Designing interfaces for the visually impaired : Contextual information and analysis of user needs

Abstract: This thesis explores how to design for the visually impaired. During the course of work, a literature study and interviews with blind and visually impaired people were conducted. The objective was to investigate what contextual information is wanted in new and unfamiliar spaces outside their home. The interviews also explored how they experience digital tools they are using today and what they think of the possibilities of voice and other user interfaces. The main finding from the study is that there are indications that multimodal interfaces are preferred. The interface should combine voice, haptic and graphics since the participants wanted to interact in different ways depending on functionality and context. Three main problem areas were identified, navigation, public transportation and shopping. Another result was that when developing for the visually impaired it should always be tested on people with a wide variation of vision loss to find the correct contextual information.