/ 01
The product
The enhanced Google Home Mini is a smart speaker re-designed to provide an intuitive, accessible experience for blind users — without sacrificing the device for sighted households.
It pairs advanced natural-language processing with tactile buttons of distinct textures, a comprehensive audio-guided setup, and deeply customisable voice responses. The thesis: voice alone isn't enough — a great accessible interface is multi-modal by default.
/ 02
Problem statement
Blind individuals face significant friction with modern smart devices that quietly assume visual interaction. Despite advances in voice technology, the complexity of voice commands, the difficulty of initial setup, and the lack of tactile feedback make these devices less accessible.
This inaccessibility leads to frustration, dependency on others, and inefficiency managing daily tasks — directly impacting autonomy and quality of life.
/ 03
Chosen problem to solve
"Lack of tactile feedback — the moment a user touches the device, they should know it heard them."
/ 04
Pain points & expectations
- → Setup requires a sighted person — breaks the autonomy promise on day one.
- → Voice commands are rigid — users have to remember exact syntax.
- → No tactile or haptic confirmation that input was received.
- → Error states are silent or visual, leaving users stranded.
- → Customisation menus are buried inside the app, not the device.
/ 05
Outcome
A focused product strategy that treats accessibility as a design constraint, not a checkbox. The work makes one specific user 100x more independent — and the resulting device is quietly better for everyone else, too.