Iron Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2026
Assistive Technology Awareness Resources
- A' Design Award 2026 Iron Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: World Health Organization
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 4,414
- Verification code E9AB033592 · Verify this award
About Assistive Technology Awareness Resources
Assistive Technology is a set of awareness resources created for a data toolkit on assistive technology. The illustration style emphasises inclusivity and accessibility. Linear figures show people using assistive devices, highlighting the value of these devices in everyday life. A semicircular frame unites the figures and acts as a visual metaphor for openness and participation. The incomplete frame suggests that inclusion is a continuing process. Four A4 manuals, banners and a light box were produced following accessibility standards.
Alberto March's design engagement with assistive technology awareness represents a significant contribution to contemporary health communication design, situating itself within the broader movement toward universal accessibility advocacy and inclusive information architecture that has gained considerable momentum across healthcare and educational sectors during recent decades. This toolkit visualization demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how graphic design functions as a bridge between complex institutional frameworks and diverse public constituencies, employing visual strategies that honor both professional rigor and human-centered approachability. The work participates in a rich tradition of public health communication design that extends from mid-twentieth-century international symbol development through contemporary digital-age information graphics, drawing upon established conventions of pictographic representation while infusing them with chromatic warmth and compositional generosity that resist institutional coldness. The designer's chromatic strategy merits particular attention for its dual achievement of functional differentiation and symbolic resonance, deploying saturated hues across the visible spectrum to create both practical wayfinding through color-coded assessment categories and metaphorical representation of human diversity, each chromatic choice serving instrumental purpose while simultaneously encoding values of inclusion and comprehensive coverage. The simplified human figure rendering demonstrates accomplished economy of means, distilling complex anatomical reality into essential geometric forms that communicate immediately across linguistic and cultural boundaries while incorporating specific accessibility indicators with admirable clarity and dignity, avoiding both clinical detachment and sentimental excess in favor of straightforward respectful representation. The modular presentation of four distinct assessment frameworks through consistent typographic and chromatic treatment suggests systematic thinking and comprehensive approach, positioning rapid assessment, capacity evaluation, impact measurement, and progress tracking as interconnected components of holistic assistive technology provision rather than isolated interventions. Compositionally, the arc element crowning the figure assembly introduces organic curvature that softens the rectilinear precision of the typographic and panel elements below, creating visual rhythm and suggesting protective encompassment or inclusive gathering, a formal choice that reinforces thematic content through structural analogy. The work's accessibility extends beyond subject matter to execution, with color contrast ratios, scale relationships, and typographic clarity all appearing calibrated to meet or exceed contemporary accessibility standards, thereby practicing the inclusive principles it advocates. One observes here a designer deeply conversant with both the technical requirements of health communication and the emotional dimensions of representing human difference with dignity, achieving that delicate balance between authoritative institutional voice and approachable human warmth that characterizes the most effective public-facing educational materials. The toolkit conception itself reflects contemporary understanding of assistive technology provision as requiring multifaceted evaluation across rapid screening, capacity building, measurable impact, and longitudinal progress, suggesting collaboration with domain specialists and genuine engagement with implementation realities rather than superficial visual treatment of predetermined content. How might this systematic visual framework empower healthcare providers, educators, policymakers, and individuals themselves to engage more comprehensively with assistive technology assessment, and what role does such thoughtful graphic communication play in advancing the broader goals of universal accessibility and human flourishing across all abilities?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The style of the illustration is an effective visual representation of the assistive technology data Toolkit because it emphasizes inclusivity and accessibility. The focus on the interior elements and the use of linear components depicting people using assistive technology serve to highlight the significance of recognizing and valuing these devices as integral parts of everyday life. Additionally, the semicircular frame acts as a visual metaphor for openness and participation.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Four printed manuals, size A4, 48 pages, Text weight coated finish paper 70 grs for the inside pages. Covers have cardstock 80 grs. Roll up banners: 85 cm x 200 cm. 80mm light box sego.
- Tags
- assistive technology, assistive technology for families, disability, disabled, blindness, disability tools
- Production Technology
- The main image was created with Illustrator, while the publications were designed using Adobe InDesign, following the guidelines of the international organization for standardization to ensure accessibility for impaired audiences.
- Design Challenge
- The main goal was to present the advancing data collection on the Assistive Technology toolkit, which includes four tools addressing key questions: the population's unmet needs for assistive technology, the country’s capacity to meet these needs, the impact of assistive technology on users, and progress by Member States in implementing the World Health Assembly Resolution 78.1. This toolkit helps countries collect data to inform policy, raise awareness, and garner support for assistive technology. Its target audiences include policymakers, researchers, associations, assistive technology users and families, service managers, experts, and development partners.
- Project Duration
- The project started in March 2025 in Geneva and is still in the process of finalisation. The design process is made in Spain.
- Operation Flow
- All PDF documents were evaluated and found to comply with accessibility standards, particularly PDF/Universal Accessibility and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, using the PDF Accessibility Checker tool.
- Research
- The research was based on the need to represent the rapid assistive technology assessment (rATA), which is a population-based household survey that collects self-reported information from people regarding their access to assistive technology, measuring the need, demand, and barriers. The tool can be used alone, or incorporated into other surveys and/or, or in national censuses.
- Inspiration
- The semicircle framing the illustration of assistive technology users serves symbolic and functional purposes. Visually, it unites the figures, suggesting belonging and dynamism with openness. Symbolically, it signifies acceptance, inclusion, and respect for diverse human experiences. Its incomplete form also represents continuity and potential for change, emphasising that inclusion is an ongoing, evolving process open to new perspectives.
- Image Credits
- Images: Envato Elements and iStock
Illustrations: Alberto March
Content: World Health Organization