Onsight Connect for HoloLens
Accessibility Audit
In this case study, I will explore how I, as a product designer, helped flag accessibility issues with the current Onsight Connect platform. The platform was designed to facilitate remote collaboration and provide live support to field technicians in industrial settings. However, it had several issues that made it difficult for users with different accents to use the platform, as well as making it hard to see and interact with certain elements.
Low Contrast
The first issue was with the brush sizes being too thin at their largest, making it hard for users to see the annotated elements.
They were also inconsistent with the stroke sizes used on mobile, as shown on the screenshot portraying a call between both mediums. To solve this problem, I worked with the team to increase the brush sizes, making them more visible and easier to interact with. A higher contrast ratio was suggested for the border lines.
Good contrast means all users can see your content no matter the device they're using or the lighting of their surroundings.
Accent Barriers
I tested this system with 5 users from a diverse background in Montreal and the first issue I identified was that the platform had difficulty recognizing voices with different accents. This was a major problem as it made it hard for users with non-standard accents to communicate effectively, hindering their ability to get the support they needed.
To address this, I worked with the development team to find a more robust voice recognition system that could accurately understand a wider range of accents.
Lack of Depth Perception
The platform had overlapping menus that lacked depth and blended into one another and posed significant accessibility issues. This design flaw can make it difficult for users to interact with the application, leading to frustration and a poor user experience.
To solve this accessibility issue, I proposed a layered menu system that showed clear visual separation between different menu options.
Additionally, I used colour and contrast strategically can help to highlight menu options and make them more accessible.
Considering Color Blindness
The screenshot below shows the interface as seen by someone with protanopia (red–green color blindness).
There are an estimated 300 million people in the world with color vision deficiency. 1 in 12 men are color blind (8%), therefore these are valuable considerations.
Without descriptive text it is impossible to differentiate at first glance between the current states. I added relevant icons for this section to improve the design and quickly show the status.