Hackathon: Encapsulate
Our team leveraged AI technology to provide a better job hunting experience for students with dyslexia.
Challenge
A 24-hour hackathon with focus on crafting a solution to foster inclusivity, ensuring that everyone has equitable access to vital resources and opportunities. Our goal is to bring people and technology together to create a unique human–computer interaction solution that would strengthen and enrich the quality of life. In the present day, we see accessibility issues in various forms such as visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, and many more.
Problem Space
Through our personal experiences and a quick search of job postings online, we noticed a lack of standardization in job postings. Some are neatly organized with bullet points, while others present a daunting wall of text. More critically, crucial details like location and accessibility accommodations are scattered haphazardly throughout the listings. This inconsistency poses significant challenges for individuals with reading disabilities.
Secondary Research Insights
Dyslexia is a type of neurological learning disability where a person may have trouble with memory, interpreting words and numbers, and staying organized. However, dyslexia is a neurological condition that doesn’t affect an individual’s intelligence. Just because someone may not excel at the job hunting process, does not mean they won’t excel at their job.
Experience Map
User Research Insights
Persona
Solution Concept
Encapsulate is a Chrome extension that users can easily download and integrate into their web browser. It's designed to be a valuable tool for individuals, especially those in the university phase of life, who are embarking on their journey to secure their first professional job. We firmly believe that this pivotal moment demands our utmost support, particularly for those with dyslexia, to boost their confidence throughout the job search process.
Considering that dyslexia is a lifelong challenge, we recognize the enduring need for assistance. Our aim is to not only assist individuals at this juncture but also establish a lasting relationship. As these individuals progress in their careers and eventually seek new job opportunities, we envision Encapsulate as a resource they can return to, ensuring they continue to receive the support they need.
Business Goals
User Acquisition, Engagement and Retention
The primary goal is to attract users who fall within the target demographic - individuals in the job-hunting phase with dyslexia. This numerical target may be defined over a certain period, like monthly or annually. It is important to create a seamless onboarding process that guides new users through setting up and using the extension. User-friendly tutorials, tooltips, and in-app guidance can enhance the onboarding experience. By analyzing which features of the extension are most and least used, we can focus on promoting and enhancing high-value features to keep users engaged. Furthermore, we can implement personalization features that cater to individual user needs and preferences, enhancing the overall user experience and encouraging continued engagement. Regularly updating and improving the extension based on user feedback and evolving needs, demonstrates a commitment to ongoing value. In addition, we can offer educational content within the extension, such as articles, webinars, or resources related to job hunting and dyslexia. This keeps users engaged and informed. Most importantly, the use of data analytics is important to understand user behaviour, identify patterns, and make informed decisions for enhancing retention strategies.
Creating Partnerships
Collaborating with strategic partners is a crucial component of the extension's business strategy. Partnering with job boards, universities, disability support organizations, and career services, increases the extension's visibility to a broader audience. These organizations often have existing networks and channels for reaching individuals with dyslexia and those seeking employment. Aligning with respected partners lends credibility to the extension. Users are more likely to trust and adopt a tool recommended or endorsed by reputable organizations. Partnerships can provide access to valuable resources, such as data, research, and content that can enhance the extension's features and functionality. This may include job listings, accessibility guidelines, or career development resources.
Visual Research
Encapsulate: Chrome Extension
Within the settings we included the option to turn on and off the font created for those with Dyslexia for easier legibility, as well as other preferences for information organization.
The Chrome extension uses AI to organize the information into easier-to-read bullet points with specific tags that were previously selected in the preferences.
Technical tools used to make a functional extension, we used Google Cloud: Google Map API + Distance Matrix API + Natural Learning API.
Back end: Flask with Python Beautiful Soup
Front end: ReactJS, Bootstrap
Why would this app be a good solution?
Dyslexic individuals often face significant challenges when navigating job search platforms due to reading difficulties. By addressing this specific need, the extension caters to an underserved niche market, establishing a unique value proposition. Given that Dyslexia is a lifelong condition, and the dyslexic population remains significant, there will be a long-term demand for tools and solutions to support them in the job market. Building a business that supports individuals with dyslexia aligns with social responsibility and inclusivity values. It can have a positive impact on the lives of users, contributing to their personal and professional development. Overall, it is a win-win solution for both users and the creator.
Key Learnings
Presentation and Pitching
I got the chance to showcase our prototype and practice articulating my design rationale. As a UI/UX designer it’s important to not only be able to design the product, but also to effectively present design decisions and justify the choices I made. This opportunity allowed me to polish my public speaking and presentation skills, and refine my skills in communicating technical concepts to a non-technical audience. The feedback received after the presentation helped refined my communication skills and improve my ability to advocate for future design solutions.
Innovative Thinking and Problem Solving
Participating in this hackathon gave me the opportunity to think critically and creatively under pressure. Given the time constraint in a hackathon setting, I was tasked to rapidly iterate designs to meet the project requirements and user expectations, this sharpened my ability to identify user pain points, brainstorm creative solutions and prototype user interfaces efficiently. During this hackathon, we were exploring new and emerging technologies by using Google Cloud and AI, which encouraged us to explore unconventional solutions and challenge existing design norms. Working with a teammate who had experience with programming gave me the opportunity to learn about the possibilities of Google Cloud and AI, and it was very enlightening getting to learn new things from others’ strengths.