Improving Surveys Accessibility
Overview
At my company's Hackathon (and also my first Hackathon!), my team and I aimed to empower young learners with an inclusive educational experience. In just 2 days, we created an innovative project to ensure every child can thrive. Excitingly, we were awarded the People's Choice, a testament to our dedication to accessibility.
Timeline 48 hours! (July 2023)
Role UX & UI Design, Product Management
Tools Figma, Miro, Slack, Google Docs
Introduction
With a theme that encourages innovation related to the company's product, mission, and goals in education, our team has chosen to tackle student survey accessibility, specifically focusing on K-2 students.
Comprising a dynamic group of 9 individuals with diverse skill sets, we share a common passion for accessibility. Our decision to focus on K-2 students stems from the understanding that their cognitive skills are still developing, presenting numerous opportunities for improvement. Our mission is to enhance the survey experience for these young learners, addressing visual challenges such as color blindness, motor/mobility barriers, and auditory difficulties.
With a strong commitment to creating a more inclusive educational environment, we are excited to collaborate and make a meaningful impact on the accessibility of student surveys.
The Process
Within the next 48 hours, besides Figma prototypes, we'll focus on achieving our MVPs. Our time and responsibilities will be managed collaboratively to ensure efficient progress. Documentation is a priority, and we'll designate a responsible team member for it to be ready by presentation day.
To handle our short timeline effectively, we'll employ an iterative approach with clear goals. Testing will run parallel to ensure a polished outcome for the demo day. This sprint was by far the most intense and exhilarating experience I've ever had!
Step 1 of 3: Ideation
As familiar as we are with the survey page, we want to take it a step further! We're determined to craft a dynamic design that truly connects with our young audience and enhances their survey experience. We start with dissecting our survey page design and discuss features that seem doable for our engineers, so we all are aligned with that.
Step 2 of 3: Design and iterations
First, we're focusing on adding a Speak Aloud button, an accessibility feature that enables users to hear the content on the page. This will be a game-changer for those with visual impairments, as it allows them to access information independently. It's also super convenient for users who prefer consuming content through audio or need to multitask while using our platform.
We've decided to incorporate Emoji Scales into our multi-choice questions to enhance user-friendliness and visual appeal. With this fun addition, we'll create a more engaging and enjoyable experience for our users.
Next, we're enhancing Color Vision options to cater to diverse user needs. We'll include color-blind colors, sensory-friendly colors, and dark mode. To ensure we get it right, we've tested different views using https://www.color-blindness.com/. Our color options cover various scenarios, such as Trichromatic view, Anomalous Trichromacy, Dichromatic view, and Monochromatic view.
Lastly, we're keeping the dark mode / light mode toggle as a nice-to-have feature. We understand we have limited time, but we'll aim to make our platform versatile and visually appealing with this option.
Step 3 of 3: Finalization
During our last stage, we prioritized content updates and UX copy improvements to ensure a seamless user experience with minimal cognitive load. By refining the language used throughout the platform, we aimed to provide users with clear and concise instructions, making navigation intuitive and straightforward. Our commitment to optimizing the user interface and reducing cognitive burden reflects our dedication to delivering a user-friendly and accessible product.
Lessons Learned
Instead of thoroughly clarifying our app idea first, we jumped into the designing phase too quickly, assuming we were on the same page. Unfortunately, this led to confusion and divergent interpretations among team members. Moving forward, we prioritize open communication and a well-defined concept to avoid similar challenges.
Our passion drove us to tackle a multitude of tasks simultaneously within the limited 48 hours. This enthusiasm led us to overextend ourselves, resulting in only one MVP being successfully built and launched, while the rest of the concepts remained as figma prototypes. Moving forward, we recognize the importance of channeling our passion into more focused efforts, allowing us to achieve tangible outcomes without compromising the quality of our work.