InclusiView

Service Design & User experience Design

Team: Aishwarya Bhave, Emily Marzocchi, Mugdha Attarde, Srinija Ghantasala, Tejas Gaikwad

Role: Service Design, UX and UI design of the digital prototype

Mentors: Gareth Polmeer

Timeline: November 2023 to April 2024, Project at the Royal College of Art

Objective:

The project aims to shift perceptions of disability towards understanding it as societal disadvantage. We seek to develop practical tools, such as AR for accessibility, to educate and assist in planning spaces that cater to diverse impairments from early stages, rather than using technology as a workaround for access issues.

Approach:

We began by understanding our team's diverse strengths and weaknesses, given our backgrounds in service design, information experience design, interior design, and product design. Our theme, 'being digital,' led us to formulate a problem statement focused on accessibility. To inform our research, we studied 'Disability and Society' and the 'Universal Design Guide Playbook.' Discussions with our mentor refined our approach, and interviews with architects provided valuable insights. Due to ethical considerations, direct interactions with disabled individuals were not possible. After validating our concept with our tutor, we developed an AR model using Unity and designed the app screens. As our project evolved, we realized the app would benefit auditors more than architects. We assessed various college spaces for accessibility, leveraging ongoing renovations to implement our idea.

Key Insights:

1. Social oppression results from inadequate accommodation of impairments.

2. Advocacy tools must align with Disability Studies principles for effective solutions.

3. Virtual reality often emphasises societal barriers over individual experiences.

4. The Disability Discrimination Act emphasises reasonable adjustments & highlights non-compliance consequences.

Problem statement:

"Using AR/MR technology, building planners can experience physical and mental barriers during early planning stages, addressing the lack of understanding of disabilities in the built environment and catering to diverse impairments."

Introducing InclusiView:

Due to time constraints, we were only able to prototype the 'space analysis' aspect, not the floor plan analysis.