About the Project

There is a maxim in the User-Experience world warning designers that “you are not your target audience.” However, in the case of the Glidance project, a device designed to assist blind and low-vision (BLV) users navigate physical spaces that is currently in development, I am, in fact, the target audience. Or at least a segment of that audience.

For this project, I served as an Advisor Team Lead guiding 21 undergraduate students through the process of creating the unboxing, onboarding, and companion app experience for Glide, the mobility device.

As the only blind person on the team, I developed research experiments and provided lived experience to ensure our designs truly meet the needs of the BLV community. The students were divided into multiple teams to explore research, packaging design, and the design of a companion app.

For our research, I employed an autoethnographic approach, a qualitative research method where the researcher reflects on their own personal experiences and makes their experiences known to others, revealing insights into broader cultural, social, or systemic issues.

As a blind person, I analyzed my lived experiences with unboxing and onboarding accessibility tech in real-world contexts and these insights helped the teams develop prototypes. The research showed three key takeaways:

1. Accessibility can do more than just solve problems. It can also create delightful, intuitive experiences.

2. Tactile features, like Braille, enhance usability and build user trust.

3. Packaging and apps must complement each other for a seamless onboarding experience.

I worked with two teams running a variety experiments focused on packaging, unboxing and digital interactions to gather deeper insights.

In collaboration with the Packaging Team, I conducted research and developed ideas for a variety of intuitive package designs for the mobility device, Glide, that included braille, haptic cues, and a customized carton shape to make the top and bottom more discernible. Several of these were prototyped and tested. The team conducted its own testing as well as gathered end-user feedback at a local National Federation of the Blind conference to gain as wide a perspective as possible.

Working with the Onboarding Team, we developed a companion app to be used with and while setting up the Glide. I was able to share with the team that blindness and low vision exist on a wide continuum—no vision at all to some useable vision. As a result, we made the app as customizable and user-friendly as possible by creating a setting to change how the app delivers its information—from voice to scalable text—at the beginning of the setup process. This allows the end user to set their own parameters in order to make the app operate effectively based on the users’ own degree of vision loss.

Throughout the development process, we conducted several "Wizard of Oz" tests in which a team member would read all the same text a screen reader would read, allowing the potential user to see/hear exactly what the experience would look like during the test, without an actual app needed. As this project concluded, our primary focus was on a seamless handoff so Glidance would be able to build on our work and serve the BLV community. We’re delivered:

1. Complete die-lines and prototypes for the accessible packaging, including tactile and structural elements to guide users.

2. Annotated app screens and a comprehensive guide for user testing with blind and low-vision individuals, ensuring continued refinement of the onboarding process.

3. A layered document containing an executive summary, detailed findings, and raw data, including transcripts and recordings from testing sessions.

4. Edited footage from the project’s research and demonstration videos, which can be used for marketing, training, or instructional purposes.

Glidance Mobility Capstone Project

Key Skills

• Research Methodologies

• User Research

• Gamification

• Brainstorming / Prototyping

• Teamwork and collaboration