Insight

An accessible extension of a calendar app that exists on both iOS and android. This product exploration helps the low vision community use their task organizer without having to worry about their ability to read the content on their screens.

Year                    Roles:

2020                   Product Design, Motion

The Challenge

Completely accessible

Accessibility features have been implemented into apps; however, they’re uncustomizable, hard to find, and tacked on last minute. Many calendar apps do not have accessibility settings. I wanted to design an app that anyone can access regardless of their device.

Types of Low Vision

Levels of access

To inform my design decisions and better understand my users, I did research on types of low vision and their levels of access. "Low vision refers to vision loss that cannot be corrected by medical or surgical treatments or conventional eyeglasses." 

Designing for inclusivity

Auditing more than one user

As each type of low vision entails different levels of access, it was important to design for as many low vision users as I could since this product highlights accessibility. It's also important to note that each type of low vision may impede more heavily on reading as opposed to others. I found that people with blurred vision, hazy vision, and loss of central vision are most impacted when reading or looking at content on their screens. 

Assistive reading devices for low vision

Optical and non-optical devices

I did research on common assistive devices for people with low vision. Depending on the type of low vision, many devices were available; however; the most common and universal solutions for assistance include:

Magnifiers

Text-to-speech

Contrast enhancers

Screen readers

User Story 1

“One thing I like is having the kindle read to me. It’s just easier and less stress on my eyes, which doesn’t make it draining to read the book. Otherwise, by the time im done, I forget everything ive read. I also wish I had more shortcuts...”

Low vision type: Blurred Vision, Loss of central vision

Pain points:

Tiny text, uncustomizable UI, settings hidden in UI

Exploring VoiceOver to quickly access highlights

Unlike a conventional VoiceOver, I redesigned it so that it reads your tasks for the day. I wanted to highlight important information, and this ultimately makes it easier to navigate day-to-day life. Swipe left to browse all events.

Designing voice user Interface to give full control

Many apps lack in implementing a VUI option, so I thought it’d be efficient if I used this interaction to help lead the user experience. Anything you want the app to do, just ask!

User Story 2

 “A lot of my professors... a lot of their books are electronic. If not, I work my way around it. I can open the pdf and enlarge the text, or whatever I need to do to actually see my screen. I also have to read with the brightness down because the light can hurt my eyes ”

Low vision type: Blurred vision

Pain Points:

Inaccessible UI, complicated UX, light sensitivity

Using inverted Screens to combat light sensitivity

Light sensitivity is a huge issue for people with low vision, and shortcuts can ease any point points in accessibility customization. How easy would it be to invert the colors on your screen with a shake of the phone?

Exploring a bigger calendar for increased legibility

Most existing calendars are already extremely tiny and difficult to read. With little to no accessibility settings, this makes the experience worse for the user. I designed a calendar that gives you your monthly highlights just by scrolling.

Designing a friendly card view to humanize experience

Scroll through months by cards with animations. This makes the app experience a bit more human and less intimidating, as many accessibility-focused products can be overwhelming. It also allows for easier access to other years if you want to reference certain events and highlights.

Understanding who I'm designing for 

Low vision

I interviewed several people with different types of low vision and they all agreed on 3 major key points: accessibility settings are difficult to access, there’s little customization for them, and they wish products worked within their existing workflow for other apps

I tried designing this experience 2 years ago– it didn’t work. I went back and tried to understand why this product still wasn’t accessible

Rethinking the experience

Redoing flows

Part of the reason why my old “solution” wasn’t working is that I still made accessibility an “added” setting instead of the central theme of the app. Implementing VoiceOver and VUI in smarter ways would ultimately make the experience much more powerful.

With users not having to click too much through the UI, with one or two clicks at most, they can access the most important information, ultimately making this accessible and easy to use.

Leveraging Google's Visual Language

Current branding

Since my second time designing this product was focused on learning to design under a system, I didn't want to waste time to completely reinvent the wheel. I wanted to utilize a design system that I was familiar with and enjoy: Google Material Design.