FaceTime
A non-sponsored re-design for accessibility.
Project Timeline
Two months, June - July
My Role
UX & UI Designer
Researcher
Wireframer & Prototyper
The Problem
Hearing-impaired individuals cannot speak on the phone in their cars without assistance.
This issue presented itself when my father, who is hearing-impaired, struggled to speak to me on the phone either when he was in the car himself or when I was. He couldn't see to read my lips in either situation. That issue gave me a moment.
The Solution
Re-create the feel of a FaceTime call on the phone in the car utilizing a rearview-mirror camera and the center console.
Rearview Camera
The car would have a camera installed in the left corner of the rearview mirror to show the driver's face to the call recipient.
Center Console
The center console would show the FaceTime screen as close to the typical experience as possible so a hearing-impaired driver could read lips.
Research
"...only 1 in 20 people who are deaf or have a hearing loss can complete tasks over the phone."
According to the UK Council on Deafness, only 1 out of 20 individuals with hearing impairments can complete common tasks over the phone. Of that number, 70% ask friends or family to help them complete calls that they struggle with.
According to a study conducted by The Hearing Review, 79% of those without hearing impairments benefitted from using FaceTime as a communication method. However, an astonishing 77% of those with mild to moderate and 71% of those with severe hearing impairments benefitted from using FaceTime.
User Interviews
Hello!
Hi!
"Just hearing from sound alone, ambient noise from driving drastically affects telephone audio volume and clarity."
I wanted to better understand the experiences my users had with speaking on the phone in the car. I tried to find the main issues they were experiencing with the setting, the audio quality, and complete understanding of the conversation.
Research Questions
1
What are some complications when speaking on the phone in the car?
2
What types of things do you use to assist you in understanding conversation?
3
How frequently would you say that you use lip-reading as one of those assists?
4
What things would improve your experience speaking on the phone in the car?
5
Has the general public's willingness to embrace video chat assisted you with communication?
Research Insights
Overall, users made it clear that a visual component to their calls significantly improved their understanding.
The main insight from my user interviews popped out in my affinity diagram. The users had far better understanding when they could see the person they were talking to.
Key Themes
Visualization
If the user could see the person speaking, they could better understand the conversation.
White Noise Struggles
Background noise significantly impaired understanding on a normal call in the car.
Understanding
If the user could see to lip-read, they felt more confident that they understood the conversation.
Design
The product needed to feel like Apple, but create the proper accessibility option for the users.
When iterating on my initial idea, I needed to maintain the feel of the Apple products that users were used to. The wireframe came to life as a hybrid of the iPad FaceTime layout and the CarPlay phone call layout.
The menu bar on the left mirrors the format of the CarPlay menu bar interface.
The circles at the bottom more closely align with the iPad FaceTime version for ease of use.
When the users were presented with the rough designs, the design was a success. They felt comfortable in the format and did not need explanations to understand what to click or what to do. I felt confident that I could move on to final mockups and prototypes.
The Final Look & Prototypes
Upon request, I implemented written text under the buttons for better understanding.
Alternatively, a long press on the mute button would enable the same feature.
For a hands-free experience, Siri integration was designed. It can be triggered by using steering-wheel controls.
This enables the driver to turn the center console view off and on with preference.
The final designs had the Apple feel the wireframes had. Users across the board understood the means of use. Siri integration was added to ensure a hands-free experience and it gave users the ability to turn the visualization feature off and on with their voice.
Final Thoughts & Reflections
"Watching my dad smile at thought of understanding a conversation in the car was priceless."
This was my first big UX Design project after completing the Google Career Certificate course. After learning so much about the importance of accessibility, it felt really amazing to put it into practice and see the real life impact a design like this could have. While it was by no means perfect, I feel like a learned a few key things along the way.
1
Never assume you know the answer. The data will tell you all of what you need to know to best help the user.
2
Accessibility is to be constantly working to better the design. Nothing is "one size fits all".
3
You can only truly fail if you refuse to learn and improve along the way.
I am proud of what I accomplished with this project, but I know I still have much to learn. The bottom line is that I know I want to be a designer with a constant focus on those with accessibility concerns that are rarely seen and those that come from forgotten communities. The world is so much bigger than our small bubbles. We only need to listen to others to grow as people.