Intellectual Disability Travelling App Revamp
Timeline
Aug - Sep 2021
Platform
Application
My Role
UIUX Designer
Tools
Figma
Miro
Introduction
Easyboard is an app that helps people with intellectual disabilities to travel independently around Singapore using public transport.
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In this project, we revamped the user experience and redesigned the UI.
User Research
Desk Research
We did a secondary research about intellectual disabilities travelling apps.
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ResearchGate Article
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Google Street View
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Bing Maps
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Singapore Maps
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality is the most effective solution for navigation for people with intellectual disabilities.
Navigation
The ability to view your current location on the map helps to identify where you're at and prevents from getting lost.
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Showing specific details of the map helps you to understand your surroundings.
Technical
Street view may be confusing if it is not updated regularly.
The ability to share your location if you're lost, helps the caregivers to identify the user's location.
The ability to view all bus stops on the map is helpful by knowing where they are located and when the next bus arrives.
Interviews
To better understand the different user's needs and what they struggle when using Easyboard, we conducted interviews with several users.
General Questions
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Have you tried using any navigating apps to help you travel?
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What transportation methods do you think are easier for you to use, and why?
Workaround Behaviours
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What did you do to overcome the issues that you faced during transportation?
Experience Questions
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What are some problems/difficulties you face when going to a place?
Problem
Here are the main problems from users when using Easyboard.
Difficult To Navigate
Example
The app does not show the user where they are. The user might feel like they do not want to use the app again since it is difficult and causes a hassle for them to find the right direction to reach their destination.
Too Many Distractions
Example
The app keep flashing the bus number and repeats the announcement. The user might feel stressed and get distracted, taking away their attention from the vehicles/transport.
Unintuitive UI
Example
When creating an account the input boxes are too narrow to fill and not easy to type in. The user might feel frustrated and confused.
Identifying the problem
How Might We?
Make the design neater and more user-friendly?
Provide a navigation app with less distractions?
Make the directions clearer for people with intellectual disabilities?
Personas
To better target Easyboard users, these are the personas we created after the user research and interviews.
User Stories
Prototype
Wireframe
Here is some of our lo-fi wireframes that we created after the user research.
Usability Testing
We tested our prototype with some the users to identify the problems and the areas of improvement, so we came up with a task to test it with the users.
You want to go to the Singapore Zoo from Jurong East as fast as possible to meet your caregiver.
Final Design
Main Features
Here are the main features that we decided to add to improve the Easyboard app.
Before
After
Some of the users found that creating an account was not easy to understand so, we made the signing up process more clearer for the users by changing the copywriting and interface of the page.
Before
After
Navigating Using AR
Navigating using Augmented Reality helps the users be alerted of their surroundings while following the directions given to them.
Before
After
Contact Without a Hassle
It is much easier to contact the user's caregivers using the in-app messaging and calling feature. Previously, the users could only contact using via third-party apps.
Before
After
Clearer Directions
The users had difficulties following the directions given to them so, we decided to make the interface unitive.
Future Directions
For a project that only lasted a month, we did not have enough time to implement these features.
"Help?" button
A guide of the app to help the users to navigate different elements around the pages and instructions on how to use them.
Text-to-speech
Some users prefer having someone to tell them where to go instead of reading texts
Colorblind option
We wanted to add a colorblind mode for colorblind users so it will be comfortable for them to use the app.
Try the Prototype
You can try the prototype here!