
Audible Accessibility for Learning Impaired
Overview
This is an unsolicited redesign of the audible app with added features aimed at helping people with learning impediments. This project is my very first UX/UI project, and was completed in a 3 week design sprint from research to design.
Role
Design Lead
Ux Reseacher
UX Designer
Timeline
3 weeks
April 2021
Discovery
When undertaking the discovery phase I employed three methods of research; desktop research, surveys and interviews. I sent out a total of three surveys and conducted six interviews. There are many different types of learning impediments and they affect individuals differently, because of this it is important to define the scope. My research and focus will not be on those who are intellectually impaired as people diagnosed with these have additional underlying conditions that disrupt their learning journey and ultimately may need more additional help than an app can provide.
Define
Research Statistics
80% of all learning disabilities are comprised partly or entirely by dyslexia
Males are twice as likely to be affected by dyslexia than females
1 in 5 people or around 20% of the world's population is affected by dyslexia
Survey Statistics
Survey 1
Distributed over Reddit aimed at dyslexic people
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37.5% female
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62.5% male
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75% over 25 years old
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75% have dyslexia
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50% use text to speech
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87.5% use audio books
Survey 2
Distributed over email aimed at teachers
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66.7% primary school teachers
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66.6% teach humanities
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No consistent teaching strategies
Survey 3
Distributed over email aimed at parents
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80% found it hard to find consistent support
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97% wanted more information about the child's progression
My surveys validated my research data, however my survey response rate was not as high as I would like. Surveys are not an ideal way to find information from people who do not like to read or write. Learning disabilities are also very personal and so many do not want to answer questions. Survey 1 had 8 responses, survey 2 have 6 responses and survey 3 had 5 responses.
Survey Statistics
I supplemented my research with 5 interviews; 2 dyslexic people, 2 teachers and 1 parent. Two of the most powerful quotes from those are below. I found that talking to the dyslexic people was a much better way to understand how it has affected them and their stories.
Interview quote
"I'd say for the longest time, dyslexia would have been the thing I hated most about myself."
Male 28 years old
Interview quote
"Integration and not segregation of learning tools across the entire class so students don't feel different about how they learn."
Learning specialist
Competitor Analysis
I conducted a competitor analysis of the top 4 listed audio book platforms that were unearthed from my initial surveys, to compare their features and library sizes and to see if any address these issues.

Affinity Map

Personas
I collated all the data together to create personas. While the primary persona are young students with dyslexia they have little to no say over their educational journey, it is the parents and teachers that control change.
Develop
I presented my findings to a small workshop group that included, a parent, a teacher and person with dyslexia. Together we delved into process to come up with a range of solutions. In order to focus our efforts I developed 3 how might we questions.
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How might we improve the reading experience for those with learning disability?
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How might we attract customers who have little to no interest in literature?
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How might we tailor a better learning experience for the individual?
Deliver
The key it seems to tackling this problem is flexibility of features, as learning disabilities affect each person differently more control for how they interact with the text and reading exercises seems to be the approach suggested by all three persona groups.
Reflection
This project involved gathering very personal information from people with learning disabilities. I was unable to access any information or resources from any academic or support group because I did not possess an ethics statement. If this project was to be continued I would need one so I could expand my research and testing.
The goal of this project was to better students experience with reading helping to not only assist their reading ability but to also strengthen their reading abilities, some of the key points brought up by both parents and people with dyslexia is pushing them to be better readers. All the dyslexic people interviewed disliked being pushed hard to read but are thankful for it retrospectively. By adding in reading activities I hoped to strengthen their reading.
The last step I think is necessary to bring about this projects full potential is the introduction to learning tools to everyone. This will help to reduce any stigma around using these tools and can help those with low to mild learning disabilities that might go their whole lives without realizing.
If I had the chance to do this again I would try to be more ambitious with the features and activities used to help people read, I would seek a more standard colour pallet but keep the customization. I would also like to spend time on the tablet/kindle version.