Overview

🤫 My Role

Product Designer, UX Researcher

♥️ Team

One PM, one front-end developer, two researchers & designers

⏰ Duration

10 weeks

🛠 Tools

Figma, Miro, Notion

📝 UX Skills Leveraged

LITERATURE REVIEW INTERVIEWS & SURVEYS AFFINITY DIAGRAM SKETCHING USER FLOWS WIREFRAMES CO-DESIGN MID FI / HI FI MOCKUPS ITERATIVE DESIGN

💁🏻 Client

AImpower.org

Background

We care about....helping People Who Stutter (PwS) tackle challenges faced in Video Conferences/Online Meetings.

Our goal was to identify technology-induced barriers and amplifies the agency of PwS in video conferences.

‼️ Note: Because our client had already developed a tool to be used during video conferences, our team focused on designing pre- and post-meeting solutions to enhance the overall meeting experience for PwS.

User Group

We will recruit...

People who Stutter (PwS) who participate in video conferences where they need to speak at least once a week.

User Research

Literature Review

To better understand the problem space, we reviewed 18 academic papers on stuttering, video conferencing, and its negative impact on mental well-being. We learned that...

Speech disfluencies hinder equal speech opportunities and lead to low self-esteem and self-blame.

Videoconferencing tech lack visual cues like eye contact to prevent being cut off.

Thus, online meetings require extra effort from PwS, increasing mental exhaustion.

Interviews & Surveys

We also wanted to understand our target users' current needs, pain points, and goals in the context of video conferences.

Overview

Led 11 Interviews & 29 surveys;
45-60 minutes long interview;
Survey responses varied in details.

Recruitment

Emailed 23 stuttering associations;
Created posts on 7 public forums related to stuttering for diverse participants.

Material

Interview Protocol;
Email Template;
Informed Consent Form;
Google Form Survey.

We focused on users' experiences pre-, post- and during video conferences.

Affinity Diagram

We sorted our data into common themes to identify frequently mentioned issues, needs, and good meeting experiences as well.

Major Findings

Participants prioritize meeting productivity and equal contribution opportunities.
Workplace environment significantly impacts their experience in online meetings.
Participants rarely dwell on negative emotions or use external resources to improve their mood.

💡 Although we gathered valuable initial insights into user needs and pain points, interviews and surveys primarily provided us with one-way communication. We wanted to dive deeper!

Co-Design

Rationale

Why did we collaborate with our users in the initial brainstorm and sketching phase?

We wanted to empower the voices of PwS who often feel marginalized in digital communication platforms and address their unique needs and preferences together!‍

Session Agenda

👉 Introductions & ice-breakers

👉 Discuss opinions on interview findings

👉 Brainstorm solutions

👉 Sketch with our designer (Me :))

Overview

Led 3 co-design sessions with 6 participants via Zoom as a facilitator and designer.

Recruitment

Offered financial incentive to previously interviewed participants.

Material

Protocol & Plan;
Miro board;
Informed Consent Form.

‼️ Note: Solutions may not be fully representative of all people who stutter, as most PwS who agreed to participate are generally more comfortable speaking in video conferences and have years of experience managing negative emotions associated with their stutter. However, this doesn't mean they don't struggle with video conferencing...

Findings

One recurring need emerged from our activities –
the need to extend the discussion beyond the meeting.

This is due to their frustration with not being able to say everything they want to say in video conferences.

“I want to have a chat session that stays open after the meeting.”

- Participant 1 from Session 1

“I want to directly email or contact the host after an online meeting.”

- Participant 2 from Session 1

“I want to be offered the opportunity to send a message to all participants via VC after the call.”

- Participant 1 from Session 2

“I want an opportunity to give additional contributions if I struggled to say what I needed to say during the meeting."

- Participant 1 from Session 3

Sketches made by participants and I illustrating their needs.

IDeation

Designing for the need to extend the discussion beyond the meeting.

Vetoed Ideas & Trade-Offs

1. Start a chat with participants in past meetings.

Pros:

Directly responds to user need.
Able to be integrated into Zoom

Cons:

Violates other meeting attendee's privacy.
Lacks consideration for users who joined meeting without email.

Pros:

Solves the privacy issue.
Can be integrated into the existing Zoom app developed by our client.

Cons:

Disrupts the ongoing meeting and causes confusion, hindering productivity.
Without incentives, other meeting attendees may not engage in post-meeting discussions.

2. Send link to external discussion forum (to be used post-meeting) via chat during the meeting.

💡 The cons outweighed the pros for both ideas. Our team has hit a hurdle :((
👉 Although it would be ideal to design for all types of meetings, including those among strangers, not every meeting is suitable for extended discussions.

1st Figma Iteration: Low-Fi

Home Page

Users can choose a specific meeting and set up a discussion forum before and after the meeting.

Meeting Details

Users can add their posts from meeting discussion forums to meeting notes.

Design Rationale

When conducting market research, we found that for our target audience, current meeting and team management tools such as...

Docs & Otter.ai: Meeting Note-taking Tools

Lack

two-way asynchronous communication opportunities for meeting related topics.

Slack & Teams : team communication tool

Lack

effective conversation tracking and archival mechanisms for meeting-related topics.

From Co-Design Sessions, participants also noted their contribution via Zoom chats are often overlooked by meeting note taker.

“I don't like Zoom Chat because the meeting notes taker often overlooks it. It makes me feel like I'm at a disadvantage.”

- Participant 1 from Co-Design Session 1

“I want my post-meeting contribution to be added to the meeting notes as well.”

- Participant 2 from Co-Design Session 2

Thus, we aimed to fill in the gaps and...

Ensure no meeting details are lost and discussions can continue seamlessly at any time.

2nd Iteration: Better-Fi

Home Page After User Testing

We learned that Home page design lacks emphasis on its primary feature – meeting forums – from user testing.

☕️ User Feedback == Caffeine☕️ (Although I am allergic)

Meeting Page After User Testing

Users can tag posts with "Unsaid Thoughts" to share ideas they didn't discuss during meetings. We replaced meeting summaries with agendas and notes, making the solution more actionable before, during, and after meetings.

Final Designs

Home Page

Feature One: Discussion Forums for Virtual Meetings

Users can create dedicated forums for each Zoom meeting to post and discuss meeting related content before and after sessions, easing the pressure of real-time communication.

Feature Two: Posts tagged with "Unsaid Thoughts"

Posts with this tag are prominently displayed on the front page, ensuring their valuable insights receive the attention they deserve, especially if not shared during live meetings.

Feature Three: Elevated Post Visibility

Contributions from PwS are added to the top of meeting notes, ensuring their written inputs are recognized as key parts of the discussion, even if not shared aloud during the meeting.

Feature Four: Integrated Meeting Management Tools

Our platform offers tools for inputting agendas and recording meeting notes, structuring meetings effectively and ensuring forum contributions are included in the official record for enhanced visibility and impact.

Designing For & WithPeople who Stutter

Overview

🤫 My Role

♥️ Team

⏰ Duration

🛠 Tools

📝 UX Skills Leveraged

💁🏻 Client

Background

User Group

We will recruit...

User Research

Literature Review

Interviews & Surveys

We also wanted to understand our target users' current needs, pain points, and goals in the context of video conferences.

Affinity Diagram

Major Findings

Co-Design

Rationale

Session Agenda

Findings

A Central Theme Emerged...

‼️ What I (PwS) say matters just as much as you. ‼️‼️ I have just as much to say as you. ‼️

IDeation

Designing for the need to extend the discussion beyond the meeting.

Vetoed Ideas & Trade-Offs

Pros:

Cons:

Pros:

Cons:

Going back to User Research Insights

Designing an inclusive team workspace, where post-meeting discussions are needed.

Iterative Designs

Sketches

PwS who are part of a work team with regular online meetings can choose a specific meeting and set up a discussion forum for meeting related discussions.

1st Figma Iteration: Low-Fi

Home Page

Meeting Details

Design Rationale

When conducting market research, we found that for our target audience, current meeting and team management tools such as...

Lack

Lack

From Co-Design Sessions, participants also noted their contribution via Zoom chats are often overlooked by meeting note taker.

2nd Iteration: Better-Fi

Home Page After User Testing

Meeting Page After User Testing

Final Designs

Home Page

Feature One: Discussion Forums for Virtual Meetings

Feature Two: Posts tagged with "Unsaid Thoughts"

Feature Three: Elevated Post Visibility

Feature Four: Integrated Meeting Management Tools

Discover How I...

Helped make learning more engaging and easy for high school students

Discover How I...

Helped prisoners explore educational content on tablet with ease

Designing For & With
People who Stutter

‼️ What I (PwS) say matters just as much as you. ‼️
‼️ I have just as much to say as you. ‼️