ColorBlocks
2012
Independent Project
This accessibility was based on iOS 6 and requiring jailborke iPhone with Cyndia.
Design Tools:
Color Blocks Design: Photoshop
Accessibility Development: Xcode
Color blocks is an augmented accessibility for people who suffer from amblyopia or any ocular aberration. Assisted and experimented by my grandparents, the Color blocks is using various blocks with the colors that can stimulate most sensibility from the people, and guide them with voice-over to use the smartphone more efficient.
Project Goals and Importance:
This project attempts to help visually-impaired people be able to use smartphone more efficiently.
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Implement color blocks that can stimulate visually-impaired people the most;
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Provide a smartphone accessibility that can guide visually-impaired people to use smartphone.
Addressing the Project:
General Steps:
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Finding the right colors that visually-impaired people can receive the most efficient response;
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Building a smartphone accessibility that can input those color blocks and match the system environment.
Goal 1 Specific Steps:
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Research on the color response of visually-impaired people;
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Experiment with grandparents to test the colors;
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Decide the final three colors.
Goal 2 Specific Steps:
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Use UIAccessibility to change the back, forward, clickable and assistive buttons to color blocks;
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This accessibility can only be used in jailbroken iPhone.
SELECTING
BACKWARD
NO
READ
After a series of experiment with my grandparents, we have chose these four colors as primary guiding colors.
These colors can stimulate most for the visually impaired people.
Yellow block means backward.
Green block means select.
Blue block means read. User can select the block and drag it to anywhere needs to be read. Blue block is a reprogrammed assistive touch.
Green blocks here I wanted to make the layer effect but I did not know how at that moment.
Some buttons are not necessary for the visually impaired people to use will not have colorblocks. And if they want to know what these buttons for, they can use Blue block to read it out.
Red block means if it is not important, this button does not suggest to click.
This is not a mature project. There are many places can be fixed.
But it opened a path to me to know what I want to be and where I should push myself to go.