Writing · Morikami Japanese Gardens
Plain labels, warm sentences
In the Morikami ticketing concept, the words did as much accessibility work as the colors and the tap targets. One rule held them together: labels stay plain enough to find, and the warmth goes where the worry is.
Call it what people look for
The step where you tell the museum about access needs is called Accessibility. An earlier draft called it “Getting around”. It sounded kinder, and it hid the section from exactly the people it was for. Nobody scans a page for “Getting around”, and it reads like directions and parking.
The label is the part people search for, so it stays boring.
Put the warmth underneath
The kindness moved one line down, into the sentence under each option: “We’ll have the step-free route and ramp entrance ready.” A label is for finding. The line under it is for reassuring.
Spend reassurance where people hesitate
Comforting lines on every row turn into noise. I put them only where people actually stop and worry:
- Timing. “Once you’re in, stay as long as you like.”
- Whether anyone reads it. “A person reads every one.”
- Cost. “Nothing here changes your total.”
- The desk. “Say: ‘I reserved online under Margaret Ellis.’”
Ask for facts, never proof
Every option asks for something the museum can act on: a wheelchair, and how many. None asks for evidence. The screen says “We never ask for proof”, because not being asked only reassures you if you know it.
In accessible mode, fewer words per screen
The accessible flow asks one question at a time: When are you coming? How many people? Anything we should know? It says “Step 4 of 8” so you know how far you are, and it ends with a code short enough to read out loud. The sentences are short. They aren’t simpler than the reader.