I started working on this project as the only developer and designer in the team back in the year 2017 as part of a startup called AICA. The goal with this app was to allow deaf people in Mexico to be able to request a sign language interpreter in the same way you would request an uber driver. The app would connect you with a remote interpreter with through a video call.
Scope
The original scope was to create a set of iOS apps — one for users another one for interpreters. Why iOS? Because the founder loves Apple. But as with any uber-like startup idea, it turned out to be way more difficult and require way more infrastructure than anticipated. After realizing this a few months into the design, we agreed to create a simple but good looking MVP that would allow the founders to get investment.
Design
Before this project I had never really designed an app in any professional way. I spent a few months learning and trying different ideas for how the app and ended up using Sketch App to create the design mocks you see here in this page. With this project I learned that UX is what defines the UI, but I had to learn that by loosing a lot of time and energy.
Code
This was my first ever iOS app. I didn't own a modern mac before joining this team so there where many first in this job. I started following basic official Apple XCode tutorials and moving my way through them until I was able to create a UI-only prototype. Being more design-oriented I went with the frontend first and then the backend. Anyways, here's the final tech stack I used:
- Swift + Storyboards + UIKit
- Twilio Video Calls
- Firebase
Collaboration
Later on, after the iOS MVP was good, we outsourced the Android UI implementation to some freelancers. So I created a design guide and a set of videos showing animations.
Conclusion
As you can probably sense from the way I'm writing this project overview, I got pretty burned out from it. But I learned a ton. This catapulted my career and I am very grateful for it.