Transforming Neurodiverse Education through UX and AR
Project details
Individual Project
(Took mentorship personally from ADPList mentors).
My role
UX / UI Design
UX Research
Duration
July - October, 2024
12 week
Disclaimer
Research indicates that
AR can positively impact learning for neurodiverse children, although existing studies may be limited. Design choices in this app are based on available data and may require refinement through direct testing. At any part of the case-study, you can click an image to view it full-sized.The challenge
To create an
inclusive learning experience that blends AR and AI for children aged 4-10, focusing on neurodiverse kids and their unique learning needs.
Illustrative image for demonstration purposes only
The solution
As the design evolved, it naturally encompassed greater
inclusivity, expanding the app’s usefulness to children with low vision and motor disabilities.Key feature #1
Learn with AR
Illustrating how the AR would be integrated in the app
🧠 Improves attention and retention
👁️ Helps visualize complex concepts
🫴 Helps with sensory seeking
🚶♀️ Promotes physical movement
Key feature #2
Play with different learning styles
Incorporated different learning methods like audio, visual, physical (Kinesthetic), verbal and logical.
🚀 Different learning methods to explore
🤝 Playing with friends to improve social skills
🫴Helps with sensory seeking
🎮 Gamified learning to keep kids engaged
Key feature #3
AI assistive technology
The AI part is mostly background work and the assistive support is demonstrated here.
🤖 AI accessible assistive support
🌱 Monitors to find the best suited learning style
😇 Helps with behavioural challenges
👆 Only tap actions and natural page flow (no sec nav)
The context
“Neurodiversity is not a deficit to be corrected, but a form of diversity to be recognized, respected, and supported.”
The initial hypothesis
This project started with my hypothesis that
immersive experiences helps neurodiverse students with abstract concepts.What’s neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity embraces the idea that these neurological variations, such as autism spectrum disorder, ADHD and dyslexia contribute to the diversity of human minds, each with its own strengths and challenges.
Mentor and expert guidance
As both
AR/VR technology and designing for neuro diverse kids are very new to me and I recognized the need for expert guidance to ensure the app’s design is both functional as well as inclusive. I connected with the following mentors via ADPList.👩 Ramya Mahendran
- Sweat(er) Capitalist at School of Empathy, Founder of Design Squiggle
Has
experience in working with neuro-diverse kids and adults and hence helped with making my designs more accessible and inclusive 👨 Arjit Singh
- Multidisciplinary designer and Educator
Has
experience in XR and UX designer and helped me with the AR part he also displayed his projects to give me some ideas 👩 Bhakti Soni
- UX Researcher at Google
Has a
psychology and research background and hence helped me with the making informed decisions and showcase my research effectively Goals
As this is
my passion project, I had both project goals focusing the product as well as personal goals focusing on my personal growth.
The research
Hypothesis research
To establish a solid foundation, I concentrated on
comprehension (understanding) and retention (recall of learned information). Therefore here's the revised hypothesis:"Immersive experiences enhance students' comprehension and retention of abstract concepts by providing interactive and visual learning."
Hypothesis metrices
Neurodiversity in numbers
These results are
hypothetical and may be subjective to minor deviations. For detailed research findings checkout my figma file here!The personas
I made three personas for each of the
3 major user groups I concentrated from the umbrella of neurodiverse conditions. These personas are created based on research and reference sites mentioned as sources in each persona.
The competitive analysis
From the research on neurodiverse kids, I came up with some
features that would help them with learning .So I compared these with some existing products that I found online.
Key mismatches between neurodiverse learning and existing solutions..
- Sensory seeking
- Behavioural assistance
- Social skills
Some of the design considerations…
AR vs VR
- Initially I kept my search broader and explored VR as well but finally for my solution I went with AR.
- For fixing my prime device, after considering the pro’s and con’s I stuck with tablet for my solution.
- Large screen size
- Availability of device
- Cost effectiveness
- Portability
Designing for neurodiverse kids
After going through a
lot of resources available on designing for neuro diverse kids, I made a style guide curated for their accessibility. 
WCAG color contrast checker
A peep into how I incorporated accessibility in my design
For example the font chosen is
Atkinson Hyperlegible and it’s chosen because of its distinguishable characters. Once again you can visit my figma file to access the complete research.
Font selection - Atkinson Hyperlegible
- Atkinson Hyperlegible font clearly distinguishes between similar characters:
- "I" (capital i), "l" (small L), and "1" (one).
- "O" (capital O), "o" (small o), and "0" (zero).
- "b, d, p, q" and "m, n, u, v, w" are also visually distinct.
Feedback and iteration
Mentor feedback
Given the
limitations of direct testing, I iterated designs based on mentor feedback.
The top three iterations
Key iteration #1
Simplifying the Information architecture
Reduced the complexity of the app by reworking on the architecture.
Before
After
🧭 Home-based main navigation
⚙️ Moved some flows to parent's flow
🧘♀️ Dropped mindful meditation
⏲️ Excluded activity timer
I reworked on the student’s user flow and removed some features to
reduce the complexity of the application.
Before
After
Key iteration #2
Reducing Actions per Page
Throughout the app I tried to keep only
4 to 5 actional items per page to reduce -.
Key iteration #3
Prioritizing Mental models
Initially I thought that making accessible components would make things easy for neuro diverse kids, but based on the feedback and my rethinking, I concluded that it’s better to go with
default components like keyboard so that the mental model of the kids are not affected.
Mentor feedback
“It’s great that you considered about this, but just designing this keyboard would be a project in itself.”
A quick jump back to the solution
Key feature #1
Learn with AR
Illustrating how the AR would be integrated in the app
🧠 Improves attention and retention
👁️ Helps visualize complex concepts
🫴 Helps with sensory seeking
🚶♀️ Promotes physical movement
Key feature #2
Play with different learning styles
Incorporated different learning methods like audio, visual, physical (Kinesthetic), verbal and logical.
🚀 Different learning methods to explore
🤝 Playing with friends to improve social skills
🫴Helps with sensory seeking
🎮 Gamified learning to keep kids engaged
Key feature #3
AI assistive technology
The AI part is mostly background work and the assistive support is demonstrated here.
🤖 AI accessible assistive support
🌱 Monitors to find the best suited learning style
😇 Helps with behavioural challenges
👆 Only tap actions and natural page flow (no sec nav)
Reflection
My learnings
- Got a good understanding towards designing for accessibility
- Importance of collaboration
- Keeping things simple
- Never late to revisit a design
- Okay to leave a project work in progress…
If I had more time
- Hands-on research with the user group to gather real-life insights.
- Conducting user testing and make improvements based on their feedback.
- Involving few designers could have opened new perspectives
Thanks for going through!
I loved working on this project as it has a very personal connect with me. I would love to discuss more about this project. Please feel free to share your feedback.