PROJECT SUMMARY
I redesigned the onboarding flow and homepage of the Invisibly app within 7 days. This led to increased user satisfaction and a much higher rate of survey participation. Additionally, the seamless point redemption feature contributed to enhanced continued usage of the application.
TEAM
This is a solo project. I acted as the user experience researcher and designer.
MY ROLE
User Research
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Interaction Design
DURATION
Feb 1 -Feb 7, 2024
THE PROBLEM
Invisibly is a zero-party data monetization app.
In response to: 🎯 EASE OF USE • 📈 EFFICIENCY • 💪 CONFIDENCE & A SENSE OF CONTROL
THE SOLUTION
Visualized Accessibility Solutions Workflow
A pop-up modal will show users an overview of the accessibility issues they have.
Improve the usability of this icon by adding information and promoting a smoother, uninterrupted workflow.
Slide indicators will provide users with precise guidance without opening the sidebar.
USER RESEARCH
We conducted contextual inquiries with visually impaired students, along with surveys and interviews with professors.
📝 Survey
n=67 professors at Georgia Tech
Measure professors’ willingness to make materials accessible and their expectations.
✍ Contextual Inquiry
n=2 students with VI at Georgia Tech
Understand the problems that inaccessible course materials pose for students with VI.
💬 Semi-structured Interview
n=7 professors at Georgia Tech
Comprehend the requirements and current approaches of professors in making materials accessible.
PRIMARY RESEARCHKEY USERS
Focused on professors, two personas were created:
the Dedicated & the Busy.
In this phase, we identified a gap in professors' awareness of creating accessible class materials for students with visual impairments.
Currently, at Georgia Tech, students bear the responsibility of reaching out to certain departments to ensure accessibility, placing an additional burden on students to navigate the process independently.
By engaging professors in this initiative, we aim to alleviate the pressure on students, enhance accessibility, and foster a collaborative approach to making course materials widely inclusive.
MAIN INSIGHTS
The accessibility checker should be compatible with mainstream slide generators and also easy to use by people without visual impairments.
📈 EFFICIENCY
Efficiency should be a priority.
Professors are inclined to make course materials accessible if it is quick and easy.
💪 CONFIDENCE & A SENSE OF CONTROL
Professors are willing to spend as much time as needed to ensure that their slide content is engaging and informative.
Professors want to feel confident and in control of their materials.
🎯 EASE OF USE
Accessibility solutions should provide more convenience and accessibility for people without visual impairments.
Professors will prefer easy-to-use systems with tutorials.
HOW MIGHT WE…
Design an easy-to-use system to help professors streamline the process of making course materials accessible with confidence and efficiency?
USE CASES
According to our research, the main use cases are:
creating new slides & updating existing slides.
IDEATION
I led the brainstorming session and generated 3 design ideas:
Utilized key insights to derive design implications.
Initiated the brainstorming process with prompts (e.g., improving efficiency in solving accessibility issues) as foundational concepts.
Expanded and refined each design concept through internal presentations and discussions to achieve high-quality solutions.
To broaden our exploration of design possibilities, we also delved into designing for other mainstream platforms, such as Canvas.
Concept 1: PowerPoint Plugin - AccessGUIDE
A re-design of the accessibility checker in PowerPoint.
Provide a summary of identified accessibility issues which are classified by severity.
Guide users to fix accessibility issues.
Offer one-click solutions to fix accessibility issues.
Most-commonEasy to incorporate
Concept 3: Service design - AccessCORPS
A web-based system that helps users organize multiple types of files.
Users can access an organized gallery of files made accessible by AccessCORPS for easy reuse.
Customize a list of recommendations and ways to avoid common accessibility issues.
Easy to updateOrganized systemFamiliarityCustomizable
Concept 2: Learning management system (LMS) Plugin
An add-on to existing web-based systems like Canvas.
Generate accessibility scores for files uploaded, offer detailed error breakdown, and flag major errors.
Option to review and accept auto-corrected minor errors.
Enable one-click updating of files for effortless distribution to students.
Easy to updateFamiliarity
CONCEPT FEEDBACK SESSIONS
After receiving feedback on 3 concepts, the consensus is that a PowerPoint plugin aligns most effectively with the users' needs.
The choice of the PowerPoint plugin is supported by unanimous participant preference and willingness to use the design.
Three key features contribute to this preference:
Alignment with PowerPoint's layout
Seamless guidance for issue resolution
The ability for professors to maintain control over their slides
Additionally, the convenience of saving updated slides directly to the users' preferred storage location distinguishes the PowerPoint plugin from the other concepts, which would necessitate additional steps for downloading and storing updated files.
ITERATIVE DESIGN
3 major improvements in this plug-in redesign:
1. Guided Tutorial and Interactive Issue Overview
Before Accessibility Checker Help
After AccessGUIDE Tour
After Visual Indicators
The pivotal enhancement in AccessGUIDE lies in the introduction of the Onboarding Tour Guide. Recognizing the limitations of the original Accessibility Checker's text-heavy "help page," our discovery research illuminated the need for a more user-friendly guide to navigate accessibility issues confidently.
Overview Pop-up: Through an iterative design process driven by invaluable feedback, we refined the initial help page. The first iteration solely displayed the number of accessibility issues, leading users to seek assistance. In response, we introduced a pop-up offering a comprehensive overview of accessibility issues before users entered the sidebar.
Welcome Tutorial: Rather than relegating the "help page" to the lower level, we brought it to the forefront of the plugin. AccessGUIDE now features a full-screen, image-based tour upon opening, guiding users through common accessibility issues and optimal tool usage. This strategic approach ensures a seamless onboarding experience, acquainting users with the fundamental aspects of using the plug-in.
In response to: 🎯 EASE OF USE • 💪 CONFIDENCE & A SENSE OF CONTROL
2. Visualized Accessibility Solutions Workflow
Before List View of Issues
3. Smart-evolving Autogeneration Assistant
Before One-size-fits-all “Explanation”
After Customized Autogenerated Solutions / Solve in Bulk / Snooze
The second highlighting feature, incorporating the 'WAVE' icon, directly addresses user feedback for more precise slide guidance. This improvement significantly streamlines navigation and usability, enabling users to locate and rectify issues efficiently.
Enhanced Navigation: The addition of the 'WAVE' icon offers users a clear and immediate connection between issues in the sidebar and their corresponding slides, improving overall navigation.
Efficient Issue Preview: The new pop-up functionality upon hovering over the 'WAVE' icon allows users to quickly grasp issue details without the need to open the sidebar, contributing to a more streamlined and user-friendly experience.
In response to: 🎯 EASE OF USE • 📈 EFFICIENCY
After Explanation & Examples
The third significant enhancement involves automatically generated solutions for addressing accessibility issues. Our research revealed that users often lack familiarity with such issues, leading to a lack of awareness about how to resolve them. Through the automatic generation of alternative text, titles, and other pertinent content, users can effectively address accessibility issues with confidence.
Auto-generated Suggestions (Enhanced Confidence Indicators): Users now benefit from a confidence indicator when utilizing auto-generated solutions, addressing initial distrust. Clicking 'auto-generate' reveals the confidence level, empowering users to choose whether to regenerate or apply the changes. The system evolves, learning from user preferences to offer better suggestions.
Solve in Bulk (Apply to Multiple Slides): Efficient Slide Management: Catering to diverse presentation styles, users can now group slides into categories for bulk actions. The 'assign title to multiple slides' option streamlines the process for professors who prefer narrative-style presentations, allowing for quicker and more intuitive slide organization.
Snooze and Address Later: Temporarily Ignore Moderate Issues: Responding to feedback, the 'Snooze' feature allows users to temporarily hide 'WAVE' icons from slides with moderate issues. This enables quick modifications before a presentation, emphasizing efficiency. The unchanged issue count serves as a helpful reminder to revisit and address the snoozed issues.
Our user research revealed a lack of familiarity among our users regarding accessibility issues in PowerPoint. Users now have the option to click and toggle examples and explanations open or closed at their convenience. To strike a balance between minimizing sidebar clutter and offering comprehensive information for users seeking to delve deeper into accessibility issues, we've integrated deep links to external accessibility resources.
In response to: 🎯 EASE OF USE • 📈 EFFICIENCY • 💪 CONFIDENCE & A SENSE OF CONTROL