Sign of the Times
Making FaceTime accessible for all.
Not affiliated with Apple.
The idea
Case Study: Redefining the way hearing impaired individuals engage with and connect to the world.
This case study covers the capstone project of my consultative sales program, where teams of 6 designed a solution that would "solve a real-world problem" and pitched it to a mock executive panel.
Project Date
2021
Role
Designer
The overview
Note: The scope of the original project was focused on pitching the solution and business outcome. For the purposes of this case study, I assumed a designer role and created a high fidelity prototype based on our solution pitch.
Problem Statement:
Develop an idea to address a real-world challenge to a particular industry or client – then turn that idea into a potential solution and present this solution to a client of your choice.
Project Goals:
1. Define "real-world problems" and brainstorm potential solutions + companies to pitch to
2. Conduct user research to support the business case in areas including but not limited to: target audience, technology, and financials
3. Deliver an end-to-end proposal to key stakeholders and "win the business"
Scope and Constraints:
Due to timeline and resource constraints, the scope of our project was limited to presenting the big picture elements of our solution.
The process
Define "real-world problems" and brainstorm potential solutions + companies to pitch to
My team began by redefining "real-world problems" as "societal pain points that affects a certain industry or group of people". That narrowed down the scope and allowed each of us come up with an issue and respective solution. After pitching our ideas to one another, we voted and decided on the idea that we felt had the most compelling impact: to redefine the way hearing impaired individuals engage with the world. After some organic discussions about how we could accomplish this with our company's technology, we thought of incorporating AI visual recognition, American Sign Language (ASL) datasets, and STT (speech-to-text) capabilities into video calling applications. While conceptualizing, companies like Apple (FaceTime), Microsoft (Skype), and Zoom were our top contenders to pitch to.
Ultimately, Apple became our target company for three reasons:
1. Commitment to accessibility and inclusivity initiatives
2. Market relevance in the US with Apple ecosystem and FaceTime
3. Existing partnership with IBM
Conduct research to support the business case
Next, we had to conduct research to prove there was a business case we could make for this solution. With statistics gathered from the World Health Organization and feedback from someone in our HoH (hard of hearing) target audience, we validated that there was a need for this solution. From there, we were able to create our personas - Lacy, a hearing impaired individual who communicates using ASL, and Sarah, her friend that knows limited ASL.
Deliver an end-to-end proposal to key stakeholders and "win the business"
With Lacy and Sarah in mind, our business and technical teams built out the rest of our solution. Our final deliverable included a pitch deck and demo that told a story of the current state to the future state of video calls between the HoH community and their loved ones through the eyes of our personas Lacy and Sarah. In terms of business objectives and results, we also fleshed out the financials, technical components behind our solution, and proposed a timeline for project implementation. We also presented the potential longevity of this project - how Apple could extend this globally and integrate other countries' sign languages into FaceTime.
The design
Prototype Features
Feature #1: ASL-to-Text button (3rd icon) that allows Sarah to understand what Lacy is signing
Feature #2: Speech-to-Text button (3rd icon) that allows Lacy to read what Sarah is saying
The outcome
As a result, my team ranked first out of six groups. The feedback we received from the mock executive panel was extremely positive due to our compelling business case and commitment to the end users.
Key Takeaways and Lessons Learned
1. Learning to conceptualize and pitch a new idea/product with little to no direction
2. Mastering tell-show-tell technique to communicate effectively to stakeholders (Tell them what you're going to show, Show them what you just told, Tell them why it matters to them)
3. Shipping a product/feature is augmented by the ability to communicate in different languages - whether that be business, design, financial, or technical.