Materialization.
Application color development.
At the beginning of the development of the desktop application the colours used were very bright and basic: green, yellow, red and blue in RGB colour settings. Although these colours do serve the purpose of functionality in terms of being distinguishable by the user we also wanted to make the app slightly more visually appealing in terms of colour combinations. The reasoning behind this was that ultimately the app is intended to be developed for users with other forms of visual impairment. These users may be able to see the colours in a more defined way and therefore making the colours more appealing while remaining functional could improve the user experience.
After both observing the specific user interpreting colours and researching how the visually impaired community interprets contrasts in colours a version of the above five colour combinations were developed for the application. In a co-design meeting with the specific user these initial combinations were adjusted and redefined based on verbal feedback from the user in explaining their interpretation of the colours. Combinations 1 and 2 proved to be dysfunctional as the user was unable to differentiate between green, purple and orange in combination 1 nor between light blue and beige in combination two. Combinations 3, 4 and 5 were initially not perfectly identifiable but after small adjustments the user was to differentiate between the four colours comfortably. Therefore, it is these three colour combinations that become the basis of the desktop application design.
Product in context.
The wearable is comfortable and possible to be taken anywhere and be worn everywhere since it is comfortable on the wrist. Because the product can be either used on phone and laptop and be switched easily between the two makes it accessible anywhere. Furthermore, the wearable does not make use of braille. People who go blind later in their lives, for example our user, usually cannot learn braille as quickly as people blind from birth. They are also able to still use their laptops and keyboards. If the product would make use of braille it would not be inclusive for these people together with the fact that they do not need braille in the product.
Unique selling points.
Wristband.
Putting the wearable on and taking it off should be possible without needing someone else's help, the participant mentioned previously that this is not necessarily possible if fine motoric mechanisms are included. Different wristbands, a belt-fastening, a nicro-fastener, a snap-fastener, a slide in and an elastic wristband, were considered to find the most suitable option for the participant.
The belt fastening mechanism, typically used for wearables, requires some fine motoric skills, as well as the snap fastener and the slide in mechanism. For the elastic wristband it would be possible to put on the wearable without using a closing mechanism.
It was therefore decided to use a nylon wrist band for the wearable as the user is able to slip the wearable on and off without using a mechanism. Additionally, the client specifically requested a fabric strap and elastic material is more comfortable for the user to wear throughout the entire day. This is due to natural expansions and contractions of joints throughout the day which the elastic accommodates. There is also no metal mechanism to irritate the skin.
Wristband Sizing
During a co-design session we measure the user’s specific wrist size which allowed for designing and prototyping the wrist strap to the specific size and allowed for prototyping the main piece to fit nicely on the top plane of the client’s wrist.
Charging the Wearable
One major consideration of the product is the way in which the wearable should be charged. Using plug points for charging can be challenging for the visually impaired if the product is unfamiliar. For this reason the charging device for the wearable should enable the user to place the product in multiple orientations (H4). The most viable solution in this case would be a wireless charging technology which can be placed in the user’s home environment in a position that is easily accessible and easy to remember. This could be, for example, next to the user’s bed on the nightstand. It should also be easy for the user to identify where on the charger the wearable should be placed. Below the ideation for this wireless charger can be seen.
The chosen design has one side that is a stick which allows the user to easily identify from which side the wearable should be placed on the charger. The entire wooden cylinder has wireless charging technology so it does not matter at which orientation the user places the wearable for charging.
The prototype was made to perfectly resemble the final design, it is not functional however. The main body of the wearable is made out of a hard foam and cut into the right shape after which it was sanded into a smooth surface finish. All the buttons have the right textures, shapes and forms on top of them. It is accompanied by a wristband made out of leather which has a closing system of buttons. This differs from the original design which uses a stretchy nylon with no closing mechanism.
The charging stand is made out of wood which is the same as the original design. The metal bar is a little thinner than it should be as in the original it should have a charging cable going through it.
Then there are also two prototypes made for the accompanying app, one suitable for a laptop and one for use on phones. For the laptop version, the user starts with choosing notes, to-dos or recordings by either pressing a button on the wearable or by using the mouse to click the assigned coloured block. For notes a category and after 2 layers of subheaders have to be chosen. For the to-dos a block based on importance and urgency can be chosen to ten make the to-do.
In the phone version the different coloured blocks for separation are not suitable as the screen is too small for the user to notice the difference between the colours. The phone is more designed so that it is convenient to be used with the screen reader which is done by putting the text in more logical placements.
Prototype.
