Interaction Design for the Next Billion Users

Abstract

As the first pandemic wave of Covid-19 hit India and the Indian Government announced a nationwide lockdown in March 2020, [1] it left millions of interstate migrant workers/daily-wage earners without a source of livelihood. Many of them had to return to their hometowns, often hundreds of kilometers away, with many walking a major part or the entirety of the distance [2].

This situation called for a design that could empower migrant workers to thrive in the new normal. An app was designed to enable migrant workers to search for jobs, learn about micro-entrepreneurship, get mental health assistance and develop skills.

In terms of usage and interaction, this app proposes several unique features - a result of researching about and understanding our target demographic. At the core of the interaction is a chatbot. It asks questions to the user through text and audio, but the user replies through clickable buttons only. This makes it easy, even for those who may not be literate. The keyboard has been removed from this app. Another unique feature is the usage of interactive videos to explain various things, such as micro-entrepreneurship, skill training, etc. These videos make use of buttons for the users to make choices.

In this paper, we discuss these two new interactions that will introduce a visual input method and an interactive video interface which will be inclusive of those less-privileged in terms of literacy in our ever-expanding tech world.

The contents of the paper are targeted toward helping the next billion users. However, some of the things proposed may go on to improve interactions for all.