Overview
Luv Michael's employees currently receive training from instructors on safe kitchen practices through lessons and physical games. Given the diverse learning abilities of the employees, Luv Michael tasked my team and I with creating a more accessible and inclusive learning tool to better address their needs.
Luv Michael is a granola making non-profit company that provides employment for neurodiverse adults.
CLIENT
Luv Michael
NYU school project. (Assistive Technology Course)
Role
UX Designer
AR Developer
Team & Duration
3 UX Designers,
2 AR Developers.
Six Weeks & ongoing
Tools
Figma
Snapchat's Lens Studio
Unity
Problem
action
Solution
impact
A 60% increase in user engagement with the AR-based tool, with additional user testing scheduled for the latest prototype to further evaluate retention rates.
UX Research
Client Visits
Instructors at Luv Michael use a curriculum called ServSafe to train their employees on safe kitchen practices.
Lessons are conducted by the instructor using a whiteboard, where she writes and draws as she speaks. To reinforce these lessons, employees engage in physical card sorting activities.
Retention of information is low.
Multiple repetition of lessons is often required.
Varied learning abilities becomes a challenge in a group learning setting.
Employees often find it hard to relate what they learn to their work, making it difficult to apply the lessons effectively.
Simple, quick exercises to revise lessons.
Some degree of customized learning.
Employees need to connect learning to their environment; an immersive, practical experience could help.
Research and Brainstorming
Understanding Luv Michael's curriculum - I reviewed Luv Michael's ServSafe curriculum to see their material, understand the content that is being taught and how.
Available tools/approaches in the market for neurodiverse population - Most learning tools on the market are designed for autistic children, with very few available for autistic adults.
Ideation: My team and I came up with different ideas for the curriculum and below are some of the ideas we discussed with our Luv Michael's POC
An Interactive Web Game?
A Tactile Game?
Touching physical cards and moving them around can be an effective learning technique.
An Augmented Reality based tool!
User Testing with AR
Key Observations
Insights
AR effectively captured their attention.
Ease of use is a key factor.
3) User Feedback:
One employee found the AR Basketball app easy to understand, unlike other apps.
Most employees enjoyed seeing motion on the screen. (e.g., watching a basketball move)
Constraint and simplicity are valuable.
Touch-triggered motion is engaging.
4) Interface Clarity:
The split-screen interface with two directions was clear to all 7 participants.
Split screen is not confusing.
First Prototype
Brainstorming
Pivoting - adapting to user testing insights and fresh client demands!
First Iteration
Second Iteration
Final Prototyping
Working on this project with Luv Michael has been an incredibly joyful and rewarding experience for me as a designer. Collaborating with a disability audience and leading the end-to-end product design and development process has greatly enhanced my ability to be flexible and adapt to evolving requirements, and thinking about accessibility and inclusivity. A key takeaway for me was the importance of being ready to "pivot" and make changes as conditions shift.
Next steps for this product includes:
Conduct a round of usability testing with the latest prototype on Luv Michael's iPad to understand pain points, and effective approaches of learning or using the application that can inform our decisions for future iterations.
Take 3D scans of the equipment in the kitchen and use them in the app to increase the relatibility factor for employees.
Extend our app to other chapters of the book.