Yunzhu Li

Overview

 This project is aiming to design a wearable product to help people under variable situations. Wearable devices are widely popular over recent years, in order to expand functionalities, companies and designers are pushing frequent and innovative updates to both the devices and the partner applications.

However, wearable devices existing in the market are not as accessible as we think. How to make wearable devices more accessible to all? With inclusive UX design challenge for wearable devices, we are able to have a deeper look in this problem.

Project Goal

Present ideas across platforms; Physical & Visual Prototype; Define a brand; Meet a clear need and be extensible to wider applications and use the Inclusive Design principles.

Collaborators:

Yiping Wang, Tianyue Wu, Hung Huynh

My Role: 

Project Designer | Project Manager of UX Ability Group

Solution Deliver:

Physical / Digital Prototype, 140-page Booklet, Poster, Stickers & Video

Guest clients: Nick Katsivelos, Microsoft Inclusive Design Team

Design Process

Discovery

Potential Scenarios

Our product focus on users who experience loud noise on a regular basis, like construction workers, airport service agents, and bartenders. The current solutions to hazardous noise in construction site are big, bulky earmuffs or small, foam earplugs. These two choices make it more difficult to properly communicate and may even interfere with real-time information.

Storyboards

Contextual Inquiry & User Interview

Hearing and the brain event

Kelly Tremblay, Ph.D., an auditory neuroscientist, discussed the role of the brain in hearing, and how auditory rehabilitation strengthens that brain function.

Interview with people with hearing loss

Construction workers have commented noise-cancelling headphones/earbuds are most effective in their daily routines.

Microsoft Seeing AI Team and Soundscape Team

We interviewed Microsoft Seeing AI team and Soundscape team through Skype, asked them how to do user testing with people with disabilities and some tips about designing a product for people with disabilities.

Microsoft Hearing AI Team

Hearing AI answers the question: why sound must be heard?

Competitive Analysis 

Brainstorming

Prototype

Physical Device Sketch

Application Sitemap

Application Paper Dirty Prototype 1.0

Application Paper 2.0 After User Testing

Low-fidelity digital version for application

Based on feedback we received from first user testing, we improved our interface and adjusted some of the buttons. We added instructor before login page and detailed other pages.

In this prototype, we focused on not only functions of our application but also user interface. We did user test with different type of target users, and the results of user testing surprised us.

Lo-fi prototype. Try on by clicking this.

User Journey Map

High-Fidelity digital version for application (click here to try)

Assessment

User Needs

Starting with contextual inquiries and observation, we focused on the needs of those who have hearing disabilities and also those hard of hearing.

Test

We have researched through video observation, brainstorming sessions, and flow analysis to identify the “pain points” that could discourage potential users during the prototype experience. By faking the environment by using physical sounds, we made it easier and clearer for users to understand our products.

Post-Test

We surveyed more than 20 workers and people with hearing problems with a questionnaire on current hearing products. The questions included ones such as “how to communicate with people in a working environment”, “what are the pros and cons when switching among various technologies”, “which tools they were most comfortable with”, ”whether the app’s UI is easy to understand”, and “what is your understanding of the goals of Soundbyte”

Physical Device Prototype II

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