Google Assistant is a virtual personal assistant developed by the company to perform day-to-day tasks, such as calling people, sending messages, searching on Google, and even chatting with the user. Present on all Android smartphones, in addition to other devices such as smart speakers and smart TVs, it is used by more than one billion people worldwide, and millions of Brazilians already rely on it in the most diverse tasks and moments of their routines.
Google has a plan to invest in the digital transformation of Latin America, and one of the focuses for this action is the development of research and partnerships to update its products in order to better include people with disabilities (PwDs).
Google approached WGSN Mindset to carry out a study, entitled "Projeto Autonomia", which would combine research and analysis of society, technology and consumer behavior with interviews and workshops with real users, to understand better the pain points of PwDs, in Mexico as well as in Brazil, and to know which functions could promote user autonomy.
01 Immersion in current and future movements
We delve into the contents of the WGSN platform to understand consumer needs and how technology is moving towards ensuring accessibility and inclusion.
03 Workshop & Vídeo
After understanding the meanings of autonomy in their routines, we held a workshop with recruits where we pointed out the opportunities that WGSN Mindset mapped, so that together we could select priorities and develop what could be the new Google Assistant functions.
02 Interviews and diaries
We interviewed people in Brazil and Mexico with different types of disabilities (visual, motor, intellectual) who also made daily journals, where we mapped their routines and difficulties in terms of autonomy, to identify spaces for new voice assistant functions.
04 Delivery and next steps
We created a complete material with all the lessons learned from the project, including the three main functions chosen, with their justifications and developments, as well as the other mapped functions, opportunity insights and priority grouping, with an indication of which internal areas will be able to use the study to launch new projects.
WGSN Mindset delivered to Google a complete study with creative, innovative and relevant information for the company to bring the use of the Google Assistant closer to users with disabilities.
From the study, we created:
• 3 complete new voice assistant functions;
• Map of other opportunities that Google's marketing, product and engineering team could act on;
• Insights around barriers and usage ratio, expanding new possibilities and improvements in Google Assistant.
For the company, the study highlights how accessibility is an important driver of innovation.
"Based on the results of the study, our product and engineering teams can look for ways to further improve our products, making them more relevant to the daily lives of people with disabilities."
Maia Mau, marketing director of payments, Android and Google Assistant