MacOS Folder Redesign
Year
2024
Fields
Interaction Design
UI Design
UX Design
Role
Designer
Researcher
Overview
Enhancing Accessibility in MacOS Folder Design
Folders in any OS are central to user interactions, supporting file organization and navigation. While the macOS interface has seen significant improvements in user experience, folder design has not kept pace, particularly concerning accessibility and inclusivity. This project aims to redesign the macOS folder system to accommodate users with varying needs, enhancing overall usability by combating them.
Problem Statment
Addressing Accessibility Challenges
The current macOS folder structure can pose challenges for users with visual or cognitive impairments, making essential tasks like locating or sorting files cumbersome. To address this, the project proposes a redesign focused on improved visual clarity, streamlined navigation, and adaptive elements that cater to diverse user capabilities. The goal is to create a more accessible and inclusive file management experience that empowers all users to work independently and efficiently.
Key Research Findings
Hidden Potential of Folder Customization
While it is technically possible to change folder icons by downloading or creating an image and inserting it via the "Get Info" tab, this process is not intuitive. Most individuals surveyed were unaware of this capability, highlighting the need for more user-friendly methods and clearer guidance. here the idea of creating a way to navigate and personalize folders to each individual's needs and abilities was established, particularly for users with visual or cognitive challenges.
Prioritizing Aesthetics over Accessibility
It can be argued, as in this project, that the current macOS folder system prioritizes colour themes and aesthetics over accessibility by keeping a clean and streamlined palette, which can limit usability for individuals with visual or cognitive impairment. This insight underscores the need for design changes that prioritize accessibility alongside aesthetics.
Everyday Interactions
Folders, crucial for digital organization, often overlook accessibility, making file management challenging for many. Factors such as font size, color contrast, and navigation consistency greatly impact accessibility, affecting not only users with disabilities but also the overall user experience. While macOS offers accessibility features, they are often buried within system-wide settings and difficult to find.
Design Process
EU Accessibility Act
Accessibility has been an instrumental topic in UX design for some time now, especially amid recent advancements in law. With the enforcement deadline for the newly established EU law on application and web content accessibility called the "EU accessibility act" will be put to use during the summer of next year (2025) the demand for inclusive solutions has intensified. With this in mind, my focus shifted from an everyday user to a designer where issues in what we usually see as nonsensical or ordinary became apparent.
Taking Key Design Language into Account
When designing a solution, Apple's key design language and system as well as theirs and others accessibility guidelines was carefully considered to ensure alignment with the established procedures. This would ensure that the new macOS folder design not only enhanced accessibility but also remained true to Apple's aesthetic and functional values. By integrating familiar elements such as clean interfaces, visual clarity, and seamless interaction, the design aimed to enhance usability for all users while maintaining the elegance and ease that Apple products are known for.
User Flows
The redesign goes beyond visual and structural changes to transform how users interact with folder accessibility features. Integrating folder customization within the existing macOS accessibility settings would risk becoming another buried option, lost among extensive and complex menus. To avoid this, the new user flow enables quick access directly from the context menu of a folder. This adjustment makes customization straightforward, and accessible which significantly reduces the friction involved in making folders user-friendly and personalized.
Designing an Accessible Folder System
To create a folder system that prioritizes accessibility and personalization, I focused on establishing a nested structure with adaptable options and additional icons that enhance and align with the existing color-coding scheme. This ensures that users can modify individual components to suit their unique preferences and needs. By providing options to change various visual and functional elements, the design promotes an efficient workspace that is easy to navigate and interact with. This approach empowers users by combining functionality with personal adaptability, ensuring the folder system is both inclusive and user-friendly.
Enhanced Colour Coding
The initial idea was straightforward: take the existing folder icons and directories, which generally function well from an accessibility standpoint, and enhance them by expanding the visibility and application of colour tags more systematically. Expanding the color-tagging system to entire folder structures and subdirectories in a subtle way, providing immediate, colour-coded navigation cues making it easier to identify and locate files at a glance.
New System Features
The design was seamlessly integrated into the existing context menu and service field of macOS, featuring a new category called Folder Accessibility Setup. This addition enables quick navigation without needing to search through the more cumbersome system-wide accessibility settings. Within this setup, a variety of customization options are available to tailor the folder experience to individual preferences, including adjustments to folder size, text colour, and icons. A dynamic setup is also available for users who prefer enhanced contrast on their folders while still retaining the ability to change the wallpaper. This ensures that users can maintain a visually distinct and accessible workspace without sacrificing personalization.
While standard, non-tagged folders remain unchanged, the new design introduces three types of customizable folders: single-color, dual-colour, and tri-colour options, selected similarly to the original tagging system. An added feature allows a representative icon to appear on a folder when a file is dropped into it. This icon updates dynamically, reflecting the predominant file type within the folder and providing at-a-glance insight into its contents.
