Introduction

In the Interactive Design Studio course, we were challenged to pick a location within Los Angeles and find mobility issues and solve it. We selected the Westfield Century City; a large (1.3 million-square-foot) outdoor shopping mall in Los Angeles, California. Since the complexity of the mall layout, shoppers often get lost. While we impressed by the interactive directories that Westfield Century City provides for guests to guide the navigation, we were wondering: what if you have the inability to see, and therefore cannot use the interactive directories? This question leads us to investigate visually impaired guests’ behavior and design audio-guided navigation that helps them navigate their wayfinding.

Challenge

Design a concept product that solves mobility issues at Westfield Century City.

Outcome

Wes, a conversational A.I. navigation system for visually impaired guests at Westfield Century City mall.

Why the conversational assistant?

Our research and interviews show that users prefer a conversational assistant. The users also mention that they need to schedule flexibility, and they wish to complete their tasks without asking for help as much as possible because completing a task independently increases their confidence.

With Wes, the user can access it anytime, and the guests can walk around independently. Wes informs where to go and even when to make a turn by using inside geolocation. Moreover, Wes also informs the user of environmental information, such as if the user is passing by a water fountain - allowing users to feel entertained.

Site Observation

Finding a problem

There is an of estimated 200,000 visually impaired individuals who live in Los Angeles who could access the mall. The directory at the mall is a touch panel, and the guest service booth is the only one inside where only people can arrive who knows where it is.

User Interviews

Who are our users?

We reached out to Wayfinder Family Services in Los Angeles, YouTuber, also through our own networks, and were able to talk to 8 people who are visually impaired. We asked how they normally go to a mall, what resources they use for shopping, as well what apps or technology currently help them on a daily basis. Moreover, we were able to go to a mall together with some of the participants, which helped us to understand their needs on a deeper level.

Besides the main points, presented below, we noticed that independence is meaningful to them. Some of the interviewees mentioned that completing a task individually increases their confidence.

Perceptual Map

Where we should stand?

By learning other exciting products, we learned that WES should be the navigation that is conversational & flexible but more paratactical & accessible.

Concept

Interactive way-finding for the visually impaired guests

Our concept was a conversational A.I. navigation system to create a safe and inclusive environment where the user would not feel alone, but feel free to walk around independently.

Prototype & Testing A

How can we test the conversational A.I. navigation system and its role?

Our system relies heavily on behavior rather than looks, we wanted to know if the user sees the value of having a companion. We also wanted to explore how to navigate, how a voice can guide when to turn, and how much information the user can hear comfortably while walking.

To be able to test it, we created scripts, used phone calls, asked a legally blind guest to walk around mall with Wes (through a phone call). We conducted this user testing two times to test how the modified script works better after the first test.

Findings:

• People feel safer having a companion

• Informing the distance in feet confuses the users - counting for them works the best.

• The navigation should be direct and short to avoid confusion.

• The user should be able to control the amount of information. Some users like environmental information. One of the users says: “It’s like I am window shopping again, it is fun.” At the same time, some users prefer to hear only what’s necessary to arrive at the destination.

Vision Video

Creating a story

We created the vision video to share our concept with audience for the final presentation. The story introduces our persona and shows how Wes works. I drew the scenario, edited the video, and help shooting the footage.

Prototype & Testing B

How do users access the navigation on an App?

We originally embedded the navigation feature within the Westfield current App. I created the prototype and conducting the testings with the visually impaired participants and reported to the team. After the few versions of modification, we separated Wes to be an individual App after finding out that it is easier for the users to access. 

• Wes uses black and yellow instead of the official Westfield brand color scheme (black and red). Although the condition differs from people, we learned that Yellow + Black is easier to read for visually impaired people.

• While many users use the VoiceOver operating system to read texts on the screen, they also claim that simple graphics and icons are an easier way for the legally blind to communicate.

• Although it is a conversational app in which the user can control the app by talking through the microphone. We provided test scripts on the navigation mode (last screen, bottom right) to help the users who preferred not to feel rushed and have options to go back and read the previous direction.

Reflection

This project brought me lots of wonders from the start. What is their lifestyle like? How they use their phone? Do they want to go to a large shopping mall? All members of the team were regularly sighted. Understanding visually impaired sighted people’s lifestyles was challenging, yet I felt it was fascinating discovering more and more during the process. Also, I was impressed how the current technology and Apps have assisted and changed their lifestyle.

We blindfolded ourselves and walked around the mall to test our solution by ourselves before the test with visually impaired test participants because the robotic voice guidance was boring. I wonder how the experience can be more joyful because I wanted to address the solution that works for not only technical problems but feelings. I didn’t want to assume if the users would feel the same, so we asked the visually impaired guests if they seek enjoyment from the guide role. We learn that humor adds amusement which they appreciate, but guidance should remain straight forwards.

In this project, we took the time to have a discussion very often and deeply. Although we sometimes had to go back to the same process again, I appreciate all of our teammates were passionate about seeking deeper to bring a better solution in the end.

Our solution was well received in the presentation. The solution was for the visually impaired guest in this project. However, we get feedback and interest to use the audio guide at a large shopping mall from fully-signed guests. One of these people said, "I wish I had this at Black Friday." Which reminded me that the value of using an extreme user to create a product.