone needed assistance opening the doors, there is no automatic door opener for them. I believe that the biggest issue of its design is the fact that there is an auditorium in between Bird and Mammal Hall; if there is a class going on, visitors would have to wait the 50+ minutes to walk across (or walk through when students are in there). The walkway on the balcony itself is a hassle; just today, I had to assist an elderly couple with a wheelchair across in between classes and had to make some people move because their bags or legs were in the aisle and could not walk through properly.
While I understand that it would be hard to change these things because of the Museum being a non-profit that relies on donations, changes would need to be made to accommodate all visitors. There should be an accessible entrance that is clearly visible. There should be at least two elevators in the building, in case one goes out so that people can still go to class or visit other levels in the museum. There should be bathrooms on all the levels so that everyone could use it and not have to travel far. The doors leading into Iowa Hall should be automatic when a button is pushed (during its open hours) so visitors don't have to struggle with opening it. I honestly think the auditorium should be renovated to be a part of the museum because of the amount of space it could provide, but the University would have to make space for another auditorium if that came true. If this can't happen, make breaks in between classes longer so that visitors have a larger window to walk across and take out the row of seats that are in the aisle to make more space for those walking by with wheelchairs, strollers, or carts

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This is a photo of the stairs to my apartment. They are exterior and we are on the top floor. The stairs are not ideal for people in wheelchairs, people who are ill, injured, or weak, or people with strollers. We have had trouble ourselves with moving things in (due to all of the cardio as well as restricted space for large furniture) and with getting an ill family member up the stairs when he was feeling weak.
Ideally, the most universal design would be an elevator.

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When I first visited the German American Heritage Center last year, I noticed how interactive their primary exhibit was and appreciated the effort that was put in to really have visitors engage with the exhibit. However, there was one particular component that I was not even aware of at first that I think with the use of helpful labels could have stood out a little more. I was not initially aware of, but discovered as I went along, the sliding panels that revealed more information within the German History Timeline. The panels blended in with the rest of the display and so without signage indicating they are there, a less observant visitor would completely miss the information shared on the slides. I would suggest the Center add some sort of label system to indicate to their visitors that there is more information hiding behind the panels, so “Slide Here for More.”

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When I studied abroad in Ireland last summer, I took a weekend trip to Stuttgart, Germany. I went to a castle museum right in the center of town [Landesmuseum], and I ended up finding a spiral staircase that led to an underground cuckoo clock gallery. All the clocks were beautiful to look at and study, but thinking about it in retrospect I realize how inaccessible it was. It's hard to tell in this picture, but the cases were very high up off the ground. Someone in a wheelchair or a small child would not be able to properly see the clocks. The gallery itself was only accessible by a very thin, old, and winding spiral staircase [tried to attach a picture of that too but Padlet wouldn't let me attach two :( ]. Again, people in wheelchairs, as well as people on crutches or older people who have trouble walking would have trouble even accessing the gallery in the first place. To change this, the museum could make the cases holding the clocks lower so people of all heights can look at them. I don't recall seeing any elevators that provided access to this gallery, so those could help people with limited mobility access the gallery.

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This is a photo I found online of a New York City street sign that has an overwhelming amount of information on it. For text in any situation to be effective, whether in a museum or on a street sign, it has to be clear, which this sign is not. It has arrows pointing multiple ways, many different rules applying at different times in different areas in relation to the sign. Unless you already know where you can park at what time, this sign is not going to be helpful. This sign can be improved by revising rules and presenting it in a more concise fashion. I have seen examples where the street schedule is laid out like a daily calendar on the sign. This way, it is represented by the text and is visually more accessible. It is easier to look at, doesn't take as much processing power, and doesn't overwhelm readers with a mess of information.

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This is something I think about a lot. If there's a fire, the elevators shut down, and people are instructed to take the stairs. But there are many things that could go wrong with this: what if someone can't use the stairs? What if the fire has already spread to the stairs? That leaves the windows open (ha) but what about buildings that are taller than two stories? What if the windows DON'T open? And who wants to launch out of a window when their life is already in danger? Nobody wants to be stuck in an elevator in a potentially burning building either, so leaving them in operation wouldn't necessarily be the best option.
Maybe there could be special fireproof lifts (that don't run on electricity) that could be used during a potential fire?

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Have you ever walked down a sidewalk, texting your friend and ever came upon a storm drain. Instinctively, you hold your phone tighter, even if your not walking directly over it! At least once in your life, you've had to rethink or check your pockets just in case you loose something. I chose this because in my home town,  we had numerous things happen in storm drains. Once, a clan of ducks where found fallen between the cracks, kitten, wallets, and much much more.
A way you could approve a better design technique to prevent loss prevention would be a slot system that things could be low enough, animals wont fall threw and objects get stopped by a screen before they fall into the depths below! The slots should be wide enough so that passing cars wont harm the objects and big enough you can slip your fingers in to retrieve your lost belongings!

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Module 8 Universal Design - Olivia von Gries

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Module 8 Universal Design - Olivia von Gries

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I observed this chest of drawers at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze (the National Archaeological Museum of Florence) when I was studying abroad in Italy. Essentially, this chest is full of drawers containing early Egyptian portraits and textiles, and visitors can pull out the different drawers to observe the different objects. I believe this chest is a poor design for a few reasons, mainly because drawers are hard for those in wheelchairs to pull out, some of the drawers are too high for young children or those in wheelchairs, the little text there is small and on top of the chest, and that the glass is reflective.

Like we heard in the case study about the Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, drawers really aren’t conducive for wheelchair users and should be abandoned. Instead, the portraits and text tiles could be displayed on a table that is low enough for wheelchair users and small children to see, but high enough for chairs to get under. Additionally, the table should be covered in glass to protect the objects, but the reflective quality of the glass should be noted and handled. Lastly, the museum could add audio components to their labels like the Pixar exhibit had; the labels for each object could have an audio file that reads out their information so that the seeing impaired can still engage with the display. Perhaps, Italian museums don’t have similar requirements to what American museums have in regard to the ADA.