Role: UI + UX Designer, Product Design, Research
Team: Jon Kerr, Hanbin Chang, Daniel DiCarlo.
Duration: 3 Hours
Tools Used: Sketch + Photoshop
Skills: Rapid prototyping & Research
The Big IDea Design Hackathon helps businesses to solve Accessibility Challenges and sequently to showcase innovative outcomes. Over the 3 hour duration of the Hackathon, I worked with Scotiabank Arena to design spatial and technological solutions that incorporate inclusive design practices to make the arena more accessible to its users. The design consisted of using a Microsoft Hololens to project a real time sign language interpreter and captions for individuals with audiovisual impairments. The use of augmented reality maps was further explored as a universal tool to help users attending events at the Scotiabank Arena.
Problem Space
The Scotiabank Arena is venue that has a seating capacity that allows up to 19,800 seats where 1% or 19 seats are allocated for individuals with disabilities and their companions. The existing infrastructure is currently targeted towards wheelchair accessibility but does not currently accommodate other persons with disabilities such as vision or hearing impairment.
How might we foster a more inclusive and accessible event experience for all individuals who require special accommodations?
Who are we designing for?
We interviewed users at the event with mobility, hearing and visual impairments to better understand issues they experience when trying to attend an event at the Scotiabank Arena. From their insights, we wanted to design an inclusive experience that would combine spatial and technological components to improve their ability to enjoy an event.
Purchasing Tickets
On the Ticketmaster site there is the option to select wheelchair accessible seating, however there is no other way to identify any other disability that may require special accommodation.
A proposed solution was to include a field during the ticket purchasing stage that allows users to indicate that they require special accommodations, prompting them to receive further information from the arena.
Spatial + Technology
Imagine, you are sitting in a wheelchair and someone stands up in front of you completely blocking your view, or the difficulty of focussing on your interpreter and the event at the same time.Currently people who require special accommodations or privacy are brought to a spare room away from the event. In addition, they experience other audio, visual, or mobility obstructions which detract away from their experience.
A spatial solution is allocating a designated space for individuals with special accommodation requirements to better service their needs and provide them with technological amenities that would improve their experience. This space allow users optimal room to experience the event, while being supplemented with assistive technology and professionals to assist you with any accessibility needs you require.
Microsoft Hololens
The Microsoft Hololens was explored for its mixed reality capabilities, allowing a user to be engaged with their surroundings while using assistive technology to enhance their experience at the same time. The focus of using the Hololens was for mapping, video streaming and real time ASL interpretations, as it can be accessed and utilized anywhere in the venue to help users who experience different accessibility issues.
Virtual Interpretation in Mixed Reality
Using the Hololens we created an interface that would allow users with visibility and hearing impairments to engage with the assistive technology while still remaining engaged in their physical environment. Users can choose to have an ASL interpreter on their screen or choose various languages that can be translated in realtime that will allow them to understand the content better. Multiple settings can be used to adjust contrast, font size, and brightness to suite each individuals need.
Augmented Reality Mapping
Navigating around large venues can be complicated for anybody, this process can be made easier by projecting the path of your point of interest on a real environment using augmented reality. It can provide users the ability to find their seat, food and drinks and the approximate distance and time to get there, reducing the dependency on verbal and visual signage which can be confusing to users.
Presenting our Idea
Daniel from Scotiabank Arena and I presented our concept to the audience, and gathered feedback on the product. From understanding users accessibility issues when attending the arena, we were able to create an inclusive design that would benefit all users of the arena for various events regardless of their disability in the future.
