ABOUT THE PROJECT
The idea of the project was to create an application for people with disabilities. It will help them plan a trip taking into account architectural barriers.
PROBLEM
The project was created in a team of three. Based on the experience of people with problems with free movement and their caregivers, we have developed a solution that helps in choosing affordable places for entertainment and recreation. We carried out each stage of the project together, consulting and sharing our insights and ideas.
SOLUTIONS
– PROJECT CONCEPT
– MARKET ANALYSIS
– USER RESEARCH
– PERSONAS (screener, interview)
– EMPATHY MAP
– USER JOURNEY MAP
– IDEATE
– UX ANALYSIS
– USER SCENARIO
– USER FLOW
– PROTOTYPING
– UTILITY TESTS
– ITERATING
– VISUAL DESIGN
MARKET ANALYSIS
When carrying out the analysis, we put particular focus on maps, adding opinions and marking road amenities.
USER RESEARCH
We interviewed 6 people. They brought us closer to the problems and needs of users. There interviews were proceeded by a screener that we prepared. We sent it out in thematic groups on Social Media channels to reach our target group.
We’re based on a scenario consisting of 26 questions. These were video interviews that allowed us to observe the behavior, get to know the opinions and attitudes of the respondents in order to understand the problem in the best possible way.
CONCLUSIONS
After the interviews, we’ve got the following results:
– people with disabilities face a huge number of architectural barriers every day, often preventing them from achieving their goals,
– despite difficulties, they travel often, they have a desire to explore the world and make their dreams come true, they are active and strive to achieve specific goals,
– they are very independent, but they often need help so they ask for help from people they meet,
– they believe that it all depends on willingness and determination,
– they care about other people and pay attention to people with other types of disabilities,
– the biggest obstacles for them are: lack of information about the adaptation of facilities for people with disabilities, inability to obtain information or outdated information,
– they want to know details about adaptation for people with disabilities, because such information often does not meet their needs.
PERSONA
After collecting the data during the interviews and our analyzes and observations, we created a persona.
The humanized image of our future user let us know her true goals and frustrations. It helped us in further design process in order to fully respond to our’s users needs.
EMPATHY MAP
In order to better understand our user, we have developed the empathy map. It shows emotions, feelings, actions, problems and goals.
Anna runs into problems, fear and frustration every day. Often this barriers cross her plans. Such illustration of the needs and problems allows us to specify the tools that the future product will have.
USER JOURNEY MAP
We have developed the user journey map to visualize the relationship between the user and the future product. This tool allowed us to observe what activities the user undertakes and what feelings he has. We focused to improve activities that are the most problematic.
RESULTS
The above analyzes led us to the following conclusions:
– people with disabilities want to be self-sufficient and i they want to decide for themselves,
– they need detailed information on the availability and adaptation of places,
– they like to share their experiences and they often rely on the opinions of other people with disabilities (groups on Social Media),
– their biggest problem is the lack of information, then they do not know what to expect and whether they will be able to overcome the architecture barrier on their own or with help. This causes frustration, anxiety and powerlessness.
IDEATE
In order to develop the individual functions of the application, we conducted ideations. We collected our questions, thoughts and ideas in one place and conducted a vote. We chose the product functions most suited to the needs of our persona.
1. The core of the product will be a map of the accessibility of places and facilities adapted for people with physical disabilities (also for other types of disabilities in further stages of the project).
2. Objects will have detailed descriptions and type of adaptation and photos.
3. Users will be able to add objects, reviews and photos.
4. Barriers, architectural amenities and information about obstacles will be marked on the map.
5. The user will be able to plan a convenient route according to his preferences.
6. The user will be able to receive notifications about architectural difficulties in real time.
7. The user will be able to save favorite places and favorite routes.
UX ANALYSIS
When we analyzed the market, we took into account such applications as: Google Maps, Jakazdę, Routimo, Pokemon Go, Apple Maps, Waze, Booking, Airbnb and Kraków for the disabled.
We divided them into individual functions and compared their operation in individual applications:
1. Route planning:
– How is the designated strike performed?
– Can I add a stop on the route? How?
– Is it possible to change the order of points on the route? How?
– What does the planned route look like?
– Is the route inconvenient?
– What do the marked inconveniences on the route look like?
– Can the route be shared?
2. Reviews
– Is there a number system, star system, other?
– How is the resultant opinion shown?
– Are the opinions to scale only or also text?
– Can I add a photo to my review?
– Is it possible to sort the opinions? How?
3. Objects:
– Is it possible to check the photos of the object?
– Is it shown whether the facility is adapted for people with disabilities?
– Is it shown whether the facility is closed / open?
– Are the opening hours of the facility shown?
– Is there information on barriers for people with disabilities?
– How is availability tagging done?
4. Gryfication
– Inspirations and types
USER SCENARIO
The next stage was USER SCENARIO, the description of how the user achieves his goals in the product. It illustrates his motivations and the number of activities he undertakes. It reflects the user’s perspective and logic so it does not contain descriptions of technology or design elements.
USER FLOW
On the basis of the USER SCENARIO, we have created the USER FLOW, the diagram presenting the logic of the application’s operation. It defines its most important paths and user interactions.
PROTOTIPING
We have made our first concepts on paper to see the main flow of the user, collected all the functions and outlined the idea of the product. Then we started prototyping in Adobe XD.
We conducted the research on the first prototype according to the scenario with 6 users from our group of respondents. We observed what activities were causing them a problem and we prepared a report of recommendations. The navigation menu required improvement. The respondents had a problem with returning to the map through the logo (as a return to the home page), the icons in the main menu were not clear for everyone and they also had a problem with adding a barrier / amenities. Based on the developed recommendations, we started further work on the prototype.
