Research, Product Strategy & Accessible UX Design
Kaleb Speaks
A communication support platform designed to empower nonverbal children with autism and support the caregivers guiding them every day.
Kaleb Speaks was created from personal experience navigating the challenges of communication accessibility, emotional support, and caregiver overwhelm. This project combines UX research, inclusive design, and emotionally-driven product strategy to create a tool centered around connection, reassurance, and real-world usability.
The Problem
Understanding the emotional and functional gaps in communication support tools.
Many communication tools focus heavily on functionality while overlooking the emotional realities caregivers and children experience daily. Through research and lived experience, Kaleb Speaks explored how accessibility, reassurance, and simplicity could work together to create a more supportive communication experience.
Understanding the Caregiver Experience
Using research and storytelling to uncover emotional pain points, needs, and opportunities.
Research centered around the experiences of caregivers navigating communication barriers, emotional fatigue, and inconsistent support systems. Personas and storytelling exercises helped identify emotional pain points, usability priorities, and opportunities for more compassionate interaction design.
Early Ideation
Exploring interaction patterns, accessibility considerations, and user-centered solutions.
Initial concepts focused on reducing cognitive overload, simplifying navigation, and creating interaction patterns that felt approachable for both caregivers and children. Early wireframes explored communication flows, accessibility considerations, and emotional clarity.
Designing the Experience
Transforming insights into a calm, intuitive, and emotionally supportive interface.
The final interface prioritized accessibility, emotional reassurance, and ease of use across multiple touchpoints. The experience was designed to feel calm, supportive, and intuitive while remaining flexible enough for different communication needs.
Reflection
Designing from lived experience through empathy, accessibility, and advocacy.
Kaleb Speaks became more than a UX project. It became an opportunity to design from lived experience and create something rooted in empathy, accessibility, and advocacy.
Designing with Words That Reassure
Crafting supportive language and thoughtful interactions that reduce overwhelm.
Language became a critical part of the experience. Every interaction was considered through the lens of emotional safety, clarity, and encouragement to help caregivers and children feel supported rather than overwhelmed.
Let’s Build Something Intentional.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining what exists, I’d love to collaborate. Let’s create something that feels authentic, strategic, and built to grow.