Focus Ex - browser extension
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
Focus Ex is a tool that helps users to read digital texts. It was primarily designed based on the needs of people with ADHD. This is the collective term for a group of neurological symptoms causing much difficulty in everyday functioning. One of the most characteristic symptoms of ADHD is difficulty to maintain focus, especially during reading. This extension helps filter out distracting factors and replaces the font settings of the target text with personalized ones, thus enhancing concentrate.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
Focus Ex is a digital reading tool, first and foremost for people suffering from ADHD. It is a tool that helps the user access written online content more easily. It filters out distractions, breaks down the text, and changes the font style to a personalized setting. All these adjustments help the user to focus and understand the content better.
The different parts of this tool are the result of one-year-long research. Several functions have been developed after understanding the phenomenon of ADHD and learning about its effects on the quality of reading. A customizable typeface has been created to help with reading problems caused by this condition. Its strength lies in the customizable typeface.
It not only helps the user with its visual attributes but it can also turn into an interactive activity with the click of a button. With this tool, the words are seen through a magnifying glass that highlights the individual words while reading and raises the level of memorization of the content. This is especially useful for people diagnosed with ADHD because strengthening the working memory generates more attention to the words and keeps the user focused. Based on the needs of the target audience, FocusEx also has the option to filter out distracting pictures and videos. It changes the text to all caps to help with readability. Also, it has a feature that reminds the user of how long they have been reading. This has a motivating effect, but can also be useful for people with ADHD in their hyperfocus state.
Video presentation here
More detailed presentation here
Key objectives for sustainability
The sustainability aspects of the project are less emphasized. The concept was invented and designed as a browser extension due to its small size and fewer background processes. This way it is easier to sustain than a whole new browser.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The aesthetic and functional aspects of the project are strongly connected. The main issue with many of the current websites is that they are not designed for good readability and as a result, many of them are un-accessible for certain groups of people. In part, this is a typographical question, which means it is an esthetic question as well.
This extension is not beautifying the web pages but temporarily changes its font with the one designed by me. Also when it is used on an online text transform the layout to be easier to consume. My typeface is designed for a clean and easy view and good readability, as a result, it looks and feels smooth and visually pleasing as well.
The other functions of the extension are also affecting the aesthetics of the targeted webpage. For example the transformation of the text to capitals and the cleanup of annoying graphical elements.
Key objectives for inclusion
People living with ADHD face a lot of difficulties every day, one of these is the difficulty to sustain focus during reading. This can cause serious damage to their self-esteem, character development and social inclusion. This is one of the reasons why I decided to find a functional solution to help with this phenomenon.
Based on the principles of Universal Design and Inclusive Design, I tried to create a tool that transforms parts of a webpage for better focus, just like a pair of “digital glasses”. I wanted to avoid changing a whole webpage because that would show the users a different World Wide Web and it would destroy the intention and notion of inclusion and also the intentions of the original web designer, which would mean loss of information.
The tool was designed with a focus on people living with ADHD but during the process, I realised that certain functions could be also useful for any user. This can be another good reason to think about ADHD not as a disorder, but as a different human functioning.
Innovative character
The innovative character of the project lies firstly in the technical approach of how it uses text, secondly in the new reading experience and the visual approach of the reading difficulty of the people with ADHD.
The main function of the extension is built on the Variable Type technology, which has been developed for the compression of the different font weights of a typeface for the faster load on the web. As a side result of this, it became possible to interpolate real-time between weights as an animation. This generative phenomenon was mostly used for esthetician, experimental and artistic purposes, in contrast, I tried to give it a new function.
The combination of the extension and the typeface stresses the targeted text with a moving-like transformation stimulating the reader's attention. Besides this, the variable font gives the possibility to customise the shape of the letters, the letter spaces and the letter size for personal needs.
The innovative aspect of the project appears on the level of the typeface as well. It contains a Focus weight which is not just a wider and taller weight but it is an optically enlarged version of the typefaces. The interpolation of this creates a zoom effect on the targeted words attracting the attention of the reader.
