Goals

1. Understand what accessible map solutions currently exist in the market and see where innovative solutions can be made at Microsoft
2. Capture user feedback from people with disabilities to understand what information, structure, look and feel, controls, and general preferences they have when using a digital map
3. Create a best practices document for designers and developers to use when building a new map feature within the Places app
4. Capture a better understanding of what it means to design an accessible map and/or future applications

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Roles & Responsibilities

Stakeholders

This project involved designers, engineers, product managers, design and research directors. Each stakeholder had a differing level of engagement, but were brought into the project as needed (e.g., updates to a best practice document for engineers and designers or a final share-out of usability testing insights).

Bi-weekly meetings with designers, engineers, and myself (research) were done throughout this project to update teams on research and application design progress.

Collaborators

The main collaborators on this project were myself and a senior designer.

• My role was to evaluate existing accessibility solutions and challenges with digital map applications, create a test plan and recruitment schedule for participants, conduct 1-1 interviews with participants, and to synthesize and present findings to stakeholders. Additionally, I iincoportatged research findings and recommendations into the best practice document so that designers and engineers could easily reference usability recommendations.
• The senior designer was responsible for creating 'testable' wireframes and prototypes of the maps feature proposed for Places. In addition, the designer led the creation of the best practices document for designers and engineers based on his experience with those teams and their specific needs.

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Process

This project leveraged different accessibility research and SME knowledge to make informed decisions that would guide the development of the map within Microsoft Places.

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Market research

This project began by taking a deep-dive into what accessible solutions exist in across competitors with digital maps and similar applications. There was a specific focus on how content was structured, map navigation controls, and keyboard shortcuts. From this research, we found that there is a general "standard" in how digital maps are designed in terms of layout and content, but there is no standard for keyboard shortcuts and other map controls that could lead to a more personalized experience for users with a disability.

This lead to the question:

"How might we design a map that suits the needs of a broader range of users (with and without disabilities) that offers a more inclusive and personalized user experience?"

From here, we mapped out a research process that would help identify user preferences and foster an inclusive approach to user research.

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Build off existing research

As a starting point, i collected all previous research that was done during the development of the Microsoft Places app, which included survey responses, interview videos, and more. I leveraged this research and sifted through the data to find information that referenced:  

• app navigation using assistive technologies
• what information people with disabilities want when preparing to work on campus
• challenges faced when using an app on a mobile device
• what personalization they would like to see within Places (based on their specific needs)

This information was consolidated into a document for easy reference by the design and engineer teams when building out new features within the application. This also helped identify gaps of knowledge and informed questions to be asked in user interviews to follow.

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User Interviews

Interviews were conducted with several employees with a disability (vision, neurodiverse, hearing, and mobility) to gain insights about what they need in a digital map, how competitor apps compare, and to provide feedback on prototypes in development for Microsoft Places.

Initial questions focused on their general use of maps in day-to-day life, how they look for and filter searches, and UI preferences.

Comparing Filter Structures

We asked participants to navigate competitor maps and filter structures (Google and AirBnB) to provide feedback on any positive or challenging experiences each UI presents.

Google Filtering

• participants were most familiar with the Google maps filtering and navigation structure
• participants like seeing an "all filters" button in the side panel AND in the top carousel
• depending on screen size, it is not intuitive for users to scroll all the way on the carousel to find "all filters"

Airbnb Filtering

• participants liked having a dynamic filer-and-search display, where results shown would update as filters were applied
• participants like having the option to view/hide filter sections
• participants liked the look, feel, and content hierarchy of this filter list
• this filter display required less clicks and would be easier to use for a magnified display

Overall, participants favoured Airbnb's filter layout and structure. This structure was adapted for the prototypes used in user testing for Microsoft's map design.

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User Preferences

Participants were then guided through a series of prototypes and wireframes in development, to provide feedback about how information is organized and structured within the UI, how users can filter and search for different rooms and attributes, and to discuss specific map controls and assistive technology shortcuts that would improve their user experiences.

Participant feedback was collected and synthesized to shape a "best version" of the digital map that could be presented to designers and engineers to start development.

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Deliverables

Insights and recommendations were shared with stakeholders, designers, and engineers as a best practices document, which outlines map UI components, content structure and hierarchy, user controls, and recommendations for designing an inclusive digital map.

The best practices document will be used by designers and engineers throughout development and production of this feature.

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Outcomes

• Consolidated review of accessible map design and user feedback, documented for stakeholders and project leads to refer to for future projects
• Use of real user data to drive design decisions that will improve the overall user experience of the application
• A guide for the design and engineering team to use while the application is currently under development

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Learnings & Takeaways

Due to short timelines and a growing scope of this project, we were unable to do as many usability sessions with participants with disabilities as originally planned. Because of this, not all of our insights could be generalized.

In the future, I would conduct separate testing sessions

1. usability testing of competitor and Microsoft's map designs
2. a more open-ended interview to see what features, controls, preferences users prefer.

I believe that we would have been able to dive deeper into each participant's experience and feedback if we did not have to fit it all within a single test session. Additionally, finding ways to increase the timeline allotted to research or to add another research team member would have made improvements to the testing limitations.

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