Case study: Image-centric UI
By: Devang Agarwal
Tags: Human Centered Design, User Interface, Digital India, User Experience, Next Billion Users

Case study: Image-centric UI

Technology has not penetrated deep into the indian villages where people actually need it the most since in-person and offline services are the scarciest there. The challenge this unchartered territory puts forth leaves an indelible sense of excitement just thinking about what change can technology bring once (not if) it penetrates to this strata of the society.

The Problem

Poverty — Its extremely difficult for the poor villagers to afford a computing device and hence they are not on the internet right now.

Lack of exposure — Most of them have not even held a touch screen device, forget about knowing how to operate modern day digital apps which require a certain level of urbane background.

Personas

Think about designing something useful for the below mentioned personas. Names are fictitious and a resemblance to any individual is purely unintentional and coincidental.

Photo by Gyan Shahane on Unsplash

Ram Prakash — 50+ age indian illiterate poor farmer

Use: Subsidy status. Bank account opening. Crop education and warnings for potential crop failures.

Photo by Nehal Patel on Unsplash

Bablu — A 7 year old who can potentially change the world

Use: Education — enough said

Photo by Shifaaz shamoon on Unsplash

Sarla Kumari — Middle aged uneducated indian mother hit by patriarchy

Use: Woman rights. Woman employment opportunities. Woman safety helpline. Female hygiene and upliftment.

Manju Devi — An old woman into her 70s probably whose son has abandoned her. Knows nothing about technology. Probably cannot read or write.

Use: Healthcare. Medicines. Potentially religious use case.

The interface requirements

Intuitive — The challenge here is how do we design a user interface for them which is quite intuitive and does not require special knowledge or experience to use.

Independent usage— The interface should have a minimum learning curve and should require minimum guidance for a person to navigate to afford them the freedom of ownership and privacy.

The Solution

Size

Okay lets talk size. The bigger the size of an object the easier it is to recognize it and comprehend its existence. We need something big that works as our interface — large visible image signifiers that display exactly what their purpose is without much need of a text signifier.

Imagine a giant screen about 4ft wide and about 2ft tall: 1920 px (48") w × 1080 px (27") mounted on a wall. The interface could be mounted at a common village place or a secure center. Multiple users could use it at different times one after the other.

Below is a setting that demonstrates the interface in action. An old villager is learning to use the interface without any help.

Created using Adobe Character Animator

Simple steps to use —

Enter the centre Login (fingerprint) Use the interface Logout Exit the centre.

This means that without owning a computing device an entire village can come online and be a part of the new digital india. Who knows they could even come over onto social media platforms. We are only limited by our imagination.

Mockup of the screen

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