The Bridge Method · The story
Why I created The Bridge Method
The story behind the method: where it comes from, why it is a bridge, and who I wrote it for.
What I have seen
I have spent years watching people use public-sector websites: paying a fee, enrolling in a class, reading a court notice. When a person faces a physical, medical or social barrier, the site either helps them finish or leaves them out.
Today most of my projects are for public institutions and universities in the United States, where the Americans with Disabilities Act has required equal access since 1990. I do this work with the team at AndiSites Inc., a web design firm in North Carolina. It gave me rules I can apply and check.
I wrote them down for two reasons. First, to help public sites meet the law. Second, to leave the method with designers who have no guide yet, in Latin America and anywhere accessibility is still not required or taught. It is free to use and adapt.
Why a bridge
The method is named after the bridge Leonardo da Vinci drew (opens in a new tab) more than five hundred years ago. It needs no nails and no rope. Each beam holds the next, and it is built from plain timber, so anyone can make one.
The method works the same way. It stands on its own, each rule supports the next, and it costs nothing, so any designer can use it.
Where the method comes from
From 2003 to 2016 I was part of the multidisciplinary teams that designed internet, intranet and e-learning platforms for a national judiciary, including work to standardize the websites of the institutions of the judicial branch and virtual courses for judges. Since 2024 I have worked through eMirDesigner LLC with the team at AndiSites Inc., a U.S. web firm that serves justice organizations and public colleges.
Both taught the same lesson: a standard shared by many institutions only holds when every designer can follow it.
“All three things are powerful: how it looks, how it works and what it says.”
Interview in NOTIDEM, issue 36, 2008 (translated)
Use the method
Read the rules online, or download the full method as a tagged PDF and share it with your team.