GUIDE DOTS

Silver Spike

Case Film

Presentation Board

TitleGUIDE DOTS
BrandGUIDE DOGS ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND SINGAPORE
Product / ServiceGUIDE DOGS ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND
CategoryA03. Mobile Applications
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

Creative Execution

We spent years of research and testing over three continents to develop a user experience that made sense for the visually impaired. Guide Dots 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. The app uses GPS data from the Google Maps API, Facebook Nearby API, GeoNames API and Beacon technology (which allows indoor accessibility). To house geo-tagged location data, a custom database was built in Parse. Guide Dots was launched on Android on 16 April 2014.

The app has enhanced the independence and quality of life of users in more than 57 countries, with an average of 16.2 minutes per session, 188% above the average session times on Android apps (Adobe, 2013). As user MyRae Migliazzo explains, "It gives me the same ability I would have if I were walking with a partner. Independence just becomes second nature." And with over 6,218 crowdsourced locations added within the first 3 months alone and more locations adding Beacons, Guide Dots is poised to evolve and become richer in detail as more people use it. Guide Dots also attracted praise from around the world, including from Reuters, MSN and Contagious I/O, and from the visually impaired community, with 72.7% of Guide Dots 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.

For the more than 285 million visually impaired people worldwide, losing their sight also means losing 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. To help Guide Dogs Association of the Blind improve the quality of life of the visually impaired, we created Guide Dots, a free audio-based discovery app with accessibility features. It’s a powerful tool designed to complement guide dogs and white canes to give greater independence to the visually impaired. Guide Dots combines location data 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.

Links

Mobile URL   |   Additional URL 1