Design Process
https://deco3500-2018.github.io/ClaireandtheGoodBois/
Simply enter any username you would like on the first page and press enter, then continue through the prototype until the end and press continue to see another phrase.
For this project, the main domain considered is ‘learning disabilities’. Specifically, we are concerned with raising awareness of learning disabilities through empathy, specifically Dyslexia. Dyslexia is a fairly common disorder with an estimated 5 - 10% of the global population having the disorder (Dyslexiahelp, 2004).
As students with learning disabilities often perform worse than their non-learning disabled peers, the disadvantaged students might experience the feelings of isolation and lack of worth that are common in underachieving students (Wolfe, Fantuzzo & Wolfe, 1986). Additionally, due to their invisible and sometimes difficult to define nature, some students may be misdiagnosed or go undiagnosed completely, further exacerbating existing issues (Kelman & Lester, 1997).
In a 2014 paper by Coulton et al., concepts of empathy in the design of interactive system are explored. While they identify different kinds of empathy with varying levels of ‘depth’ (cognitive, affective, and compassionate), they also state that there exists great difficulty in facilitating experiences that deliver different kinds of empathy. A key insight into designing for empathy is that “leveraging a pre-existing shared interest between the users provides basis from which empathy may be developed” (Coulton et al., 2014). They apply this in a provided example in which they designed a digital candle for a church community that allowed infrequent visitors to have a constant presence and maintain a continued connection.
By raising awareness of the unique problems and circumstances that learning disabled people face, the average person might display more empathy and understanding, leading to better social dynamics and academic performance for all involved.
Leo is a web application that targets teenagers and teaches them awareness and empathy towards children who have learning disabilities, primarily dyslexia. The user must attempt to decipher a phrase that has been distorted in order to simulate how a child with dyslexia may perceives words. This is done in an attempt to elicit empathy from users towards those with dyslexia.
Initially domain research was conducted, this involved research into different aspects of the prototype, specifically dyslexia, systems that elicit empathy, and augmented reality(AR) systems for learning. This was done gage a better understanding of problem space that was being targeted as so the best system could be designed to raise awareness, and so that a target audience could be determined. From this it was determined that an AR simulation would be the most viable in order to engage high school students with the struggles of those with dyslexia, thus forming the original concept.
From this original concept more research was done into the accessibility AR systems in classrooms it it was determined that the technology needed to be changed, more details on the switch can be read here. More research was also conducted into different types of learning disabilities(Auditory Processing Disorder, Dyslexia, and Dysgraphia) in order to determine whether the system would function on one disability or multiple. After the first stand up it was determined that the project would simulate two disorders those being Dyslexia, and Dysgraphia. But due to time only one simulation was created that being for Dyslexia simulating the reading.
Through out the semester interviews were conducted with three high school teachers, and one dyslexia sufferer to gain a better understanding of not only dyslexia on a everyday basis but also how the system could be incorporated into a class room. More information as to the results of interviews with teachers can be found here, and the interview with the dyslexia sufferer here.
There were two main iterations that were completed these were between the low fidelity prototype to the medium fidelity and then to the final proof-of-concept prototype. Each iteration or change was made based on the feedback that was received from users or other people when users were unable to be accessed. At the beginning of semester multiple methods were used in order to gain access to high school students, these include reaching out to high schools, joining teacher Facebook groups, and reaching out to dyslexia support groups. However, these methods were unsuccessful in gaining access to the user group, meaning people outside the user group were often used in user testing.
A low fidelity prototype was created with a basic design and layout so that the key functionality of the prototype could be tested. This design was initially created without considering those with dyslexia as there wasn’t enough research done into how to design a system to accommodate this audience. This was key as it was another way to highlight some of struggles of those with dyslexia in a much subtler way. The testing on this prototype was conducted with university students and two high school students with the feedback gathered varying levels of success. With one major change to the prototype being the colour scheme, as well as getting rid pages that disrupted the flow of the product.
The medium fidelity prototype was created in Figma to create a more interactive experience than the previous prototype that was created. This incorporated some feedback from the previous testing by changing the colour scheme to a dark navy colour. However, this prototype was still lacking in context and when a person with dyslexia used the system stating that the colour scheme didn’t have enough contract making it hard to read. This comment was also reiterated by someone without dyslexia, and gain doesn’t align with the goal making the system easy to use for someone with dyslexia.
The final prototype was created in html, css, and JavaScript utilising a firebase database to distort the phrases. The design of the prototype was changed considerably between the medium fidelity prototype and the final proof-of-concept prototype. This involved lightening the colour scheme, and adding more information about dyslexia so that users have more context before they begin the simulation. When user testing was conducted on this prototype the responses received were positive with all tested stating that they were more empathetic to those with dyslexia.
There were a couple of limitation to the prototype, a major one being that disabilities or disorders are never going to possible to simulate accurately as everyone has a different experience. Thus the product that was created was the most accurate to the information that was gathered on the disorder. Another major limitation was gaining access to the target audience with very few high school students were tested, and these testing sessions tended to have limited surface level questions so the full depth of the product was never tested. There possibly wasn’t enough testing conducted each prototype as on average on three people were tested which isn’t enough to get an accurate representation of the population.
- Designing the Low-Fidelity
- Designing the Medium-Fidelity Prototype
- Conducting User Testing of the Low-Fidelity Prototype With University Students
- Conducting User Testing of the Medium-Fidelity Prototype With High School Students
- Designing Layout for Brochures
- Editing Brochure Content
- Interviews with teachers
- Interview with dyslexia sufferer
- Creating phrases & conducting user testing with them
- Research into dysgraphia
- Research into dyslexia
- Front-end coding of prototype
- Re-design of prototype
- Multiple methods of trying to gain access to users
- Content for brochures
- Design for poster + some content
- User testing of the final proof-of-concept prototype
- Research into Dysgraphia
- Contributing to Designing Medium-Fidelity Prototype
- User testing with Medium-Fidelity prototype with various students
- Dyslexic User interview
- Poster