TacMinder
Helping people with visual impairments to solve the embarrassment and privacy problem via a new public restroom availability checking system.
My Role
Product Design, User Research, Prototyping
Team
4 Designers
Tools
Figma,
Rhino, KeyShot, SolidWorks,
Adobe Premiere
Timeline
4 Weeks = Research * 2 + Design * 2
Results
Award winner selected by Shanghai Municipal Committee for Education and Health
Context
Why we design for them?
We rarely see people with vision impairment in public places in China, despite the significant number. Although they prefer and sometimes have to travel on their own, the fact is they can hardly go out without company. They do not usually have guide dogs, because the number of guide dogs in China is less than 200. They highly rely on the guide cane and the tactile pavement.
Highlights
Our final solution
Discover
User interviews
We interviewed 20 participants with different levels of vision impairment about their everyday travel experience, supported by Shanghai Association of Persons with Visual Disabilities.
Public Toilets?
“I drink as little water as possible when I go out, because going to the toilet alone can be a big problem.”
“Last week I used the restroom in a museum and there is a volunteer trying to help me, but I felt embarrassed.”
We noticed that some of the participants mentioned these problems they have met, and started to think about the use of current public restrooms for people with vision impairment.
Accessible toilets are not accessible to people with visual impairment
By 2021, only 31.5% of public restrooms in cities in China are equipped with accessible toilets. Most accessible toilets are designed for mothers, babies, people with extremity disabilities, still very inconvenient for people with visual impairments. Around 98% of public toilets in Shanghai do not have facilities such as tactile paving at all. Below are photos we took in a shopping mall in Shanghai.
Most participants find it hard to use public restrooms alone
Example 1: Use the guide cane to walk along the wall, or find a companion
Example 2: Push the door by hand. get really close to each door, but with privacy concerns
Example 3: Avoid drinking any water during the trip
Define
User journey map
Based on the insights from the interviews, we mapped out the typical user journey of people with vision impairment using public restrooms when they are traveling alone.
Problem target
For people with vision impairment, the current way they check the availability of toilets in public restroom makes them feel strange and embarrassed, and they have some privacy concerns about it.
HMW design an assistive add-on to make them feel more comfortable to use public restrooms?
Develop
Brainstorming
We voted two rounds by rating the effectiveness, first-use learnability, user preference and feasibility.
50 Ideas → 21 Ideas → ✸Interactive Tile
Storyboarding & sketching
For people with vision impairment, the current way they check the availability of toilets in public restroom makes them feel strange and embarrassed, and they have some privacy concerns about it.
Interactive tile units
The standard tactile paving in China is yellow (because yellow is easier to be distinguished for people with vision impairment), and has two defined types.
Deliver
Takeaways
What I learned in this passion project
When users are not decision makers, designers need to be proactive.
Convincing the stakeholders with storytelling.
