Making Polaraud Work for Visually Impaired Users

When first tasked with making Polaraud.io (our voice-powered journaling app) more accessible, I initially thought its voice-first nature meant it should already be quite accessible. After all, with the app's main feature being audio-led instead of text-led, that should already be half the battle won, right? However, we couldn't have been further from the truth.

We quickly learned that truly making Polaraud work for visually impaired (VI) users would require a deeper exploration of how they interact with the app. In this piece, we'll be sharing the key insights we gleaned from rigorous accessibility testing, and what are some key UX things you need to be mindful of to create a VI-friendly experience.

Insight #1: Spatial consistency is crucial

One of our most significant discoveries from observing VI users was how heavily they rely on spatial memory to navigate - so having a consistent screen layout is crucial. VI users often memorise the locations of interface elements, so they can move quickly without having to listen to every element being read aloud by a screen reader.

We learned that even small UI updates can be incredibly disorienting; a button moved, while seemingly minor for sighted users, could cause significant frustration for a VI user who had built their navigation strategy around its fixed position.

For Polaraud, this insight translated into a rigorous commitment to layout consistency. Every design decision was carefully considered to avoid messing with the spatial memory of our visually impaired users, fostering confidence and ease of use.

Insight #2: Visual concepts might be difficult for them to grasp

As part of the account creation process on Polaraud, users are required to create a personalised avatar by selecting options for face shape, facial expression, and colour. 

During testing, we quickly realised this process of creating an avatar that looks like you is a profoundly visual concept that a VI individual would struggle to relate with. Especially with the app’s instruction to "customise a profile avatar that represents you" and options like face shape, many of them found the task highly abstract and frustrating.

As they are unable to see their own faces, it was difficult to choose something that resonated with them. Concepts like "face shape" or "colour" also lack a tangible, meaningful referent - without a visual context, what does "round and wide cheek" or "blue" mean? 

This experience highlighted the critical need to rethink features that rely so heavily on visual understanding, or to provide robust non-visual equivalents that convey the intent. Recognising the limited meaning and high frustration for VI users in this process, we ultimately implemented a 'Skip' button, allowing them to bypass avatar creation if it didn't resonate.

Polaraud’s profile avatar customisation feature

 Quote: "What are all these shapes? What is a protruding cheek?"

Insight #3: Tabs Are a Pain to Navigate

For sighted users, tabs are great. They help us get a quick overview of what's available and organise information and features into a clear hierarchy.

However, we found tabs to be incredibly difficult for VI users to navigate! Since they can't visually see the options within a tab, they need to swipe through each option to understand what's there. And once they've gone through all the options in one section, they can't jump directly to the next tab. They have to swipe all the way back up to the top, to where the tab headers are, before they can select the next tab. It's a real pain point.

How screen reader users navigate from tab to tab

Despite the significant challenges tabs presented for visually impaired users, we made a conscious decision not to remove this format entirely in this particular instance. This was a nuanced choice: we needed to balance the benefits of the tab layout for our sighted users, and since we had already introduced a ‘Skip’ option (as discussed in Insight #2) which we believe most VI users would be opting for, we decided to leave the tab format as it is.

Insight #4: Minimalist Text vs Clarity

We often strive for minimalist designs, aiming to avoid clutter. However, we don’t usually realise that with fewer words, other elements must compensate to convey the meaning that would otherwise be delivered through explicit text. And usually, these are visual elements (e.g. layout, icons, colours), or established UX conventions.

The Onboarding page in Polaraud offered a classic example: a standard onboarding flow with text across several screens explaining the app's functionalities. For example: "Record and store your journal" or "Stuck? Use prompts to guide you along." We thought this would be an easy part of the test that we would quickly get through - until we were proved wrong when we tested it!

Polaraud’s original onboarding screens

Quote: "Record and store your voice journal… I’m supposed to double tap and record something right?"

What went wrong: visually impaired users consistently thought they were supposed to perform an action when they were on the onboarding screen. When they heard "Record and store your journal," they immediately started looking for a record button, misunderstanding the informational nature of the page for a call to action instead. This revealed that for non-visual users, explicit and unambiguous language is paramount, as subtle visual cues and assumed contexts simply don't translate.

So we addressed this directly by adding a “Here's how this works” title at the top of the onboarding page, to clearly signal its purpose as an onboarding flow.

Insight #5:  Beyond Functionality: Designing for "Feels" and "Vibes"

Here’s another big realisation we had: accessibility isn't just about functionality. It’s about the whole user experience, including that all-important emotional connection. 

When we first tested Polaraud with sighted users, they would often exclaim, "So cute!" when they saw our playful blob designs. But for VI users, those visuals simply didn't exist – all they heard was plain text, stripped of all that personality. That really got us thinking: How do we convey “Feels” and "Vibes" without visuals?

Our solution: introduce background music and subtle sound effects at the right moments, so that visually impaired users can also experience the unique "feel" of Polaraud, not just its functions.

I know we’re just scratching the surface here. In the future, I would love to experiment with using emotionally richer Alt Text, AI-generated voice inflections, or even haptic feedback to convey these “Feels” and “Vibes”. There's still so much room to innovate in how we convey personality through non-visual means!

The Journey Continues: A Commitment to Inclusive Innovation

At 55 Minutes, we're not just building apps; we're committed to being innovators in inclusive design. Polaraud stands as a testament to our core belief that technology should serve as a bridge to connect people.

We invite you to experience Polaraud and discover firsthand how thoughtful, inclusive design can truly make a difference in building deeper, more authentic connections for all. If you’re a sighted user, we even encourage you to try it out using a screen reader. It’s a truly eye-opening way to build empathy and gain a deeper understanding of the daily experiences of individuals with visual impairments!