Mobile Accessibility Setup Research for Baby Boomers
Author: AJ Raftis, Kai-Chin Huang, Joe Banko, Desi Ramirez
Overview
We wanted to design a system that would help a user automatically configure their mobile devices’ accessibility settings in a way that was intuitive and straightforward. It was also important this initial configuration be done as part of the device setup process, so that users would be made aware of accessibility and what it could provide.
Problem Statement
During our research, we found that many Baby Boomers were unaware of the accessibility features of their mobile devices, as such they were not making use of those features. This was despite the fact that they expressed an interest in features offered by accessibility. To this end, we designed an addition to the new device setup workflow that would present the user with a series of quick tests that could be used to set their default accessibility settings.
We hope this will deliver a two fold result. First, it will configure the user’s device with necessary accessibility settings, which they were unaware of previously. Secondly, it will make them aware that there are accessibility settings, and where these settings can be changed in the future.
Personas
Our group created two personas after our interview. One is often an early adopter of new technology and the other one barely uses computers.
Our Process
In order to determine the process for best uncovering the needs of our users, we first created a problem that we thought needed to be solved. Once we had the problem decided, we went and asked our families questions regarding the topic of accessibility. From these questions, we were able to formulate two personas in which we used to guide the remainder of our research. These two personas, Dan Simmons and James Carrington gave us insights into the needs of simplicity and ease of use when setting up their devices. With these tenets and a few more derived from the personas, we went about creating a prototype that would have users work through the process of setting up their devices for the first time. After we had the prototype made, we made sure to test it with users that were similar to the personas that we had designated. From these user tests, we were able to uncover a few improvements that could be iterated upon.
Ideas and Questions
We first brainstormed a number of ideas, but were unsure of one specific project. To that end, we wrote a number of interview questions for our three main ideas, with the goal that once we interviewed potential users, we’d be able to narrow our project down to a single idea.
Interviewing
We arranged to interview three people at or near the baby boomer generation. Interviews were conducted over Zoom, and the meetings were recorded, so that notes could be taken at the completion of the interview.
Once the interviews were all completed and distilled, we used the information found to determine what our final project would be. In our case, we chose to design an addition to the mobile device set up process to auto-configure a user’s accessibility settings based on their answers to a few simple tests.
We also used the results of the interview to distill the two example personas we could refer to when working on our design and prototype.
Prototyping
Prior to starting our actual prototype, we brainstormed final ideas of what steps our final design would take. We then used the online tool, Figma to create our prototype. In conjunction with Zoom, this allowed us to collaboratively edit our prototype, where we could rapidly iterate changes while providing immediate feedback.
User Feedback
After developing our prototype, we did various forms of testing and iteration. We started by testing our prototype within our team to ensure that any major issues could be solved before bringing the prototype to a wider audience. Once we revised the prototype, we reached out and found external users which fit within our personas’ demographics. We interviewed and distilled our external users’ feedback into a single document, which would allow us to refine the prototype once more.
We found that the users who tested our system were happy with the results. They liked that the panel helped them set up accessibility, since they were previously unaware of what accessibility could do for them. They also provided some good feedback on some changes that would be worthwhile to make. For example, they found the “Icon Size” and “Adjust Contrast” checks to be slightly confusing, and their interactions with these panels allowed us to bandy about some ideas for improvements.
Outcomes and Lessons
Overall, we were pleased as a group with what we were able to produce in the allotted time we were given. As a newly formed group with no significant UI/UX experience our prototype was not flawless upon our first test, with users stating glaring issues and potential fixes on our full prototype. The tasks given in our prototype were simple and effective however our overall goal and purpose of these tasks may have confused some of our users during their first user test. As a team, we knew what we wanted our project to be and what it was set out to do, but the portrayal of its intentions may have been lost in transition from our brainstorming to our prototype, which may have left users as to why and what the purpose of our project was.
