Cab Call is an accessible design solution catered towards the elderly and people with disabilities. Through user research, we developed a system that aims to break down physical and digital barriers through an intuitive interface. The system connects seniors of all abilities with trained drivers to transport them safely to their destination.
MY ROLE Throughout the duration of my project, I worked with my partner, Miriam Khakwani. Together, we researched about the lives of senior citizens, narrowed down on a specific problem, and developed a solution. Miriam drove the research portion of our project, while I drove the user interface design portion, although we both participated in research and design.
GOAL Improve the lives of the elderly by bringing back a sense of purpose and joy into their daily lives.
PROBLEM After retirement, seniors suffer from various mental health challenges. Often, this stems from the loss of purpose that comes from not being able to actively contribute to society. This coupled with lack of daily social interaction leaves them disconnected from society, leading to declining mental and physical health. Everyone, including the elderly, needs to feel needed.
INTERVIEW INSIGHTS We explored the relationship between older generations and younger generations as we hypothesized that if we foster a connection between them, then it could help alleviate the mental health challenges that seniors face.
65+ participants
- Senior Participants struggle with mobility, hearing etc.
- A lot of participants are lonely and isolated, some by choice others by circumstance
- Most do not engage with people younger than them and most likely would not if offered the chance as that deviates from their regular schedule.
- Participants only interact with staff and family
55 and under participants
- Participants surround themselves with people their own age due to their environment (i.e. school), comfortability, relatability and ease.
- Participants only interacted with elders that were related to them and in a limited setting.
- Others saw grandparents as people they respected yet were careful around due to fear of judgment.
- Some Participants believed that they would benefit from their experience.
- Others expressed they had a lot on their plate and adding this relationship would be added work
After conducting some interviews, we realized that trying to solve the generational gap in society to alleviate mental health problems for seniors was too large of a scope. So, we dove deeper into learning about how seniors interact with their local senior centers to narrow in on a more feasible solution.
SCOPING DOWN THE PROBLEM Senior centers struggle with getting seniors to actually come to the events they host. Seniors are quick to sign up to the events hosted by the center, however the problem seems to be that the seniors don’t always have a reliable way of getting to the center, resulting in often low attendance despite high registration numbers.
REDEFINED GOAL Improve the problem of immobility for seniors in their communities and enable them to participate in their local events.
PERSONAS
CONSIDERATIONS
- What is the intake process like for senior citizens?
- How might we educate drivers on how to assist elderly or people with different disabilities?
- How would seniors get assistance while using the app?
- How do we determine if a car is wheelchair accessible?
APP FUNCTIONS
We determined that we would need three separate experiences for our each of our different personas.
Seniors' Interface
- Seniors onboarded through calling in to their local senior center and getting assistance through a streamlined process. Does not require the tedious account creation process from the senior
- Would see a very simple, straightforward user interface that gives an option to call for a ride, would tell them how far their ride is, and give them an option to call their driver.
Drivers' Interface
- Application Form
- Required training modules to teach them about how to assist people with disabilities as a driver
- GPS/Navigation
- Option to call the rider
- Ability to see earnings per ride
Administrators' Interface
- Administrator access given through a private access code
- Would setup the account for seniors and get them onboarded
- Driver ride request processing
- GPS/Navigation for driver
USER FLOW
This user flow diagram helped us organize each of the important steps for each of the three interfaces.
WIREFRAMES
An early stage of our wireframing process, with a rough outline the experiences for the senior, administrator, and driver personas
BRANDING
We chose this Neobrutalist style mainly because it's high contrast, solid black strokes, and bold fonts lent to an accessible and legible design. Additionally, we thought the retro resemblance and quirkiness of our color palette would bring a sense of familiarity and friendliness that would reduce self-doubt of not being tech savvy enough for our senior citizens.
As far as our color palette, we ensured to only pair colors together if they complied with WCAG 2.1 AAA Accessibility Guidelines, to ensure that there was enough contrast for the elderly users that might have difficulty reading.
INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE
