CaptionCall
Mobile App
Solving how individuals with hearing loss visualize and feel outgoing calls
Role
Design Lead
Timeline
1 Month
Tools
Maze
Figma
Pendo
Skills
Design System
User Testing
Format
Mobile
Collaboration
PM
Developers
Customer Support
IMPACT
Since shipping, haptic ringing has been continuously used by 95% of our user base.
I. Background
CaptionCall is a mobile app exclusively for hard of hearing and deaf individuals.
THE APP
CaptionCall is a telecommunications app that enables over 800K+ individuals with hearing loss to make calls comfortably with real-time transcriptions.
APP VALUE
The app provides real-time captioning to phone calls, and allows users to save transcripts if they need to.
USER BASE
Our user base is 800,000 hard-of-hearing and deaf individuals. Notably, 50% of our user base is 50 years or older.
Shelby, 70
HARD OF HEARING
PROBLEMS:
Has hearing loss and it impacts his daily life
Can’t hear most sounds now and requires a hearing aid
Not very tech savy
Often misses words or misinterprets them during voice calls, especially if the speaker talks fast or there’s background noise.
Sometimes feels isolated or embarrassed asking people to repeat themselves.
WANTS & NEEDS:
Enjoys staying in touch with family via phone and video calls.
Stay socially connected and independent without needing constant help from family.
Understand phone conversations clearly to avoid miscommunication or embarrassment.
Use technology without feeling overwhelmed or confused.
II. Problem
USER FLOW
Through mapping the user experience of the current outgoing call experience, we found that users could not determine the status of the call (i.e. connecting, connected to call, or declined to voicemail).
CURRENT EXPERIENCE
A recording of all experiences on the call history tab. This includes opening a side menu, viewing call details, making calls, and pressing edit.
Here is how our user make a call:
III. Pain Point
Our deaf users want more context of what is going on when making calls
In our sister product, nTouch—a telecommunications service specifically for the Deaf—we show how many rings a call has been ringing. This helps users gauge how long it’s taking for someone to answer.
Our sister product (ntouch)'s Outgoing Call Experience
Users want to know how long the call has being ringing
Because they are unable to hear rings, they cannot anticipate whether or not the call will be sent to voicemail or not.
Screenshots of when the call does connect, but it goes to voicemail.
HOW MIGHT WE
IV. Alignment with Devs
DEV FEASIBILITY
CALL STATUSES OF AN OUTGOING CALL
Connecting
Before the call is connecting
Ringing
The call is connected but the other end is not answering
Connected
Other end has picked up or call goes to voicemail
HOW MIGHT WE
V. Design Iterations
DEV RESTRICTIONS
FIRST ITERATION
Version A
Separate the number of rings and the contact photo
Version B
Replacing the contact photo with a loading circle
Version C
Try out different versions to show connection based on phone apps
ITERATIONS TO USER TEST
V. User Testing
TESTING ON MAZE
FINAL DESIGN
“
I realize with this design, there is a connecting phase that doesn’t mean it made the call yet, and then it starts ringing.”
- Internal Employee, 56
Currently Live!
95%
of all users utilize feature
VIII. Retrospective
WHAT I LEARNED
QA testing, AB Moderated Testing, Communicating guidelines with Devs
RETROSPECTIVE
Establish a relationship with the developers without using the Product Manager to mediate between us.
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