This research explores how information design and typographic approaches can help create accessible participant information sheets for people with aphasia to ensure they can be included in research. There are worrying statistics that individuals with communication impairments post-stroke are often excluded from research due to perceptions of vulnerability, and that they do not have the decision-making capacity to provide informed consent. These exclusions have the potential to create health disparities for people with aphasia and contribute to existing generalisations in stroke research that can have a negative impact on the care they receive.

Participant information sheets were prototyped using a human-centred design approach by adhering to the information design principles of accessibility and inclusiveness. The prototypes were presented to people with aphasia for feedback to ensure the readability, comprehension, and design preferences were appropriate and accessible to the targeted audience.

The outcome of the research was a refined set of prototype participant information sheets that ensure greater accessibility to research for people with aphasia. This research found that implementing information design and typographic principles to participant information sheets for people with aphasia can facilitate their inclusion in research through their readability.