Accompany

2024 GOOGLE UX DESIGN CERTIFICATION PROJECT (v2) | 2019 SENIOR PROJECT (v1)
Accompany began as a senior project in college, and was dubbed "Janus" after a Roman deity of change and gateways. The first version was completed in 2019, and the new version completed in 2024. Now called "Accompany", this app is designed to helps users with varying mobility needs as a means of integrating transportation apps with an ability to and reviewing, and rate, businesses on their accessibility. The idea for this app came from years of watching my family adapt many times over when faced with physical challenges and barriers of navigating businesses where accessibility regarding mobility needs had not properly been considered. Things such as floor tent signs in the middle of sidewalks, restaurants with too few accessible parking spaces (or street-only parking along busy, dangerous, and/or rough-terrain roads), or retail shops with racks lined too close together for a wheelchair to pass through.

The app itself takes web accessibility content guidelines into consideration while also attempting to address a very grandiose social problem in the world of accessible transportation.

V2 App Prototype (Figma)

V1 App Prototype (Adobe XD)

CASE STUDY

PROBLEM
Users with mobility needs face a lack of consolidated resources for finding accessible routes to businesses and there isn't much opportunity to leave feedback for accessibility improvements.

PROCESS
I conducted research on existing navigation resources such as Google Maps and Waze, and also took a look at some other apps for localized accessibility resources such as Wheelmap. I also took into consideration the pain points of those around me familiar with areas that lack proper accessibility and what they would like to be able to do about it (ie. re-routing, leaving feedback).

I then began to iterate my design with close consideration to the app's accessibility itself (color contrast, button size) as well as how to integrate both of these navigation and feedback features.

CONCLUSION
Accessible transportation is a massive pain point for a niche group of users, but it felt very natural to address it by providing a new resource that helps to indicate to venues that aren't accessible that they are losing a potential client base because of user frustrations while navigating to or within said space. These barriers are often simple to resolve, but they aren't noticed by able bodied users that have no trouble with navigating the area, so this app helps to provide awareness of the issues as well as providing solutions.

2019 DESIGN PROCESS