Cooper Hewitt
Bungee Font Tester
Reimagining a visual-only typography tool as a multi-sensory system, translating typographic expression into accessible, non-visual interactions.
Objective
Transform a visual-dependent typography tool into an accessible experience by rethinking how users perceive, explore, and interpret typographic expression without relying on sight.
Role
Accessibility & Interaction Designer
Client
Cooper Hewitt Museum
Team
Gloria Y, Lan-Ting K, Smridhi G, Simran K, Nandita M
Duration
5 weeks, Apr – May 2025
Tools
Figma, VoiceOver, Adobe Audition
Responsibilities
Designing for WCAG compliance and inclusive interaction
Exploring multisensory UX beyond visual interfaces
Translating expressive typography into accessible experiences
Prototyping experimental interaction models
Context
Designing a Multi-Sensory Typography Experience
The Bungee Font Tester is an interactive tool for exploring a highly visual typeface defined by layered colors, vertical composition, and expressive forms. However, the experience relied entirely on sight, making it inaccessible to users navigating through screen readers or non-visual interaction. I redesigned the tool as a multi-sensory system that enables users to not only access content, but interpret and experience typographic expression through structured interaction and sound.
Solution
Designing a Multi-Sensory System
To address the core breakdowns in accessibility and interaction, I redesigned the tester as a multi-sensory system that supports how users access, explore, and interpret typographic expression beyond sight.
The solution focuses on three key shifts:
From hidden controls → visible, guided interaction
From visual-only feedback → multi-sensory expression through sound
From isolated actions → a structured, learnable exploration flow
DESIGN 1
Guided interaction & simplified interface
I removed the accordion layout and made primary controls visible upfront, including font orientation, color themes, background shapes, and layer settings. This made core controls immediately visible to reduce interaction depth and support predictable keyboard navigation.
To support first time users, I designed a guided tutorial that mirrors screen reader navigation patterns. The tutorial introduces each control step by step, providing clarity and building confidence before experimentation begins.
This transformed the tester from a hidden control panel into a structured exploration tool.
DESIGN 2
Translating sight into sound
To preserve Bungee’s personality beyond sight, we introduced an audio interaction layer.
When users adjust font characteristics and press Play:
Bold weights are expressed through deeper bass tones
Vertical stacking is conveyed through ascending notes
Layer density influences rhythmic intensity
This bridges visual structure and auditory expression, allowing users to feel the typography’s mood and rhythm rather than simply hear a literal description. Sound becomes expressive, not instructional.
Based on these breakdowns, I shifted the goal from making the interface accessible to rethinking how typographic expression could be perceived without vision.
How did I get there?
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Define the Problem
When Visual Design Becomes a Barrier
The Bungee typeface is defined by visual qualities such as layering, spatial composition, and vertical structure. These characteristics create expressive typography, but also make the experience inherently inaccessible without vision.
The tester’s interaction model depended on visual discovery and mouse-based manipulation. Core controls were hidden, color selection required visual interpretation, and there was no guidance for first-time users.
For screen reader and keyboard users, this resulted in:
Controls that were difficult to locate
Color selection that was inaccessible
Lack of semantic structure
An experience that conveyed structure, but not expression
Current Experience: Visual-Only and Hard to Navigate
That land to the real challenge:
How might we translate Bungee’s visual expressiveness into an experience that is inclusive, intuitive, and meaningful beyond sight?
Research
Understanding the Accessibility Gap
After synthesizing our research, three major problems emerged that were preventing parents from successfully using the Learning Resources section.
51.9M
Americans experience vision loss
3.7M
American adults are completely blind
KEY INSIGHT
Sound is not a substitute for sight. It is a different medium for expressing meaning
Accessibility Audit
What happen when visual richness meets barriers?
Through structured evaluation, I identified four primary breakdowns:
Outcomes & impact
From Visual Tool to Inclusive Interaction System
The redesign transformed the Bungee Font Tester from a purely visual interface into a multi-sensory system that can be understood and experienced beyond sight. By translating typographic properties into structured audio feedback and accessible interactions, the tool enables non-visual users to independently explore and interpret expressive typography.
Beyond improving accessibility, this approach redefines how expressive interfaces can be designed. Rather than adapting visual experiences, it establishes a framework for creating interactions that support different modes of perception from the ground up.
