Many children aged 5 to 7 with auditory dyslexia struggle with phonemic awareness, which is crucial for their reading development. Phonics Friends is an interactive pen and digital app platform designed to support children aged 5 to 7 with auditory dyslexia in learning and practicing phonemic sounds.
My Role
Product Designer
UX Researcher
3D Modeler
Tools
Figma
Fusion 360
Scope
2 Months
Problem
Existing educational tools lack interactivity and engagement, making it challenging for young learners with dyslexia to grasp essential phonics concepts.
Solution
Create a tailored learning experience for children with auditory dyslexia that will improve their auditory processing and reading skills with a multimodal learning experience that combines a specialized book, an interactive pen, and a digital app for reviewing sounds.
Impact
Phonics Friends was tested with elementary students and a teacher assistant who showed enthusiasm and engagement with the product, indicating that the interactive elements effectively captured the children's attention and facilitated their learning.
Competitive Research
Looking at current educational products for children aged 5-7, there are limited solutions focused on teaching phonemic sounds and catering to the needs of those with auditory dyslexia.
Insights
To further understand the needs of children with dyslexia in a learning environment, I researched different phonic learning structures and the variety of dyslexia. I also conducted interviews with a cognitive psychologist and an elementary teacher of special needs children to discover specific challenges and learning methods.
Teacher Interviews
Numerous educators lack the necessary resources to effectively support neuro-divergent students in their learning journeys.
Types of Dyslexia
Students with different types of dyslexia, such as Auditory (Phonological) Dyslexia, Visual Dyslexia, and Mixed Dyslexia.
Structured Synthetic Phonics (SSP)
Phonics instruction progresses through stages from basic letter-sound recognition to blending, decoding, and ultimately fluent reading.
Initial Ideation
I began with sketching product concepts including a toy box filled with multi-sensory items, a carrying case designed to accommodate a tablet, interactive stylus, and tactile items, and finally, die-cut cards featuring tactile elements that could be scanned digitally.
Sensory Phonics Toybox
Carrying Case with Storage
Die-Cut Cards with Textures
Final Concept
After learning that neuro-divergent children learn best with a blend of visual, tactile and auditory learning experiences, I decided to incorporate this into the user-experience and create a comprehensive solution that consists of a tactile book, interactive pen, and app.
Students can point their pen at any letter or image within the book, and the pen will read the content aloud through the use of microscopic dots that enable the pen's sensors to detect patterns.
Phonics Friends Book Concept Diagram
Product Sketches + Renders
I fleshed out the audio and sensor features of the interactive pen through iterative sketches and renders. The interactive pen will be the main instrument children use to interact with both the book and the digital app with a stylus and built-in camera sensor at the tip of the pen.
Book & Interactive Pen Sketches
Interactive Pen modeled in Fusion 360
Physical Models
I designed an 8 by 10" book that walks students through 7 distinctive phonic sounds with a farm theme. Each page features sensory textures like fur, feathers, and cotton to help engage the student's tactile senses.
Phonics Friends Mockup Book & App
Wireframing Solutions
I started building out the book layout where students would learn the phonic sounds and the digital app interface where students would review the sounds that they learned in their book through fun games and an interactive storyline.
Phonics Friends App Lessons Wireframe
Flow of Physical Book to Digital App
Accessible Design System
For the design system, I researched fonts that would be easy to read for children with dyslexia which includes sans serif fonts with larger inter-letter tracking and left aligned text makes it easier for users to find the start and end of each sentence.
Structured Synthetic Phonics (SSP)
Following SSP structure, each stage of phonics sounds were divided into individual lessons.
The app's gamification by turning each lesson into its own level within a story quest enhances engagement.
Repetition Training
Before the testing phase, Huey guides the user through a brief review of the phonics taught in the book.
Auditory Learning
The audio feature in the app helps to review and test children's pronunciation, enhancing their auditory learning experience.
Positive Reinforcement
To motivate students in their phonics review, the app incorporates a progress bar and gradually reveals a painting image as students complete each stage.
Reflection
Usability Testing
I reviewed the app with peers aged 20-25 with dyslexia, however, if given the opportunity, I'd conduct usability testing with children with dyslexia to gain a deeper understanding of how they interact with our products and whether the learning model assists with their needs.
Scalability & Cost
After reviewing feedback, I found that there were some concerns with the cost of the product especially if each book only contained one group of phonics and users would need to have six books to learn the entire set. If this were a product to be used in a classroom or private tutor, the cost of the complete set would need to be within budget. I would need to consider how to condense the six phonic stages into two to three books.
Child-Safe Product
From the heuristic evaluation, I found that the pen design could be improved through several factors. The sharp stylus tip of the pen was a potential concern and could be redesigned with a safer feature. I found that children 5-7 liked to bite their pens, so the end of the pen could also be designed to be bite-proof or fun to engage with.