VISION 2020 UK Astbury Award 2016: Nomination Form
Nominations are taken from VISION 2020 UK member organisations. However nominees do not necessarily have to work in, or be trustees or volunteers of, the organisation.
Nominees can be an individual, organisation, or for a specific eye health programme or piece of work. The award can also be in recognition of a whole career in which fostering collaboration has been a significant theme.
Name of nominee (if this is a team list all participants below):
Wayfindr (Joint Venture between Royal London Society for Blind People and ustwo)
Name of specific piece of work:
Wayfindr
How does your nominee exemplify excellence in collaboration?500 words max.
How does your nominee exemplify excellence in collaboration
In March 2014 the RLSB Youth Forum published their Youth Manifesto, identifying priority areas for vision impaired young people – and one of these sparked Wayfindr’s development. Wayfindr is the result of a productive collaboration between (global digital product design studio) ustwo, and the RLSB Youth Forum. This joint venture began as part of ustwo’s Invent Time (Social R&D) programme. In response to the manifesto, ustwo worked with members of the RLSB Youth Forum to investigate ways to make independent travel accessible, and cost-effective.
This led to the rapid prototyping of an aid to navigation on the London transport network, for vision-impaired people. Being able to travel independently anywhere, at any time, is a major challenge for vision impaired people. What if vision impaired people were empowered to navigate independently using the smartphone they already have in their pockets? This would allow vision impaired people to lead a full life, overcoming the isolation and poverty they may face.
Ustwo and RLSB initially believed that the best solution to this would be an app, but after investigating further they realised that the best way to realise their vision would be to create an Open Standard for audio based wayfinding. It was at this point that they created the company Wayfindr.
In order to ensure that the Open Standard was subjected to rigorous testing, Wayfindr worked alongside the Youth Forum to test each hypothesis they had about how the Standard would work. They wanted to make sure that it was a product with user-centred design at its core.
Refining and testing the product with the RLSB Youth Forum throughout the exercise led to real advances in understanding the challenges faced by young vision-impaired people, and the growing possibilities of an affordable tech solution and meant that Wayfindr could release the first Work Draft of the Open Standard in May.
Furthermore, the vision for Wayfindr goes beyond the London Transport network. Wayfindr wants to see audio wayfinding solutions implemented across the world, in transport networks, shopping centres, hospitals and other places. They can’t do this alone. Through the Wayfindr Community, Wayfindr is uniting venue owners, digital navigation products and technologists, experts in vision impairment and other interested parties. Together they will set the standard and together they will work to make it a reality. Together they will change the lives of vision impaired people across the world. The community was formed to facilitate open sharing of knowledge to create the Wayfindr standard for audio wayfinding solutions. The community share their experience and expertise, in order to harmonise and strengthen the Wayfindr standard.
Wayfindr would not be able to work without all the stakeholders coming together to work in partnership. It shows the tremendous power of how collaboration between experts, from the for-profit and non-profit sectors, can create an organisation ready to tackle a global challenge.
Katherine Payne
Nominating Member: RLSB
Florence Orban
@WayfindrStd
Nomination forms should be sent via e-mail to
Please include all the requested contact details on the nomination form (don’t forget your Twitter handle if you tweet) along with a photograph.
The closing date for nominations is Friday August 12th. The winner will be notified in August and the award is due to be presented at an event at The Federation of (Ophthalmic and Dispensing) Opticians in London, on Monday 19th September.
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