Inclusive design
TOUCH TOUCH
Time
JAN2022-JUL2022
Group work
Li Zhongsheng
Zhang Yi(video editor)
Award
Spark Design Award
2022 Shortlisted
DESIGN
BACKGROUND
One day, my cellphone screen was cracked and some areas of the screen were out of order. I tried to use VoiceOver(a function designed for visually impaired people), so I could control my phone using only a limited screen area. Then I found out this VoiceOver mode was really hard to use. The smooth experience I enjoyed using my phone before was gone in the VoiceOver mode. It made me reflect that how hard visually impaired people use their phones.
Maybe, I can do something for them?
RESEARCH
A large population
which equates to more than one in every 100 people being visually impaired.
High rate of total blindness
One out of every three visually impaired people in China suffers from totally blindness.
High reliance on text-to-speech function
A text-to-speech system converts normal language text into speech or renders symbolic linguistic representations like phonetic transcriptions into speech. 83% of them rely on screen-reading software to operate their phones.
Awful user experience
Need others to help
need others to help them while using their smartphone
The online internet service based on smartphones is an important channel for visually impaired people to obtain information, but it needs to be further improved.
Obersavation
Comparison Analysis
Difference mindset model in using the phone
Only providing text cannot satisfy the needs of knowing the hierarchy of the interfaces, the construction of the layout, and the exact position of buttons.
Secondary Research
Vision region can take charge of other senses
(A) regions involved in vision in healthy individuals.
(B) regions involved in comprehension and semantic processes.
(C)ross-neural plasticity in patients with congenital visual impairment
Vision region can take charge of other senses
In individuals with early visual impairment, the absence of visual information processing facilitates the activation of pathways previously inhibited by optic hinging, leading to improved auditory, tactile and olfactory sensations.
Hypothesis
What if the problem of visual information can be compensated by sensory substitution?
Spacial Perception
Audition
Tact
Smell
Taste
IDEATION
We invited students to put on the blindfold and perform the usability test. They perceived information through touch, sound and space respectively, and finally concluded that tactile perception was the most accurate and easiest way to perceive.
The user can feel different textures on the screen, helping them better understand the items' locations and functions.
The user can feel different item is in the different location based on the audio, so it can help them to know the relative locations of each items.
Projecting the item on the screen into the location of the real world, the user can move the phone to know each items.
The user can feel different textures on the screen, helping them better understand the items' locations and functions.
HOW IT WORKS
Based on the finger’s location on the screen, TOUCH TOUCH can apply different Electrical signals with various frequencies and waveforms when the finger swipe through the screen , the vibration triggered by the current makes the user to feel the different textures.
Reference :Bau O , Poupyrev I , Israr A , et al. TeslaTouch: electrovibration for touch surfaces[C]// Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology. ACM, 2010.
Expectation
the visually impaired people can only get the information through text and they cannot get the color on the screen
They can touch the texture right now
the visually impaired people can only get the information through text and they cannot get the color on the screen
only five points for visually impaired people to interact
the interactable section increases a lot
only five points for visually impaired people to interact
Park
Water
Building
Road
HOW TO USE
PRODUCT DETAIL
The Braille message labeled "Touch Touch" with Braille letters for the visually impaired user to use.
One side is a curve to fit human hands when grasping, while the other is straight to facilitate the adaptation to cell phones.
The triangular symbol pointing straight ahead, indicating the direction of use of the product.
PROTOTYPE
Finally, through testing, we can get the pseudo waveform of the UNO board changing while triggering different UI control areas. If the voltage is raised to the desired value through the amplifier circuit, the user can feel the change in the tactile sensation of the phone film through the special phone film at this time.
