Wonder Vision
Blind Navigation App Design Simulation
5 minute read & watch
The Basics
My Role
- User research, prototyping
Team
- Alice Kingsolver
- Amy Mihalevich
- Carey Spesard
- Cozette Kosary
- Derick Schweppe
- Joe Jancsics
- Rachel Magario
- Randall Blair
- Ren Harn
User & Audience
Student health center patients
Platform
Mobile devices, physical space
Tools
- Design management, sketching, paper prototyping, shadowing, interviewing, user testing, hi-fi mockups, video production
- Adobe Creative Suite
Project Type
Global Service Jam challenge
Platform
Mobile devices, physical space
Tools
- Design management, sketching, paper prototyping, shadowing, interviewing, user testing, hi-fi mockups, video production
- Adobe Creative Suite
The Problem
Part of the Global Service Jam 2011, the project tasked groups to answer the question: “how do you become a (super) hero?” Teams had 48 hours over a weekend to develop a concept project and solution using a variety of design criteria. Our team chose to develop a phone app concept that could help the blind answer questions for those times when there is nobody around to help them.
Central Question
How might we… improve blind wayfinding?
Research
Parameters
- What: Navigation from original room to new destination
- Who: Rachel Magario, blind user
- Where: KU Art & Design Building, Lawrence, KS
Tasks
- Find original room
- Find note about the class being moved
- Find new class location
Methodology
- User interview
- Usability field study
- Needs clustering & card sorting
User Interview
Initial research was done by interviewing and working with our own Rachel Magario, a blind student working on her Masters in both Interaction Design and Business Administration at KU.
Sample interview questions:
- What do you do when a class abruptly changes classrooms?
- Who do you rely on most for helping you navigate through unfamiliar buildings?
- What is your biggest technological resource for navigating through unfamiliar spaces?
- What would be a dream system for you in regards to blind navigation?
Usability Field Study
Initial research was done by interviewing and working with our own Rachel Magario, a blind student working on her Masters in both Interaction Design and Business Administration at KU.
Needs Clustering & Card Sorting
The group began by clustering ideas into various categories that could help define user needs, hierarchies, and interface behaviors. The goal of this phase was to define Rachel’s most immediate needs and pair them with possible tech solutions. This would ultimately give us our final product.
Insights
Shadowing Pain Points
Rachel has a number of unique pain points that sighted users never have to cope with.
- Advanced time planning for transportation
- Slower movements between locations
- Often times suddenly needs assistance from another person
- Navigating a wide variety of doorways, hardware, etc. makes for constant environmental and situational evaluation
Interview Takeaways
While Rachel may not have the use of her sight, she is far from helpless. Rachel’s world may be difficult to understand through a sighted person’s point of view but spending time with Rachel allowed the team to gain a great deal of empathy and understanding about something they initially had little to no knowledge about.
This sort of learning allowed for the team to better brainstorm ideas that would not have otherwise even been considered.
Ideation
After the needs were filtered and sorted, we began sketching out interface ideas, experience maps, and the visual details surrounding the product.
How Does The User Work?
Journey mapping was used to work through the problem of such a unique design scenario. The team mapped both the existing and possible user journeys to get a sense of how Rachel’s life could really be improved.
The “experience stage” design approach was implemented as part of the journey mapping, which includes:
- Question Experience
- Backstage
- Answer Experience
Production
Short on time, the team toiled away day and night for the entire 48 hours to produce the best possible product in that short amount of time.
The team went into full production mode once the brainstorming was done, creating storyboards, graphic content, branding, and doing video prep. The team broke the tasks down into various groups according to each person’s design strengths. This allowed us to do as much work as possible in the short timeframe allowed.
Final Concept
How The Service Works
- You take a pic of something you need help with: ie translating a sign, getting help on a process, a blind person needing a sign read, etc.
- You send out a photo and question, via computer or phone to the service.
- The service distributes the request to all users in the network that have chosen to help with that particular type of need; be it technical, social, academic, etc.
- The first 5-15 responders will have their response message sent to your device. After the max number of responses are received the question is considered closed.
- You then analyze the responses to choose what the most appropriate answer is. People can rate the responding user on a scale system to help keep the service’s experience a strong one. The more positive responses you get, the more badges you earn towards becoming a SUPER hero! The ability to get top-level help from people all around the world make this service invaluable to users of all levels of needs.