Citation :

Claudia Marrujo-Ingunza, Meyluz Paico-Campos, "Mobile Application Design for Financial Inclusion of People with Visual Disabilities," International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT), vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 313-324, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V74I4P124

Abstract

The limited accessibility of digital financial services for people with visual impairments is a major barrier to their economic inclusion and independence. The aim of this study is to design an accessible mobile app that allows this group of people to manage their finances, ensuring effective, secure, and independent interaction. To this end, the Design Thinking methodology has been used, structured around five phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. In the Empathize phase, the main accessibility needs were identified through a specific document review. In the Define phase, key requirements were defined, such as voice command navigation, a customizable interface, and auditory feedback. In the Ideate stage, multiple proposals were evaluated, and the proposal for a financial application was selected. The prototype was developed using the Figma tool and includes features such as voice-activated transaction reading and automatic categorization. In the Testing phase, seven experts evaluated the system technically, giving it a rating of 4.5 for auditory accessibility and 4.7 for auditory navigation. In addition, 42 users with partial visual impairment validated its performance, giving it a positive rating for accessibility (91.3) and overall satisfaction (90). In conclusion, the prototype is an innovative proposal for promoting the financial inclusion of people with visual impairments, with potential for implementation in various social and technological contexts.

Keywords

Design, Mobile app, Financial inclusion, Visual impairment, Voice Commands.

References

[1] Shahzad Hussain, Raazia Gul, and Sabeeh Ullah, “Role of Financial Inclusion and ICT for Sustainable Economic Development in Developing Countries,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, vol. 194, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[2] Lee-Ying Tay, Hen-Toong Tai, and Gek-Siang Tan, “Digital Financial Inclusion: A Gateway to Sustainable Development,” Heliyon, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 1-10, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[3] Vaishnav Kameswaran, Y. Vidhya, and Megh Marathe, “Advocacy as Access Work: How People with Visual Impairments Gain Access to Digital Banking in India,” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 7, pp. 1-23, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[4] Sam Goundar, and Milind Sathye, “Exploring Access to Financial Services by Visually Impaired People,” Journal of Risk and Financial Management, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 1-7, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[5] Tianyi Zhang et al., “Fostering Financial Literacy for the Visually Impaired: Improving Accessibility and NGO Collaboration,” International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 9, no. 9, pp. 3640-3659, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[6] Mahmoud Fayyada, and Abdel Raouf Al-Sinnaw, “Challenges of Achieving Financial Inclusion for Individuals with Visual Impairments,” Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 16, pp. 1-13, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[7] Colinie Wickramaarachchi et al., “Can Visual Impairment Impact Your Income Potential?,” PLoS One, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 1-17, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[8] Louise Puli et al., “Financial Inclusion for People with Disability: A Scoping Review,” Global Health Action, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-12, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[9] Otávio de Faria Oliveira et al., “A Qualitative Study on the Needs of Visually Impaired Users in Brazil for Smart Home Interactive Technologies,” Behaviour and Information Technology, vol. 42, no. 10, pp. 1496-1524, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[10] Olessia Barkovska, and Vitalii Serdechnyi, “Intelligent Assistance System for People with Visual Impairments,” Innovative Technologies and Scientific Solutions for Industries, no. 2(28), pp. 6-16, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[11] Vinish Pujari, Karthik Madnal, and Divya Premchandran, “Mobile App for Enhancing Accessibility Among the Visually Impaired,” 2024 2^nd DMIHER International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, Education and Industry (IDICAIEI), Wardha, India, pp. 1-6, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[12] Prabhat Kr Srivastava et al., “A Portable Object Detection System for Visually Impaired Individuals in Outdoor Environments,” 2024 1^st International Conference on Advanced Computing and Emerging Technologies (ACET), Ghaziabad, India, pp. 1-5, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[13] United States Mission, Declaración De Accesibilidad Conforme a La Sección 508 De La Ley De Rehabilitación De 1973, United States Mission. [Online]. Available: https://common.usembassy.gov/es/section-508-accessibility-statement-es/

[14] Santander, Our Contribution Towards Greater Inclusion of the Visually Impaired, Santander, 2021. Available: https://www.santander.com/en/stories/our-contribution-towards-greater-inclusion-of-the-visually-impaired

[15] Fulei Yan, Beibei Chen, and Yuxin Yang, “ICT, Financial Inclusion and the Informal Economy: Evidence from Selected Latin American and Caribbean Countries,” Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 1002-1017, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[16] Nabil Adel, “The Impact of Digital Literacy and Technology Adoption on Financial Inclusion in Africa, Asia, and Latin America,” Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 24, pp. 1-12, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[17] Skynet Technologies, Digital Accessibility and Inclusion in Brazil - Brazilian Inclusion Law (LBI 13.146/2015)!, Skynet Technologies, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://www-skynettechnologies-com.translate.goog/blog/digital-accessibility-brazil?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=es&_x_tr_hl=es&_x_tr_pto=sge

[18] Deloitte, Digitalization in the Argentine Banking Sector, Deloitte, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.deloitte.com/latam/es/about/recognition/news/digitalizacion-sector-bancario-argentino.html

[19] National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), Financial Inclusion of People with Disabilities, National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.gob.mx/cnbv/articulos/inclusion-financiera-de-las-personas-con-discapacidad?idiom=es

[20] Siti Nurazira Mohd Daud, and Abd Halim Ahmad, “Financial Inclusion, Economic Growth and the Role of Digital Technology,” Finance Research Letters, vol. 53, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[21] Siti Nurazira Mohd Daud, Abd Halim Ahmad, and Irwan Trinugroho, “Financial Inclusion, Digital Technology, And Economic Growth: Further Evidence,” Research in International Business and Finance, vol. 70, pp. 1-43, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[22] Nikita Tarasov, and Orest Khamula, “Prospects for Integrating AI into Inclusion for People with Visual Impairments,” Scientific Collection, vol. 45(201), pp. 580-588, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[23] Kriti Shukla, “Access to Assistive Technology for People with Visual Impairment,” IHOPE Journal of Ophthalmology, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 79-85, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[24] Jyoti Madake et al., “Financial Inclusion for Visually Impaired People using YOLOv7Bank+ based Mobile Application,” 2024 15^th International Conference on Computing Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT), Kamand, India, pp. 1-11, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[25] Tihomir Stefanov et al., “Personal Finance Management Application,” TEM Journal, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 2066-2075, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[26] Syariif Abdurrahman Bathik, Rahmat Fauzi, and Sinung Suakanto, “Enabling Financial Inclusion: Development and Implementation of Visipay’s Backend System for Users with Visual Impairments,” 2023 3^rd International Conference on Electronic and Electrical Engineering and Intelligent System (ICE3IS), Yogyakarta, Indonesia, pp. 454-459, 2023. [CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[27] Brilly Andro Makalew, “Android based Personal Finance Management Application: Design and Development,” Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science Journal (EMACS), vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 5-9, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[28] Suharjanto Utomo, and Dede Badru Jaman, “Design of Mobile Hybrid Personal Financial Management Software,” Journal of Information System Research (JOSH), vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 712-717, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[29] Alhanoof Althnian, “Design of a Rule-based Personal Finance Management System based on Financial Well-being,” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications (IJACSA), vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 182-187, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[30] Mathursan Balathas et al., “Money Empire: Intelligent Assistant for Personal Finance Management,” IJRASET Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology, vol. 10, no. 11, pp. 454-461, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[31] Vaishali Rajput et al., “Moneymate: A Finance Application,” IJRASET Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 5248-5253, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Publisher Link]

[32] Mark Riede, Rüdiger Breitschwerdt, and Jan-David Liebe, “Inclusive Design Thinking for the Development of Digital Health Applications: A Methodology Review,” German Medical Data Sciences, pp. 324-334, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[33] Rahmin Bender-Salazar, “Design Thinking as an Effective Method for Problem-Setting and Needfinding for Entrepreneurial Teams Addressing Wicked Problems,” Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-23, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[34] Siti Salwa Isa et al., “Investigating the Correlation Between Visual Representation Flow, Physical Prototyping, and Designers’ Creativity,” The Design Journal, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 954-975, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[35] Ardi Mandani, and 2Ahmad Mutatkin Bakti, “UI/UX Design for Mobile Sales Application at Up Store using Figma,” JSAI (Journal Scientific and Applied Informatics), vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 462-468, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[36] Andi Abdurrahman Manggaberani, and Andi Muhammad Darlis, “The Effectiveness of Google Forms in Assessing and Evaluating Online Learning Outcomes: Meta-Analysis Study,” Indonesian Journal of Social Technology, vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 4561-4570, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[37] Sven Malvik, Power Apps, Mastering Azure API Management, Apress, Berkeley, CA, pp. 165-172, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[38] B. Manikandan et al., “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Mobile App Development,” Interantional Journal of Scientific Research in Engineering and Management, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 1-3, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Publisher Link]

[39] Nenny Anggraini et al., “Speech Recognition Application for the Speech Impaired using the Android-based Google Cloud Speech API,” Telkomnika (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control), vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 2733-2739, 2018.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[40] Pachipala Yellamma et al., “Automatic and Multilingual Speech Recognition and Translation by using Google Cloud API,” 2024 5^th International Conference on Mobile Computing and Sustainable Informatics (ICMCSI), Lalitpur, Nepal, pp. 566-571, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]