Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Alex.
1. 50 shades of… the same colour
A lesson in the importance of UX this week from the BBC, which has been admonished after the BBC Trust upheld six out of seven complaints from Colour Blind Awareness regarding graphics used in coverage of general elections.
Last year the BBC used at least nine different shades of orange and white text on a yellow background in its coverage – a challenge for a lot of people to read at the best of times, let alone those who are colour blind.
With no action from the BBC being taken to rectify this, Kathryn Albany-Ward, founder of Colour Blind Awareness, accused the BBC of ‘brushing off’ complaints from colour blind viewers, saying that the broadcaster was ‘knowingly discriminating’ against nearly five percent of the population, and that in the run up to a general election, this was ‘totally unacceptable’.
Whilst colour blind viewers have said that it can be difficult to distinguish between the Conservative’s blue and UKIP’s purple, and the red, orange and yellow of Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP respectively. The BBC said that unfortunately they are restricted to using the official party colours.
However, after the ruling by the BBC Trust, the BBC is now making changes to to graphics, including better use of party logos and adjusting the contrast of colours to differentiate them more clearly.
2. New Emoji
One for lovers of The Office, Twitter has given David Brent his own emoji! You can now add #BrentsBack to your Tweets and it’ll add a little dancing David emoji.
FACT: @twitter are giving David Brent his own emoji! Tweet with #BrentsBack from tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/RCFI4Ctzom
— David Brent Movie (@DavidBrentMovie) July 27, 2016
3. Meet Graham
Ever wonder what us humans might look like if (when?) we evolve to survive car crashes that are, at the moment, usually fatal? No, me neither. However thanks to a collaboration between a leading trauma surgeon, a car crash investigator and acclaimed artist, you no longer have to ponder.
Graham has been designed to ensure that his skull and body can absorb impact and protect the brain and important organs by being helmet- and barrel-like in shape and having ‘crumple zones’ incorporated into his head and airbags around his chest to minimise damage. His legs are also spring like so he can leap out of the way quickly if he needs to.
More images and explanation of the theory behind Graham can be found on the Express website.
4. Twitchat
On Tuesday,Twitter reported an 11 percent fall in its share price. Its solution? Be less like Twitter.
This week, the platform made its #stickers feature available to all users. This allows users to collage emojis over their photos – a feature that is already available on Snapchat. There is one key USP though; they also act like hashtags, so you can tap on a sticker in a photo and it’ll show you a feed of other photos using that same sticker. Yay!
Connect your photos to the world with a visual spin on hashtags: tap #Stickers to peel back a fun new way to search. pic.twitter.com/YVy7r53Nja
— Twitter (@twitter) June 27, 2016
5. Cloud 9
Many of us have enjoyed gazing up at the clouds in our childhood and tried to spot something we recognise (many of us still do it today!) with varying results.
A charity event in Dorset, however, was blessed with a cloud that had an amazing likeness to a certain honey-loving bear.
As an added sweetener, the event was raising money for the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
