Senior Product Designer · Digital Products · Tokyo
Project metadata
My role: UX/UI Designer · PM for Accessibility Audit
Type: B2C mobile app — iOS & Android
Client: Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) / CI&T
Award: Silver — Better Future GOV Design Awards 2023, Equity & Inclusion
Case study · Emergency Management Victoria · 2022–2024
Designing for everyone, including the most vulnerable
A 24-month end-to-end redesign of the VicEmergency app for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and people with disabilities.
Awarded Silver at the Better Future GOV Design Awards 2023 in the Equity & Inclusion category.
The Problem
VicEmergency is the Victorian Government's primary platform for real-time emergency warnings and incident information — used by anyone in the state during bushfires, floods, and other emergencies. But the existing app had a fundamental problem: it only worked well for a narrow slice of its intended audience.
The interface was English-only, leaving Victoria's large Arabic and Chinese-speaking communities without reliable access to potentially life-saving information.
Three pilot goals
Language: Provide emergency information to communities in their own language.
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Accessibility: Improve features to better cater for people with disabilities.
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Display: Manage data volume so it doesn't overwhelm users under stress.
For users relying on assistive technology, the app was effectively unusable — the search field and navigation bar shared a single line, forecast information overlaid directly onto the map, and there was no logical focus order for screen readers to follow.
Nine years of VicEmergency data had also shown a consistent pattern: as more information was added to the map screen, users' ability to understand it decreased. In an emergency, cognitive overload isn't a UX inconvenience — it's a safety risk.
The Users
The app served the general Victorian public, but the pilot specifically targeted two underserved groups who faced the greatest barriers to access:
• Vision-impaired and low-vision users relying on screen readers
• Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, specifically Arabic and Simplified Chinese speakers, chosen for their high census representation and the opportunity to test both L-to-R and R-to-L script formats
Research Methodology
Three complementary research streams ran throughout the pilot, each targeting a different user need:
• UX testing
15 participants across vision-impaired and linguistically diverse communities were involved in user interviews and usability testing across the design and testing phases.
• Vision Australia consultation
15 design consultation sessions · 3 formal testing cycles of the app build · 2 post-test review meetings. Vision Australia's Digital Access team conducted a full accessibility audit against WCAG 2.1 AA, identifying 16 issues — all of which were resolved before final sign-off.
• 2M Language Services focus groups
Separate workshops with Chinese and Arabic communities at two stages within the pilot, each with 7–8 participants. These sessions tested both comprehension of the translated content and usability of the redesigned interface in each language context.
" You should always present me with the app's options. It will depend on the context of the person and if I don't know what options you can provide, it will frustrate me"
- Visually impaired research participant
Accessibility Audit
I managed the engagement with Vision Australia's Digital Access team as both designer and project manager for the audit process. The audit identified 16 accessibility issues across the app, covering colour contrast, screen reader support, keyboard navigation, button labelling, and focus order. All 16 issues were resolved through design and development changes before the final review.
Issues identified & resolved
• External link icons had no alternative text
• Map indicators lacked text alternatives for screen readers
• Insufficient colour contrast across multiple UI elements
• Buttons and informative icons not grouped with related text
• Screen focus order did not follow a logical path
• Orientation restricted to portrait mode only
The Outcome
WCAG 2.1 AA certified: Formal Statement of Accessibility issued by Vision Australia, 14 March 2024. All applicable Level A and Level AA success criteria met.
97% translation comprehension rate achieved in Simplified Chinese community testing.
87% translation comprehension rate achieved in Arabic community testing.
16/16 accessibility issues identified in the Vision Australia audit resolved before final sign-off.
Silver award: Better Future GOV Design Awards 2023 — Equity & Inclusion category, recognising the project's contribution to inclusive design in government services.
Key Constraints & Decisions
The project encountered significant external pressures that tested both design quality and delivery resilience.
A six-month government hiatus mid-project, driven by a change in Commissioner and further budget cuts, paused all development work. Upon resumption, scope was reduced and feature parity with the existing app had to be carefully managed alongside the new pilot features.
Navigating these constraints required close collaboration with the EMV Product Owner, pragmatic descoping decisions, and maintaining momentum with a development team across a much longer delivery timeline than originally planned.