Better Streets and PavementsLiving Streets Scotland
executive summary
We designed a Guide for older people to give them knowledge and confidence to improve their local streets and pavements for walking.
challenge
Living Streets Scotland asked us to design their Guide for Better Streets and Pavements.
The purpose of the Guide was to give people information to take effective action to improve their local streets and pavements. Many people have difficulty reporting problems in their area that stop or discourage them from getting out and about – such as poor pavements, missing crossing points and badly parked cars. If they do report a problem, they often find that nothing is done. The Guide aimed to show who to contact, how to contact them and how to explain the problem to get a result.
Because the Guide was predominately aimed at older people, including those with impaired sight, it was especially important that the Guide was designed to be accessible and easy to follow.
solution
We used a range of design elements to make the Guide accessible to a wide audience, including people with impaired sight. This included larger text, lots of photos and colourful subheadings to make it easy to find information.
results
An evaluation survey revealed that the Guide was warmly welcomed and widely used. Older people and care-home coordinators praised it for being easy to follow and easy to read, and said that having the Guide made it more likely they would report a problem for walking in their local streets.