The Two-Senses Principle has various applications, particularly in the areas of accessibility and education.

In the context of accessibility, it is an essential principle for designing accessible information processes by transmitting information in such a way that it can be captured by at least two senses. This increases the probability that blind or deaf people will not be excluded from accessing the information.

In the field of learning, the principle states that learning units should be offered in a multimodal way to enable more effective processing and better storage in memory. Thus, the principle promotes both inclusion and learning success by offering multiple access paths to the information to be imparted.

Origin

The Two-Senses Principle in education is based on Allan Paivio's Dual Coding Theory, which was first presented in 1971. In his studies, Paivio shows that visual and verbal information is processed separately but linked at the same time, which facilitates the storage and retrieval of information. These findings have been widely applied in educational psychology and later also in the field of User Experience Design.

  • Paivio, A. (1986). Mental Representations: A Dual Coding Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Application in UX and UI design

In UX and UI design, the Two-Senses Principle can be applied by combining visual elements such as icons, images or videos with textual descriptions. This makes it easier to understand complex content, supports different learning styles and, above all, ensures the inclusion of people with disabilities.

The Two-Senses Principle is the basis for many accessibility principles, which can be found, for example, in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) or the DIN 18040 standard.

Impact on the User Experience

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Further information