I’ve been an avid listener of podcasts for years. Every week, I listen to my saved shows and walk away with new perspectives, greater knowledge, and a lot of laughs. Over time, though, I started to notice the growing gap in accessibility in the world of podcasting.
Very few shows provide resources for people who are hard-of-hearing or have trouble focusing on audio-only content. Even transcripts, the bare minimum for audio accessibility, are hard to come by.
Popular podcasting apps like Spotify and Apple Podcasts do not offer the functionality to use these resources, leading listeners to search for it elsewhere. Oftentimes, these resources aren't even available anywhere.
Additionally, fluctuating audio levels from podcast to podcast can make it difficult for some to understand what they’re listening to.
For the final project in my college design course in the fall of 2021, I explored a potential solution to bridge this gap and enhance the podcast experience for differently-abled listeners.
I recently discovered that the original file for WaveForm is corrupted and no longer accessible. In trying to figure out how to fix this, I realized this was a prime opportunity to build something even better.
My design skills have grown a lot since the initia WaveForm design I made back in 2021, as has my knowledge of best practices for inclusive and accessible design. Being able to bring this design back to life while showcasing my evolved skillset was a really exciting prospect, so I decided to take the plunge!
I started by setting goals that I wanted to achieve with this redesign, rather than diving headfirst into replicating the original layouts.
After taking a deeper look at the original design, I knew I needed to reduce the app's reliance on podcast creators to supply content for captions and transcripts. This was something I had started to explore with the “Creators” pages in the original prototype.
In retrospect, this would mean that the app's core functionality would rely on the creators' proactiveness rather than on the platform's capabilities.
Knowing now this likely wouldn't scale well in the real world, I scrapped the "Creators" idea, and decided to augment WaveForm's caption and transcript features to be AI-powered, much like Otter.ai and other voice transcription apps.
I then developed the basis for WaveForm's design system. I built out a library of foundational elements (fonts, colors, icons from Google's Material Design system) and components (buttons, tabs, sliders) to reduce irregularities in the updated design.
Establishing the component library ended up being way more helpful than a simple style guide. It sped up my workflow and made it easier to keep track of design details across all screens.
With this redesign, I improved the core features that differentiate WaveForm from other podcast platforms out there, while refining the overall interface.
Scroll to see some before-and-after comparisons, and to click through the prototype.
I loved every moment I spent working on this redesign. WaveForm's always held a special place in my heart, and I'm glad I was able to breathe some new life into it.
It reminded me that our understanding of accessibility as an industry is evolving - and that needs to keep happening.
As designers, it's our responsibility to explore the different ways that people can use our products, and adapt our methods to empower those people.
I also now understand why design systems and component libraries are so important. By enhancing both the uniformity of the product and the process behind it, they allow us to spend less time focusing on pixels and more time making better designs.
Feel free to check out the rest of my portfolio.
