Ollie AAC
A communication board has to fit the person using it. I founded Ollie to make boards easier to create, change, and carry into everyday life on iPhone and iPad.
- Industry
- — AI, Health, Accessibility
- Website
- — ollieaac.com
Tools & technologies
The Problem
Communication needs changed faster than families could rebuild their AAC boards.
The approach
How the work took shape
Listen to the people around the board
I worked with health practitioners and drew on feedback from AAC users and families to understand communication at home, in therapy, and at school. Customization took time, and the upfront price of existing tools could block access. Those findings shaped both the app and its $9.99 lifetime price for core communication.
Make room for daily life
Someone heading to a baseball game needs different words from someone sitting down to breakfast. I paired touch-to-speak boards and Fitzgerald Key colors with generation tools that could suggest vocabulary for the moment. Full editing, personal photos, undo, and board snapshots kept those suggestions in the user's hands.
Build for dependable communication
I built Ollie in Swift and SwiftUI, with offline communication and support for assistive technology. AI assists with boards and suggestions; users choose what to keep. I also made data and training choices explicit, because families and practitioners needed to understand how personal information would be used.
The hard parts
The constraint
The cost of getting started could put AAC out of reach.
The decision
I priced core communication at $9.99 for life and included monthly AI credits so families could try generation before buying more.
The constraint
A generated board still had to sound like the person using it.
The decision
I made every board editable and included personal images, version snapshots, and clear controls over suggestions and data.
Prototype Focus Areas
Generate a board for
baseball game
New board
Generate a word board
Describe an activity, such as breakfast or a baseball game, to get a starting set of vocabulary.
Customize the board
Change words, photos, and symbols, with undo and snapshots to make revisions easier.
Explore word generation
Contextual suggestions help build a sentence while leaving the choice of words with the speaker.
Final design
The outcome
What changed
The result
- ✓Released Ollie on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
- ✓Offered core communication for a $9.99 lifetime purchase, with optional AI credits.
- ✓Built touch-to-speak boards, vocabulary generation, full editing, and offline communication.
- ✓Developed the product with health practitioners and feedback from AAC users and families.
Looking back
A useful board changes with a person's day. Saving time on setup mattered as much as adding new vocabulary.
The pricing and privacy decisions belonged in the product from the beginning, alongside the communication tools.
What I'd explore next
I would make it easier for families, clinicians, and schools to share boards, then extend language support with those groups.
Where I contributed
Product
- Founded Ollie and set its pricing with access for families and schools in mind.
Design
- Designed editable boards and generation tools with practitioners and user feedback.
Engineering
- Built the native app, offline communication, and AI integrations in Swift and SwiftUI.
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