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Why CHANGE uses illustrations to create accessible Easy Read documents

For over 25 years, CHANGE has created accessible information from the same starting point: how can we ensure the reader understands the message with clarity, confidence, and dignity? This principle is why we are committed to using bespoke, in-house illustrations rather than stock photography. While photos can be quicker to source, they often introduce barriers to understanding. Our illustrations, designed with clear purpose to exclusively convey a clear point, are central to our approach and have many advantages for our clients and their audiences.

Clarity and Focus by Design

Photographs are often filled with distracting backgrounds and irrelevant detail., This ‘visual noise’ detracts from the point being illustrated. Our illustrations include only the essential elements, creating a heightened reality that directs focus and makes complex information easier to process. This allows for powerful and clear visual cues, such as clearly overlaying a ‘tick’ or ‘cross’ on an image to show ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ without obscuring the core message.

Representation that Reflects Your World

Truly accessible information must be relatable. This means the people depicted should authentically reflect the audience you are communicating with, as well as the clients and professionals they interact with. Stock photography often fails to capture this specific balance. Our bespoke approach allows us to work closely with you to ensure the illustrations are not only diverse and inclusive but are also carefully and appropriately representative of your specific context. This means we can respond to nuanced requests to ensure everyone feels seen, building trust and engagement.

Handling Sensitive and Complex Ideas with Care

Many topics, particularly in health and social care, are difficult to portray with photographs. Illustrations allow us to convey sensitive concepts in a way that is clear and dignified, without being graphically explicit. We can also represent abstract ideas, such as emotions, history, or viruses, using tangible metaphors like thought bubbles or symbolic imagery, making them easier to grasp.

Creating a Clear and Consistent Narrative

In longer documents, consistency is key to comprehension. Using our available image bank characters can be used throughout a booklet, helping the reader to build familiarity and recognise meaning more quickly. A character can be shown with different expressions or in different situations, creating a clear story that guides the reader and reinforces understanding page after page.

Maintaining Your Professional Brand

We believe accessible documents deserve the same high standard of design as all your corporate communications. Our bespoke illustrations are created to align perfectly with your brand identity, using your colour palette and respecting your visual style. This ensures a seamless, professional look across all your materials, both digitally and in print, upholding your brand integrity while delivering crucial accessibility.

The importance of experts by experience

Our co-production model, where every document is reviewed by our ‘Words to Pictures’ team of people with lived experience, proves that our approach really does work and is not just theory. It’s a more considered process, but one that creates a final document that is not just simple to read, but simple to understand.

CHANGE’s Image Bank

If you would like to create your own Easy Read information that portrays a diverse range of people with professionally designed images, subscribe to our Image Bank. You get access to a template, guide, video tutorials, and over 2000 hand-drawn high quality images showcasing a diverse and inclusive range of people, enabling you to create your own high quality easy read content.

How CHANGE can help you make information accessible