GUIDE DOTS

Short List
TitleGUIDE DOTS
BrandGUIDE DOGS ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND SINGAPORE
Product / ServiceGUIDE DOGS ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND
CategoryB05. Fundraising, charities, appeals, non-profit organisations, public health & safety, public awareness
EntrantY&R SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Entrant Company Y&R SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Advertising Agency Y&R SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Advertising Agency 2 UDKU Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Kon Marinis UDKU Australia Chief Creative Officer
Kon Marinis UDKU Australia Art Director
Nick Levey UDKU Australia Executive Creative Director
Nick Levey UDKU Australia Copywriter
Emir Shafri Y&R Singapore Digital Creative Lead
Emir Shafri Y&R Singapore Copywriter
Marcus Rebeschini Y&R Singapore Executive Creative Director
Marcus Rebeschini Y&R Singapore Art Director
Debbi Vandeven VML Chief Creative Officer
Dave Altis VML Executive Creative Director
Linda Bumgarner VML Executive Creative Director
Chris Wallen VML Managing Director/Experience Design
Scott Lichtenauer VML Senior Copywriter
Chuck Brandt VML Technical Architect/Lead Application Developer
Ben Ramey VML Application Developer
Bill Krejci VML Web Architect
Scott Stone VML Integrated Production Director
Lynsay Montour VML Communications Manager
Y&R SINGAPORE/UDKU AUSTRALIA/VML KANSAS CITY Additional company

The Brief

For the more than 285 million visually impaired people worldwide, losing their sight also means losing their independence because they have to rely on others to get where they’re going and to learn what’s around them. Guide dogs help them go from place to place safely, but they’re not trained to tell you about the places you’re passing by. As an organization that’s committed to improving the quality of life of the visually impaired, Guide Dogs Association of the Blind was looking for a 21st century solution that can complement guide dogs to give greater independence to the visually impaired.

Creative Execution

Guide Dots provides GDAB with a powerful tool to give greater independence that complements the use of guide dogs. Years of research and testing over three continents was undertaken to develop a user experience that made sense for the visually impaired. Features include large buttons to make the app easy to navigate and to aid in developing muscle memory. Additionally, a hierarchy of buttons was created based on use frequency — the most used were made bigger and easier to access. Guide Dots also leveraged on “explore by touch”, which narrates buttons with one tap, and activates them with two.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

What if technology could help the visually impaired “see”? We combined smartphone accessibility with location data to create Guide Dots, a free audio-based discovery app with accessibility features (e.g. Android’s “explore by touch”) specifically for the visually impaired. Guide Dots uses location data from Google Places, Facebook Nearby and Beacon technology (which allows indoor accessibility) with proprietary crowd-sourced GPS locations to “paint” a picture of the user’s surroundings. Guide Dots calls out locations and intersections, finds friends who have checked in nearby, and informs users about special offers, opening up the user’s world and empowering them with greater independence.

Results

In 3 months, Guide Dots has: • Enhanced the lives of users in more than 57 countries • 16.2 minutes per session on average (188% above average Android app session times) And with over 6,218 crowdsourced locations added and more locations adding Beacons, Guide Dots is poised to evolve as more people use it. Guide Dots also attracted global praise, including from Reuters, MSN and Contagious I/O, and from the visually impaired community, with 72.7% of users polled agreeing that, "GDAB enhances my quality of life". This has already translated to greater awareness and support for Guide Dots, guide dogs and GDAB.