Directionary

About Directionary

A community-driven route-learning and wayfinding app for people with visual impairments.

Knowledge shared. Confidence built.

Learning a new route involves understanding directions, recognising landmarks, and remembering the details that make a journey familiar.

Directionary was created to make this knowledge easier to access, learn, and share.

Through community-contributed routes, people with visual impairments can discover journeys, build familiarity with unfamiliar environments, and share their own experiences with others.

Built through collaboration.

Directionary began as a design initiative exploring how route-learning knowledge could be made more accessible to people with visual impairments.

The project has been shaped through research, usability testing, and collaboration with visually impaired users and orientation and mobility professionals.

Directionary is developed in collaboration with Guide Dogs Singapore.

Our design principles

  1. 01

    Ear First, Eyes Second

    We design for screen readers first, ensuring information and interactions can be understood beyond what is seen.

  2. 02

    Less but Clear

    Simplicity should never come at the expense of clarity. We remove unnecessary complexity while keeping interactions understandable.

  3. 03

    Empower, Not Replace

    Directionary complements orientation and mobility training by making shared route knowledge more accessible, encouraging exploration and independence.

Made possible through collaboration.

Directionary has been shaped by the knowledge, experiences, and contributions of people with visual impairments, orientation and mobility professionals, researchers, designers, and developers.

We are grateful to everyone who has helped bring the project forward.

Simone
Orientation & Mobility Expertise · Guide Dogs Singapore
Hong Sen
Accessibility Testing & Lived Experience
Dr Jun-Joo Lee
Academic Guidance · Department of Design, National University of Singapore
Jerome
Software Development
Daryl
Product Design & Development
Vanessa
Project Support · Former CEO, Guide Dogs Singapore

Special thanks to Guide Dogs Singapore, its leadership, and the visually impaired community members who generously shared their experiences and supported Directionary’s development.