A navigation mobile app for visually impaired people to encourage them to explore the world safely and confidently.
Timeline
2015 - 2016
My Role
Research & Product design
Teammates
Context
Have you ever thought of how a visually impaired person finds their way to a destination? Or how they memorize routes to familiar places like school, work, or home? Through our research, we uncovered hidden challenges visually impaired individuals face in their daily lives. Current navigation apps on the market are too complex for visually-impaired people to use with VoiceOver, and their navigation hints are overly visual-oriented.
Contextual interview
Deliverable
Our team designed an iOS app that offers four key features aligned with visually-impaired people's natural navigation habits: searching for a location, navigating to a destination, identifying the current location, and tracking navigation history.
Impact
We built a working demo on campus and invited over 30 visually impaired people to test the concept. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many saying the concept was exactly what they needed in their lives.
The concept won 1st place in several international awards, including the prestigious RedDot Design Award and CHI (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) competition.
Learnings
This project taught me how to truly empathize with users as a designer. During a contextual interview session at a non-profit organization that trains visually impaired people to navigate unfamiliar environments, I experienced their challenges firsthand. With my eyes covered, an instructor guided me as if I were blind. The experience was unforgettable. It revealed how helpless and frustrating life can be without sight, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. This profound insight inspired me to use the power of design to help them.
Research insights
Search
Navigation
Location and history
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