Taalbuddy
Coaching app for people who are low literate
How can we help people with low literacy to function better in society?
ROLE
Concepting
Interaction design
DATE
Oct. 2019
CLIENT
Personal Project
Low Literacy
Did you know that 1 in 6 Dutch people aged 16 and older is low literate and therefore has difficulty reading, writing, and/or calculating? Because they don't master these skills well enough, they cannot function well enough in society. They have difficulties in filling in forms, reading street signs, reading aloud, or applying for a job.
People with low literacy experience it every day, but it is also a social problem. It costs society an average of 1.1 billion euros per year, because of missed income tax or is more often long-term unemployed. But also with higher medical costs due to stress or, for example, industrial accidents, because they cannot read the safety instructions properly.
"How might we tackle the shame surrounding this and help people with low literacy?
Discovery
Main problems are:
- Reading mail, emails, leaflets and newspapers
- Writing letters, form and WhatsApps
- Managing money matters and understanding bills
- Pay online and fill in forms
You could help with:
- More visuals
- More voice to read along
- Feeling less ashamed
Final solution
As a final solution, I made a coaching app for people who are low literate. Find below a clickable prototype and the link to the Figma prototype.
Voice and Text scanner
With useful tools too develop your skills in reading and writing better:
- Read the text online with audio
- Scan text with audio
- Translate spoken text to text spelled correctly
Online coaching
By indicating what you want to improve at and what you have problems with, a specialized coach will be found here. She helps you to become better at the language with the help of conversations and exercises. On-site appointments are no longer always necessary and more support can be offered, whereby more can be achieved in a shorter time.
Practice skills
With extra exercises, you can improve your language faster. Improving your reading, writing, and calculating.