Via Case Study

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Introduction

Background

The project Via was made as a submission to BU Forge’s 2024 Catalyst Designathon, which was my first-ever designathon. It won first place in the ‘accessibility’ track. I worked as a UX designer and researcher along with my other two teammates (Hyunseok Song and Tiffany Hoang) where we were tasked to create an app that helped improve accessibility to any real-world issue.

The Problem

Outdated infrastructure hinders accessible travel.

In 2019, the US Census Bureau revealed that nearly 30 million adults in the US have difficulty walking or or face mobility challenges. Navigation in urban areas, specifically, can be much more challenging as many existing navigation tools don’t account for unexpected emergencies, road conditions, landmark accessibility, and much more. Accessible travel should be a priority as we should strive to make our society as inclusive as possible.

The Solution

Welcome to Via! Start here, go anywhere.

Given how common the issue of accessibility is, Via was made to cater to those who require assistance walking, use wheelchairs, or those who simply want to avoid obstacles in their daily route. The app includes features such as rating the accessibility of routes, locations, transportation areas, and even provide live updates and reporting of danger while traveling.

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Research

The Pain Points

We surveyed multiple city residents to understand their experiences with accessibility in their daily lives. We identified several common pain points:

• People experienced frequent disruptions in their travel routes due to construction or other obstacles in urban areas making travel stressful and unpredictable.
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• Many users have to take alternative routes using roads or alleys due to poorly maintained or inaccessible sidewalks
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• Some respondents reported that there are a high number of inconsistencies with accessibility building features such as elevators and ramps.
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• Many surveyors highlighted the difficulties of finding reliable information regarding boarding, seating, and accessibility information for transportation

Overall, with the unpredictability of daily routine in urban areas, it falls short of providing the necessary support for accessible and inclusive travel.

An idea

How can we improve existing navigation apps?

Via takes inspiration from currently existing navigation apps such as Google Maps and Apple Maps. However, we wanted to take accessibility a step further than what both of these apps already had. We wanted accessibility to be the main focus of our app. Therefore we took these previously existing accessibility features from Apple and Google maps:

• Elevation tracker/rating
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•Markings for accessible transit
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• Indoor mapping for large public spaces

And added more to cater to the users that would be using Via:

• Clear markings for hazards on live map
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•Accessibility rating for restaurants, public spaces, routes, etc.
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• Live updated incident reports
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• The ability to add public comments to reports and ratings

User Personas

"I need to find the best routes that will get me to work and around the city without any obstacles."

Sarah Williams is a dedicated elementary school teacher who has been using a wheelchair for the past five years after a car accident. She resides in the bustling urban area of New York City and commutes daily to her job at her local elementary school. Sarah wants to be updated about any road conditions and incidents that affect her daily path so she can avoid as many mishaps as possible.

"I want to keep discovering new places, but I need routes that are easy on my knees."

Mark is a retired engineer living in Chicago. He loves to stay active and explore the city in his free time. However, he has mild arthritis which makes it challenging for him to navigate certain areas. He opts for low-elevation paths as he doesn’t want to strain his knee.

"I need to find accessible paths to get to my meetings without any hassle, especially now that I’m on crutches."

Emily is a graphic designer based in San Francisco. She is temporarily on crutches after ankle surgery. Her company requires her to travel around the city to meet clients and hold meetings so she needs an app that shows where the nearest accessible public transportation stations are located.

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The Process

Low Fidelity and Mid Fidelity

Ready, Set .... Sketch!

Since we were on a time crunch, My team did a quick 10-minute low fidelity sketching session based off the user flow chart we had initially creator to delegate what pages and features we were sure we wanted in the app. We created our iterations of each page along with any additional features/pages we thought would be beneficial. After coming back together, we reviewed everyone’s work and decided on which frames and features to move forward with based on what was marked during review.