Over fifty percent of the world’s population resides in rural areas of developing countries. Adaptive Path’s Mobile Literacy project is a design and research project created to understand how mobile phone technology is being used by people in emerging markets. In August and September 2008, Adaptive Path sent two design researchers to the Kutch district in western India investigating the impact of mobile phones and mobile infrastructure on people in rural areas. We hope these design concepts, research findings, and design principles will inspire designers and technology manufacturers to create technology that meets the needs of these people. Below is one of the design concepts for a phone based on our research findings.

Revealing Workarounds

While conducting research on mobile phone usage in India, Adaptive Path’s lead researcher and project advisor, Natasha Alani, identified that many non-literate research participants ignored the screen when using mobile phone. Instead of engaging with the UI on the screen, participants would engage with the physical interface of the phone. They would leverage their spatial memory and gestures by memorizing patterns (i.e., pressing a button three times, remembering the patterns of numbers) or ask for assistance in dialing a number from a family member. These workarounds underscore a key problem with mobile devices in emerging markets: the interface conventions used to guide people through mobile experiences are largely misunderstood by a large portion of the world’s population.

Our research uncovered even bare bone phones like the revered Nokia 1200 is often a dismal experience for non-literate users. The text driven interface provides little meaningful information to help guide users through the experience, leaving most lost in a labyrinth of menu options. Iconography should prove helpful, but effective iconography is an abstraction of a concept which holds shared meaning. What does an address book mean if your home doesn’t have an address and you are unable to recognize alpha-numeric organization? What does an icon of an envelope mean if you’ve never received a piece of mail? Many mobile phone features are built on models and concepts that people in rural India have never experienced; an abstract icon used to represent these concepts often compounds the problem instead of providing a solution.

Most mobile devices sold in rural India contain interfaces that have been optimized for Western users. Every interface is a little world full characteristics and conventions. Mastering that world can make people feel successful and create the opportunity to reap the benefits technology can offer. The research findings inspired me to reflect deeply on the world we’ve created inside mobile phones to try and understand why that world does not make sense for users in rural India.

Physical Interfaces Speak their Power

Our research uncovered a technology landscape dominated by trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, scales in the marketplace, calculators, televisions, DVDs, radios, and cameras. Physical interface elements like dials, exaggerated buttons and information gauges—elements that “speak their power”—were common to all these objects. Unlike mobile devices that have a subtle physical interfaces, strong physical interfaces often provide an intuitive sense of mechanical processes. Knobs and scroll wheels on a radio feel intuitive because there’s a clear correlation between the input mechanism and the mechanics of tuning a radio. The gesture of turning a radio dial as well as the visual and audio feedback reinforce the interaction. Interfaces such as these that draw analogies from the mechanical world while orchestrating physical interfaces with gesture, sound and sight give literate and non-literate users an intuitive sense of how an object works.

Additionally, most technology used in rural India separate controls from information. Users view the content of a DVD through a television screen, but control key aspects of the experience like volume, forward, and reverse through physical buttons on the television or DVD player. Gas and temperature gauges in a truck are separate from the ignition or steering wheel. Software on computers and mobile devices often conflate controls and information; single buttons and input mechanisms can invoke multiple features. This practice increases functionality, but can be the cause of profound usability problems for non-literate users.

Make phones look “hack-able”

There is a strong culture of reselling, re-purposing, cobbling, and repair throughout India and this is especially true in rural villages. It is common to see trucks and motorcycles in this region of the world filled beyond capacity. While vehicles are amongst the most prized possessions, people in rural India are willing to test the capacity because they know vehicles can be repaired. Trucks and motorcycles have built in affordances like a hood that easily opens or parts that are visible and easy to manipulate that reinforce the expectation and practice of repair.

An object’s rules of engagement are strongly influenced by aesthetics. Unlike the the visible working parts of a motorcycle or the visible bolts on the dashboard of a jeep used in rural India, the physical design of most mobile devices do not reflect the notion of repair or “hack-ability.” Mechanisms for “popping the hood” on mobile phones are subtle and most devices express a sleek and streamlined aesthetic that make them “feel” precious, discouraging experimentation and play. These seemingly subtle design choices have a powerful effect on usage. Creating phones that have a “hackable” aesthetic will build on and reinforce the existing mobile repair culture that is prevalent throughout India.

Reducing Feature Sets and Amplifying What’s Important

Our research uncovered the vast majority of the phone’s features are untouched by non-literate users. There is little obvious prioritization given to the phone’s bloated feature set, creating complexity and confusion. Sound is an important part of Indian culture, yet volume settings are hidden, and the speaker and microphone are minimized. Our research participants cited the following features and functionality as the most important for their phone:

- Calling

- Texting (using voice to text or with assistance)

- Music

- Camera*

- Microphone

- Speaker

- Airtime

- Battery Level

*While most research participants did not have mobile phones with cameras, this was cited as a desired feature.

Steampunk

Steampunk became the conceptual wrapper for the mobile device we envisioned. Steampunk enthusiasts create work that reflects the design and craftsmanship of the Victorian era. Similar to the exaggerated physical interface elements found on objects modded by Steampunk enthusiasts and artists, we designed a mobile device that celebrated physical interface elements like knobs that turn, scroll wheels, and exaggerated buttons.

Removing the aesthetic of “preciousness” was a key design goal for this phone. Most modern pieces of technology like computers, phones, and televisions convey a sleek aesthetic that does not invite tinkering and exploration. Steampunk aesthetics applied to modern objects like computers and electric guitars triggers a different emotional response. Similar to the exposed inner workings of a motorcycle, works of art created to reflect the Steampunk genre possess a look of craftsmanship and cobbling. It’s an aesthetic that invites the touch of the human hand and it encourages engagement and foster curiosity and play.

Taking cues from Steampunk’s “hack-able” aesthetic, we made the phone look like an object that can be opened and tinkered with by exaggerating seams and making the mechanisms to open the device obvious. Our research uncovered that vibrant sound is an important part of Indian culture and most phones designed for western markets minimize the microphone and speakers. We chose to emphasize these elements by giving them a larger portion of the phone’s physical real estate and borrowed aesthetics from stereo speakers to reinforce their importance. Gauges are commonly used to convey quantitative information on cars and motorcycles in rural India. We echoed these familiar interface elements to communicate battery level and airtime minutes.

Finally, we drastically reduced the feature set of the phone, allowing us to assign each function a single button. We borrowed “stop” and “start” buttons from stereos and placed them on the side of the device. Taking cues from a radio dial, our Steampunk phone contains a scroll wheel—creating a strong and intuitive relationship between the physical interface element, the gesture, and the UI inside the screen.

Mobile devices are one of the most accessible pieces of technology in the world today and the benefits of communication technology for people throughout the world is limitless. Empathic design is not about forcing conventions and models on users that feel foreign, it’s about empowering users with technology that feels appropriate and familiar. Designers and user experience professionals have a responsibility to avoid viewing illiteracy as a deficiency, but as an important design consideration for a large portion of the world. Will this device concept meet the needs of non-literate users in rural India? The devil is in the details of iteration and implementation and the inherent nature of R&D projects makes it nearly impossible to predict success. However, we hope this concept opens up an opportunity for conversation and dialogue about this important issue.

Photo Credits:

Calculator photo courtesy of pocketmonsterd

Truck dashboard photo courtesy of Coveman

Steampunk goggles courtesy of catlaine