The website of Participate! was built for autistic people and their friends and family to gather reliable information about autism. Since the site would be used heavily by a neurodivergent audience, a lot of consideration went into design choices such as emphasis, balance, proportion, typography and colour use.
Neurodiverse people depend on repetition and predictability to feel in control and comfortable. The art direction of the website was inspired by an early symptom of autism that is often seen in children: lining things up.
Autistic people experience colours more intensively than non-autistic people. Bright colours can easily be overstimulating. I carefully curated the colour palette to bring calm and safety to the design.
Serif fonts have been found to be less readable among a neurodiverse audience. Sans serif fonts are much likelier to be comprehended. I used GT Walsheim in the whole branding, because of its human feel and easy readability.
Each section has its own colour to help autistic people understand and navigate the interface. The challenge was to create a colour pattern and to engage in visual storytelling without the design being overstimulating.
Photos often distract autistic people. The composition might be too complicated, or the background too busy. So i opted for illustrations and simple characters, with few details and a plain background.
