Barrier Cards Demonstration

[At an exhibition stand, a person holds printed barrier cards from the Waterford City Library set. For each card they look at the red side, which asks “Can you spot the barrier?”, then turn it over to the green side, which names the barrier and shows the fix.]

Card 07: Wall of Text

[Red side: one dense block of small text about the library.]

“Mm-hmm. This is really difficult to read. There’s lots of text, a big wall of text. I can’t make out where the important information is.”

[Green side: the same information under headings: Opening Hours, Borrowing, Digital Resources, Clubs and Events.]

“So much easier having headings, clear information, so I don’t have to look through the text and figure out what the important stuff is.”

Card 06: Italic Body Text

[Red side: the library welcome text set entirely in italics.]

“This is quite difficult to see with the style of text. I think if it wasn’t in italics, it would be much easier to read.”

[Green side: the same text in normal, upright type.]

Card 05: All Caps Text

[Red side: the library welcome text in capital letters.]

“This feels like I’m being shouted at. I’m not focusing on the information, I’m focusing on what the text looks like rather than the information.”

[Green side: the same text in normal sentence case.]

“It’s much easier having it with no capitals, and the shape of the words makes it easier to read.”