Now, onto our 2nd-place (Chrome) winner article on Pavio, developed by Gladys Chiang and Jeffrey Fung.

Jeffrey's lifelong experience as the primary caretaker for his father, who has visual disabilities linked to albinism, inspired him to create Pavio. Designed to address the educational and social challenges faced by visually impaired youth, Pavio leverages voice and technology to provide personalized learning support, aiming to bridge the significant gaps in employment and educational attainment for this community.

“We used Figma for front-end design and prototyping, Freepik for royalty-free vectors and images, an AI Voice Generator for showcasing AI-assisted voiceovers, and a lot of YouTube tutorials on how to use Figma, including adding animations, UX interaction elements, and prototyping.”

So, Pavio, what can you do?

“Pavio” is a platform designed to address the educational and social challenges faced by visually impaired youth. It features life skills that would have benefited Jeffrey's father and his visually impaired peers during their adolescence, such as the power of voice and technology. Pavio helps make learning much more accessible by providing personalized learning support. Even more so, Pavio dismantles barriers of isolation and limited opportunities, enabling youth with poor vision to thrive.

1. Voice Control: Pavio is crafted with a strong focus on accessibility, featuring an extensive voice command navigation system that enables users with visual impairments to navigate with ease. Each feature can be accessed through straightforward voice commands or by tapping the mic button available on every page of the app. The integration of voice navigation and AI-assisted voice-over provides an easier, audiobook-like learning experience. 

2. Gamification: Leveraging the power of gamification enhances user engagement and motivation. On the history page, users can review all the lessons they have completed. The creators also designed a progress bar that encourages users to persist in their learning journey and provides rewards as they reach various milestones.

3. Live Mentorship: Users can connect with live mentors and subject experts for personalized one-on-one sessions aligned with their interests and learning objectives. These live lessons enable young learners to acquire current skills and information pertinent to today's environment.

4. AI-Powered Assistant: In instances where live mentors are unavailable, Pavio leverages an advanced AI assistant powered by OpenAI to bridge the gap. This sophisticated AI is designed to provide immediate support by answering questions related to life skills and offering tailored resource recommendations based on the user's needs. Furthermore, it features a scheduling system that allows users to request appointments with the next available expert, ensuring continuous and personalized guidance. The AI assistant is capable of adapting to individual learning styles, providing nuanced advice, and facilitating seamless transitions between automated support and human mentorship, thereby enhancing the overall educational experience.

5. Personalized Learning: The app exceeds our standards by tracking the user’s mood and providing support tailored specifically to them! By allowing users to find  lessons recommended based on their emotional state, everyone’s  learning experience is uniquely suited to one’s needs and preferences. 

6. Saved Page: Pavio allows users to save any recorded lessons and conversations that you find particularly helpful, allowing you to revisit them later and ensure continuous learning and growth.

7. Gamify Learning: On the history page, users can view all the lessons they have participated in. A progress bar at the top gamifies the experience, motivating users to continue their learning journey and rewarding them as they reach different milestones.

   
   

Did Pavio struggle when being created? Seems invincible to us.

Although Pavio has turned out to be an extremely unique and high-potential project, Fung and Chiang had to deal with numerous challenges along the way. Specifically, Fung and Chiang were first-time full-stack developers who needed to learn the entire app development cycle. To solve this issue, they opted to use Figma.

Through their experience in the GENESIS I competition, we are proud of the Pavio team for putting an extra emphasis on the visual design aspect of their project. In fact, Fung and Chiang researched the importance of color theory for those with visual disabilities in order to determine the best color scheme possible for those that may be sensitive to certain colors or cannot perceive depth/contrast. Our judges found this to be a large highlight to the Pavio team’s commitment to accessibility and personalization of products.

Ultimately, Fung and Chiang were able to integrate their skills to enhance app interactivity through prototyping, animations, and other Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) concepts. At EQ Hacks, we believe this collaborative experience enriched this project, along with accelerating their growth as UI/UX designers.

Can Pavio pave the way to our hearts?

Although we want to see Pavio flourish in the future, the app itself will require tons of effort, drafts, and reworking. The team hopes to include developing features such as speaker vibrations to help users locate buttons, connecting the child's app to parents' phones for collaborative learning and supervision, and offering guided physical education lessons like yoga and exercise.

As their coding skills advance, Fung and Chiang aim to integrate more sophisticated features, build an interprofessional team, and transition Pavio from a prototype to a fully-fledged app available on app stores. Their vision is to create a world where everyone, regardless of visual abilities, has equal access to education, mentorship, and personal growth opportunities.

“Infusing humanity into every pixel and line of code drives our mission at Pavio. Our passion lies in merging cutting-edge technology with empathetic design, creating solutions that not only break barriers but also empower individuals to thrive on their unique journeys.”- Gladys Chiang

Check out the Pavio team's work here:

1. https://devpost.com/software/pavio

2. Test it out here! https://www.figma.com/file/Gbume8Ga4RNK7v7UJ5ZIRX/Pavio?type=design&node-id=0%3A1&mode=design&t=AFVXIEM8ec1IzTSC-1

If you liked this article and enjoyed Ryan Han, Ethan Xu, and Megan Chan's project, feel free to leave a comment of support on their DevPost page.

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