Namrata Babu portfolio

Proloquo Coach

UX/UI

Accessibility

Design System

Art Direction

Getting started with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) can be overwhelming. Proloquo Coach is an app that provides step-by-step guidance and the support you need, to make communication with AAC a part of your everyday life.

Tools : Figma, Miro, Photoshop, Illustrator

Company : AssistiveWare

Recognition : Apple App of the Day 2023, Apple Cultural Impact Winner 2023

Problem

Parents and caregivers beginning their AAC journey with their child face a steep learning curve with little structured guidance. They often feel overwhelmed, isolated, and unsure whether they're using AAC correctly leading to inconsistent usage and slower progress for the child.

Goal

Design a companion app that reduces anxiety around AAC adoption, builds caregiver confidence through structured learning, and keeps the whole support team aligned around the child's communication journey.

The user

Primary: Parents and caregivers new to AAC, often emotionally vulnerable and time-poor Secondary: AAC team members (speech therapists, teachers) who need visibility on progress

*All image credits to AssistiveWare.

The AAC Journey

With Proloquo Coach we tried to let people learn new things in their AAC journey, let them practice and very importantly, let them share with the AAC team around their child. By “walking” the AAC journey with Proloquo Coach they focus on making the communication connection with their child. It's all about communicating in all forms and ways, so not only using the words of AAC. Understanding the user journey allowed us to create wireframes that prioritize the user's needs, preferences, and pain points. User interviews helped consider the user's mindset, expectations, and motivations at different stages, which lead to more informed design decisions.

The chapter-based learning structure mirrors how adults retain new skills most effectively learn, practice, reflect. We went through a series of exploration and user testing to identify optimal solutions to divide the content. It is important to keep in mind that the flow is intuitive to the user. Having iconography to provide visual aid to the content keeps it interactive and user friendly. To make sure they won't forget and stay motivated we send our users reminders and notifications. And at the end of the Learn chapters in each book we challenge their own knowledge with a quiz. We designed the interface in accordance with Apple’s Human interface guidelines. We also designed for dark mode and made sure to check for accessibility.

Design decisions

For a coaching app like this aimed at AAC users’ parents, the app uses a calming and user-friendly color palette that appeals to parents. We incorporated child-friendly elements, like illustrations or icons, to create a friendly atmosphere while ensuring that the overall design is visually appealing and not cluttered. This is why each book or chapter is differentiated for easy navigation through the interface. The fennec fox was chosen deliberately : approachable, curious, and guiding without being authoritative. For caregivers in an emotionally vulnerable position, the character needed to feel like a companion, not a teacher. Every screen was designed to reduce cognitive load, using warm visuals and clear progressive structure so users never felt lost or overwhelmed.

I developed an illustration library for a consistent visual style which is crucial for brand identity and user experience. This illustration library ensures that all graphical elements used in Proloquo and Proloquo Coach applications adhere to the same design principles, color palettes, and overall aesthetic, resulting in a cohesive and recognizable brand. They range from detailed hero images down to spot images with a consistent narrative of practicality, optimism, and friendliness used throughout. This is accomplished through shape, color, softness, and curves to achieve an inviting, engaging experience.