Customer-Centric Organsational Design

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Research that articulates the challenges for blind or partially sighted passengers

Services: Accessibility & Inclusive Design

Our research enabled Guide Dogs for the Blind to communicate what it was like to travel as a blind or partially sighted person to the developers of potential solutions and support products.

A man dressed in a suit with a red tie, walks along a train platform holding onto a blonde haired guide dog who is leading. A train is moving past beside them. — A man in a suit being guided by a golden retriever assistance dog at a train station.

On the left side a young male dressed all in black, walks with the aid of a white cane alongside a woman wearing a blue fleece. On the right hand side in a separate image, a blonde guide dog leads a man in a suit through the central aisle of a train. — Split image showing two scenes: on the left, a young man using a white cane walks with a woman; on the right, a man in a suit is guided by a Labrador assistance dog on an airplane

Our Task

Mima was tasked with researching, understanding and communicating the challenges and passenger journey of blind or partially sighted people. The aim was to provide insight and information that could be used by technology developers and innovators to provide future solutions that better met the real needs of people.

Our Solution

It is recognised that there are significant barriers to travel for blind and partially sighted passengers. Many of these are significant enough to prevent some people from feeling able to travel at all.

Our work was built on a detailed programme of research in which we conducted interviews with over 50 blind or partially sighted people, ran a number of focus groups and undertook observed journeys. We developed personas of a range of blind or partially sighted people to communicate the variety of individual needs and circumstances.

From this research we produced a series of storyboards to communicate lived experience. This showed a variety of kinds of journeys and the range of travel challenges that blind or partially sighted people face on a day-to-day basis. A detailed task analysis was developed covering a number of journey scenarios. The task analysis communicated a range of information on user requirements that can be met by design and technology solutions. The stories brought to life structural as well as more social, holistic and pre-tooling issues, helping designers to address emotional as well as functional needs.

How we added value

Project led by ethnographic research into end users
Communication of a variety of user needs to technology and solution developers
Output was developed to help designers understand life as a blind or partially sighted traveller

"Our work shed light on the everyday challenges blind and partially sighted individuals face when navigating the built environment—particularly within transport systems. By using storytelling, we aimed to deepen understanding of the diverse barriers these passengers encounter and to inspire technology developers to design more inclusive, effective solutions based on real-world experiences."

David Watts, Managing Director at Mima.