Locate Arts Accessibility Project

Locate Arts is a platform built to increase visibility for artists across Tennessee—but visibility only works if the platform itself is accessible.

While managing the site, I conducted an accessibility audit using the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool to identify where the experience was breaking down, particularly for users navigating with screen readers or assistive technologies.

What I found wasn’t a single failure, but a pattern: small gaps in clarity that added up to friction. These issues weren’t always visible, but they significantly impacted how users understood and moved through the site.

This revealed an opportunity not just for compliance, but to create a more intuitive and predictable experience for all users.

March 2026-Current

Solo Project

UX/UI Designer

01.

Rotating carousel limited visibility and control

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The homepage relied on a rotating carousel to display featured exhibitions, limiting visibility and requiring interaction to access content.

Impact

The original carousel design hid content behind interaction, making it difficult to scan and compare exhibitions while also creating accessibility challenges for keyboard and screen reader users. To address this, I replaced the carousel with a static grid layout that allows multiple exhibitions to be viewed simultaneously.

This change improves content visibility and discoverability, supports natural scanning behavior, and better aligns with how users explore visual artwork.

Shifting from a rotating carousel to a static grid prioritizes clarity and allows users to engage with multiple exhibitions at once.

02.

Clarifying Icon-Based Interactions

Icon-only buttons lacked accessible labels and relied solely on visual recognition

Impact

Users relying on screen readers receive no meaningful description of these actions, making navigation unclear or unusable.

Solution

Introduce accessible naming through ARIA labels to communicate both action and outcome:

“Search”
“Email Tri-Star Arts (opens email application)”

Result

Improves clarity, reduces unexpected behavior, and supports more predictable navigation—without altering the visual design.

Design Perspective

Accessibility audits can quickly identify what is “compliant,” but not necessarily what is cohesive, intuitive, or aligned with a brand’s identity.

This project explores that intersection: How can accessibility improvements be implemented in a way that preserves the visual language, tone, and curatorial experience of an arts platform?

Rather than treating accessibility as a constraint, I approached it as a design opportunity—to create a more inclusive experience without compromising aesthetic intent.

Future Steps

Conduct user interviews with assistive technology users
Use card sorting to improve content hierarchy and navigation
Test alternative exhibition browsing layouts
Benchmark against platforms like Artsy