Paul J. Neff, Accessible Design & Engineering

Paul Neff is a front-end developer and accessibility engineer with over two decades of experience in graphic design and web development. With a degree in graphic design earned with high honors, he blends his deep knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Smart Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) to build high-performance, accessible web interfaces. His approach prioritizes precision coding and inclusive design, ensuring that digital experiences are both visually engaging and fully accessible to all users.

Paul’s patent-pending innovation, Forced Colors Adaption for SVGs, revolutionizes digital graphics by dynamically adapting to user-selected contrast themes while preserving tonal balance—without JavaScript. Seamlessly integrating with modern web standards, his breakthrough sets a new benchmark for inclusive, high-performance design.

Watch a Tech Demo with Paul’s IP explained.

Download Paul Neff’s Resume.

Visit Paul’s Linkedin Profile.

Accessible Smart SVG Infographics

In 2024, Paul custom-engineered two advanced Smart SVG infographics for Atos Group, a €12 billion global leader in digital transformation: the Fireside Chat graphic for the 2024 Zero Project and a dynamic 30 year timeline showcasing the partnership between Atos and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

• Please take a look at the live Zero Project Fireside Chat Infographic.

• Please view the archived Atos + Olympic Partnership Timeline Infographic.


• View the Smart SVG Infographic Technical & WCAG Accessibility Report.

Overview

Atos sought to make their digital brand elements, such as logos and infographics, more accessible and environmentally sustainable. 
The challenge was ensuring that these elements met high standards of accessibility for users with various visual impairments while also reducing their carbon footprint.
Traditional bitmap graphics and formats posed difficulties in scaling, accessibility, and sustainability, making it hard to adapt to diverse user needs and new technology requirements.


Research and Development

By manually optimizing their vector artwork and converting them into scalable, adaptive Smart SVG formats, Paul helped Atos reduce reliance on outdated bitmap images. His pioneering engineering directly influenced Equivalent’s cutting-edge automation technology, which now ensures that graphics are not only fully accessible but also energy-efficient and seamlessly adaptable across digital platforms.

Results

• Accessibility: The Smart SVG format significantly improved the accessibility of Atos's brand elements, making them more usable for individuals with a wide range of visual impairments. Paul applied his patent pending IP to both infographics, dramatically improving the visibility for low vision users.

• Sustainability: Converting to Smart SVG slashed illustration file sizes by 74%, significantly reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint. The logo was just 1KB, and the favicon an ultra-light 340 bytes—maximizing efficiency without sacrificing quality.

  • The Olympic Games timeline infographic featured 15 logos, live selectable and indexable text, and a fully responsive layout that dynamically adapted for mobile. Despite its rich functionality, it was optimized to just 65KB—an impressive reduction from the original 1MB JPEG, enhancing performance, accessibility, and sustainability.

• Efficiency: The streamlined approach allowed Atos to reduce network exchanges and energy use, which is critical as more users transition to OLED screens that benefit more from optimized graphics.

Validation

The work done by Paul in collaboration with Atos has been independently verified by Greenspector, a company specializing in optimizing digital energy consumption. This validation reinforces the approach's effectiveness in reducing both environmental impact and improving accessibility, supporting the underlying principles that now drive Equivalent's automated solutions.