Augmentation for the Blind

The Aira iOS app acts as a central hub for receiving and sharing information to the user and the agent. A user receives a set of glasses that pair with their phones through the Aira iOS app. The user wears the Glasses and sends visual information to the agent dashboard. Through the app, a user can receive and send messages to an agent, share location, take photos, and more.

UX & UI
iOS App

Objectives

Redesign an appllication that follows accessibility standards, has attractive interface and compatible with the assistive technology found within iOS, such as VoiceOver.

My Role

Product Designer
User Researcher
Work closely with Product Manager and iOS Engineers

Challenges

Understand how it will be use by the users/ how target users interact with the application. The blind uses VoiceOver, a gesture-based way to have the phone speak what’s on the screen.
Redefine the social perception that a mobile application for the blind should also have as much design aesthetics as any other application.
Finding the balance of auditory cues and visual in hierarch.
Redesign the existing Aira iOS app to be more accessible and be visually attractive.

We began the project by re-establishing the product requirements for the Aira iOS app. This included identifying where the product fell short within Accessibility Guidelines and iOS Design Patterns.

Version 1.0

From user testing, we learned the following:

Users were confused by the actions on the home screen.
They didn't understand the labels such as Make Request and Stream from Phone.
Users thought "Call Support" means connect to an Aira agent.
The color contrast ratio didn't pass ADA compliance. This version also lacks aria-label for screen reader.

Version 1.2

This version was developed with the idea of a remote control for streaming, a user can switch between Glass and phone camera to stream their video.

From user testing, we learned that our blind users turn on screen curtain to save the battery and add privacy. Visually impaired users would have the screen on with Magnifier and/or VoiceOver.