A new course aimed at helping businesses ensure their creative work stands out from the crowd by sprinkling accessibility into the mix has been launched.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) developed the Masterclass to introduce creatives to the importance of inclusive communications and share critical tools and techniques to ensure every advertising asset is accessible.

The one-day course covers several topics including myth busting and understanding sight loss, using simulation goggles to experience how some common sight conditions affect people’s vision, how using too many emojis can make social media a headache for screen reader users, and practical tips for putting the learning into practice.

As services increasingly move online, greater accessibility is an opportunity to enable everyone to feel included as well as an opportunity for growth, RNIB underlines.

The launch of the new training course follows RNIB and MullenLowe UK announcing a partnership last month to introduce a new award recognising the use of alternative text at Cannes Lions.

Alternative, also referred to as alt text, is a concise text description of imagery online, which can be identified by screen reading software to help those with sight loss absorb visual information. To promote the new Craft subcategory, which will come into use next year, RNIB and MullenLowe created a campaign to run on the screen at the festival’s red carpet where image descriptions of famous Cannes Lions winners from the past were displayed.

RNIB’s new masterclass covers alt text and takes participants through the principles of making shared documents or videos accessible for those with sight loss.

Daphne Mavroudi-Chocholi, Director of RNIB Enterprises, said: “The digital world moves quickly and it’s so important not to leave anyone behind and to be inclusive. That’s why we’re delighted to launch this new Masterclass for the creative industries.

“The new Masterclass in inclusive communications isn’t just theoretical, it gives a personal experience-led introduction to how to make your comms stand out to blind and partially sighted people. We look forward to developing further opportunities to bring this type of bespoke training sessions to other sectors.”

The first masterclass was held at RNIB’s Grimaldi Building headquarters in London this spring with creative agency Not Actual Size. The feedback from this first event was very positive, according to the charity, with attendees describing how hearing directly from speakers with lived experience of sight loss during the training really helped make the importance of inclusive communication more impactful.

Feedback from the participants included: “Learning directly from speakers who are partially sighted or blind with stories from their own personal experience was really inspiring and engaging. The Masterclass provided brilliant tools and insights, which will enable us, our clients and other creatives to make work that’s accessible to all.”

To find out more about the Masterclass or how RNIB’s Business Services team can help organisations be more accessible for blind and partially sighted people, visit this page or contact 01733 375370.

RNIB recently worked with SMA Nutrition to introduce assistive technology on its product packaging to give visually impaired individuals greater independence when it comes to making choices regarding their children’s feeding.