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The Boston-based Accessible Icon Project overhauled the International Symbol of Access, which was designed by Danish design student Susanne Koefoed in 1968. In the previous version, the icon featured a stationary wheelchair user, seemingly resigned to being pushed to a destination. The new version shows a person in forward motion—a driver in charge of their own fate. The designers introduced the new symbol in a street art campaign, layering transparent stickers on existing accessibility signs. As the icon spread, the project evolved from guerilla activism to social design initiative. Today, the icon is used by hundreds of institutions and cities worldwide, including New York.
Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, January 26, 2025–November 15, 2025
Gallery label from This Is for Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good , February 14, 2015–January 31, 2016
The Accessible Icon Project redesigns the decades- old International Symbol of Access. Unlike the previous icon, in which the wheelchair user looks passive and ready to be pushed to a destination, (the new one shows a person in forward motion—(a “driver” in charge of his or her own fate. The designers introduced their version in a street-art campaign, printing it on stickers and pasting it( over older accessibility signs in the Boston area. The redesign has now been officially adopted by some businesses and institutions, and even by such cities as Maiden and Burlington, Massachusetts, and El Paso and Austin, Texas. New York City uses a modified version, with the figure hailing a cab, to denote its accessible taxis.
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Visual communication through the use of type, space, image, and color. Examples include printed materials like posters, books, and album covers, as well as film title sequences and digital works such as websites and interactive software.
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