Fluent case study
Role: Full stack UX Designer
Timeline: January 2023
Tools: Figma, Miro
Background
I've struggled with a stutter since I was 3 years old. Throughout the years, I've tried different assistive technologies to help me communicate better, but I never found something that felt comfortable or truly useful to me. That's why I was inspired to design an app that addresses these issues and truly helps people like me who struggle with stuttering to communicate more confidently. I want to make a difference and create a tool that is tailored to the needs of people who stutter, is easy to use, and has a positive impact on their lives.
The Problem
People who experience disfluency often struggle to communicate effectively and confidently in settings, such as phone/video calls. Additionally, they often feel self-consciousness about wearing visible assistive technologies.
The Solution
A mobile app and web platform that utilizes adjustable delayed auditory feedback (DAF), frequency-altered feedback (FAF), and choral speech effects to improve communication and fluency making stutterers more confident.
Personas
Kicking off the design process, to better understand our users' goals, needs, experiences, and behaviors, I conducted user interviews with people who self-identified as stutterers. I identified common goals and asked users about the pain points they have experienced with stuttering and using assistive technology for stutterers. From these interviews, I developed two fictional personas.
The primary user groups that I identified through my research are both male and female self-identifying stutterers who use phones and video calls on a daily basis. Their pain points were:
1. Confidence:
Feelings of self-consciousness about their stutter and self-consciousness about wearing visible assistive technologies.
2. Expression:
Having difficulty fully expressing themselves because of their disfluency.
3. Cost:
The cost of certain assistive technologies can be limiting especially wearables and hardware.
Competitive Analysis
I conducted a competitive audit to identify design opportunities for the Fluent app. The audit focused on analyzing the features of similar apps and assistive technologies in the market to identify areas where the Fluent app could be differentiated and provide a better user experience.
From the audit, I found that a specific gap exists in the current offerings in terms of DAF/FAF integration with mobile or web-based platforms. While two products offer DAF/FAF features, neither of them are integrated in web/mobile, and SpeechEasy is particularly expensive. Users are also very hesitant to wear visible assistive technology for stuttering because they feel self-conscious.
What is DAF/FAF?
Frequency-altered auditory feedback (FAF) and Directed Auditory Feedback (DAF) are techniques that are used in speech therapy to help individuals who stutter improve their fluency. FAF alters the pitch of the individual's voice in real-time, while DAF alters the delay of the individual's voice. These techniques are used to disrupt the stuttering pattern and improve fluency.
The choral effect refers to the phenomenon of improved fluency in singing as compared to speaking. This is because singing is a more rhythmic and structured activity, which can aid in the control of speech.
Ideation
In the next phase of the design process, I used an exercise called "Crazy 8's" to quickly brainstorm possible solutions to address our users' pain points while at the same time focusing on their goals. My ideas primarily focused on integrating a DAF/FAF tool seamlessly into the call/video experience.
Information Architecture
After settling on a few ideas from the crazy 8's exercise and wire framing different variations of the primary user flow I dialed in the preliminary information architecture.
Low-fidelity Prototype
Based on the information architecture I created low fidelity wireframes and set up my initial prototype.
Usability Testing
I conducted an unmoderated usability study to test the effectiveness of my low-fidelity prototype. The study included participants who self-identified as stutterers, both male and female, ranging in age from 23 to 44. The goal of the study was to guide the design from wireframes to mockups, gather feedback on the usability of the prototype, and identify any areas for improvement. The primary insights I gained after synthesizing my data were:
Insight 1: Users wanted instructions on the basics of how the app functions before using the tool.
Insight 2: Users wanted to be able to adjust the volume of the tool to their own preferences.
Insight 3: Users want to see a variety of speech therapy techniques available in the app to choose from.
In App Instructions
Users, when first opening the app, felt lost and wanted step-by-step instructions on how to get started.
Volume Control
Users who had previously used DAF/FAF tools expressed concern that there was not a volume control on the original prototype. They suggested adding one so the user could adjust it to their preferences.
Speech Therapy Techniques
Multiple users expressed interest in viewing various speech therapy techniques in the app. I built the function into the menu to supplement the core DAF/FAF tool.
The final product!
The final design incorporates all of the insights gained from the usability tests that were conducted. I further refined the micro-interactions and dialed in the visual elements, including the color palette, typography, and iconography. And I'm pretty darn proud of the final product.
Next Steps
The next steps for the Fluent app would be to annotate and prepare to pass off to the engineers. I am really passionate about this particular project, and I am hoping to find an engineer who might be willing to take this one on with me as a passion project. I truly believe in this tool, the design, and I think it would have a huge positive impact on stutterers.
What I Learned
During the design process, I refined my knowledge of Figma and became fluent and confident in rapidly prototyping and quickly making visually appealing designs and satisfying interactions.