GUIDE DOTS

TitleGUIDE DOTS
BrandGUIDE DOGS ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND SINGAPORE
Product / ServiceA FREE AUDIO-BASED MOBILE DISCOVERY APP FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
CategoryA01. Innovation
EntrantY&R SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Entrant Company Y&R SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Advertising Agency Y&R SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Advertising Agency 2 UDKU Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Advertising Agency 3 VML Kansas City, USA

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 Chief Creative Officer
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

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. Technologically, most tools are either impractical or prohibitively expensive. With no external funding, our team (which consists of application developers, user experience architects, and a creative team that is spread across three continents) created Guide Dots, a free audio-based discovery app with accessibility features (e.g. Android’s “explore by touch”) using Android Studio with Java and several location APIs. In 2013, we chose Singapore as a test bed for this app. This bustling city enjoys one of the world’s highest smartphone penetration rates at 90% (MMA, 2012) and stable nationwide LTE connectivity. That meant we could test the prototype with visually impaired subjects who are sophisticated smartphone users and who live in a very hectic city. After expanding our testing to Australia and USA, Guide Dots was launched on the Google Play store on 16 April 2014.

We started with the question: what if data and technology could help the visually impaired “see”? Guide Dots is a free audio-based discovery app for the visually impaired that’s designed to complement guide dogs and white canes. Using a combination of smartphone accessibility with location data 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. To ensure the app works globally, Guide Dots combines location data from Google Places API, Facebook Nearby API, GeoNames API and Beacon technology (which allows indoor accessibility) with proprietary crowd-sourced GPS locations. To store the crowd-sourced location data, a custom database was built in Parse. Developing a user experience for the visually impaired, when we’re so accustomed to designing visual experiences in the advertising world, was an enlightening challenge. We spent two years of research and testing over three continents to develop a solution that made sense for the visually impaired. Features included large buttons to make the app easy to navigate. Additionally, a hierarchy of buttons was created based on use frequency — the most used were made bigger and easier to access. We also used Android accessibility features, such as speech synthesis, voice recognition, and “explore by touch”, which narrates buttons with one tap, and activates them with two. After extensive testing, we launched Guide Dots on the Google Play store on 16 April 2014. Based on user feedback and continuous testing, we’re constantly refining Guide Dots. We are also planning to work with partner locations in test markets to roll out more Beacons, to allow the visually impaired to “see” indoors.

We’ve been encouraged by the positive reactions of the visually impaired people who have interacted with Guide Dots. The app has been downloaded by visually impaired users globally, who praise the app’s ability to enhance independence and quality of life. Guide Dots also attracted praise from around the world, including from Reuters, MSN and Contagious I/O. This has already translated to greater awareness and support for Guide Dots, guide dogs and GDAB. We are already in discussions with malls in test markets to roll out more Beacons, to allow the visually impaired to “see” indoors. Our long-term goal is to help end the isolation of visually impaired people and give them independence by giving them a complete view of their world in a highly relevant, customizable and easy-to-understand way. We also hope to influence user experience professionals to rethink how they create experiences for the visually impaired. We also hope to inspire the location-based and mobile industries to think how their technology can include the people who need it most. More importantly, we want to inspire people in our industry to realize that if we put our minds to it, we can combine creativity and technology to change lives.