Designed for Users: Universal Design Plus Human Factors

Standards provide guidance for performance and quality.  They may be voluntary or, as with building standards adopted by a city, have the force of law.  

Guidelines, like standards, describe minimums of acceptable quality or service.  These help with understanding how to apply (put into practice) theories of service such as universal design.

The most commonly used building standards are from the International Code Council (ICC).  Cities (and other local governments) usually use these "as amended."  UT-Austin subscribes to ICC standards (this is the current edition) electronically:

Both government agencies and industry groups issue standards for guidance on design topics. 

For standards from agencies of the federal government:

• Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Standards

• We expect standards from agencies of the federal government to be available through the Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register.
  • see this guide page for more
• They may also be posted on the webpages of the issuing agency, if you know that agency.

For access to industry standards in the UT-Austin subscriptions, see this guide:

Searching these products will also alert you to standards not in our collections.  Those may be requested through interlibrary loan.  

Membership (and other) organizations often share their expertise and provide guidelines for the benefit of others.  Here are some examples:

• Universal Design for Learning Guidelines - CAST, formerly the Center for Applied Special Technology
• Transit Universal Design Guidelines - American Public Transportation Association
• Home Checklist - Northwest Universal Design Council

• IEA/ICOH Ergonomics Guidelines for Occupational Health Practice in Industrially Developing Countries - International Commission on Occupational Health

To find guidelines for your area of interest, strategies include:

• following bibliographies from readings.
• searching the websites of groups linked to the subject
• doing a web search with a limit to an organization you know works in the area of interest.  For example: "universal design" guidelines site:ieee.org
  • search result are likely to include additional materials, such as research papers