Visitaal Chat: the pictogram-based chat app

Pictogram library

Spelpartners’ Nico den Dulk has been drawing the Visitaal pictograms for more than 20 years, often in collaboration with care sector professionals. “Visitaal is an important system. The library of black-and-white pictograms was originally developed at a centre for children with learning and communication difficulties, but is nowadays in widespread use. Nearly 80 per cent of care centres use it.”

A few years ago, Spelpartners got talking to care provider Middin. “Both we and Middin were wondering whether it might be possible to develop a sort of WhatsApp for chatting in pictograms. So we decided to give it a go, and that’s how we came to create Visitaal Chat.”

Nico den Dulk of Spelpartners talks to a client of Koninklijke VISIO about the recognizability of Visitaal pictograms for people with a visual impairment.

How it works

“Visitaal Chat is a simple chat app that ties in with modern daily life,” explains Nico. “You download the app and make friends by scanning a QR code. It’s really an app that a relative or carer installs on the phone or tablet of a youngster with difficulties. Users can then send each other messages made up of pictograms. Photos, GIFs and voice messages can be sent as well.” The app was initially intended for people with (mild) mental disabilities, but the target group has been widening. “The app can be useful to anyone who finds reading and writing difficult,” continues Nico. “For example, we get enquiries from the elderly care sector, where the target group is people with dementia, and from professionals involved in caring for people with acquired brain injuries. Occasionally, people working with refugees and migrants reach out to us as well.”

Support from SIDN Fund

With support from SIDN Fund, Spelpartners has been able to refine the app. “One thing we’ve done is make the app accessible for people with impaired vision, working in collaboration with Royal Visio. For example, the pictograms can be enlarged or displayed in black-and-yellow form, which makes them easier for people with impaired vision to recognise. We’ve also added voice recognition capability, so users can find pictograms by talking. The app now supports voice messaging as well.”

SIDN Fund's Elise van Schaik: “Society is rapidly going digital, and a huge amount of our communication is via messaging services, such as Signal and WhatsApp. But where does that leave people who find messaging apps too difficult? How do they stay in contact? Visitaal Chat addresses that problem by giving those people an easy way to communicate, using pictograms. So SIDN Fund is pleased to support projects such as Visitaal Chat, which enable even more people to participate in digital society.”

Screenshot of an app conversation in the Visitaal Chat app.

Objective and plans

“At the moment, we’re in the promotion, education and implementation phase,” says Nico. “All too often, we find that people don’t know about the app, or think it’ll be difficult introducing it at a care centre. So we’re developing webinars, videos and physical materials, and we’re building up a network of ambassadors within care organisations. SIDN Fund’s network is very useful to us in that context. Because our objective is clear: we want all large care centres to know about and use the app.”

Visitaal Chat is available to download for free from the App Store and Google Play Store.