Community App Concept
UX Design | September 2021
Brief
Communities would like to ensure that individuals within their locale would be adequately provided for in terms of food and shelter, and to be able to build stronger bonds within their respective local communities.
Solution
Community is a community driven mutual aid app concept, as part of the Google UX Design Professional Certificate program, that aims to provide the much needed resources that would help alleviate shelter and food insecurities local to the users.
My aim was to design a welcoming app that connects users to established resources/organizations in their community, actions or initiatives, and to be able to directly donate/give items to people in need. The goal was to develop positive and beneficial actions that would help bring about a stronger sense of community, and, hopefully, help create a more enriching and engaged local populace.
Responsibilities
Overall design from concept to delivery, user research and usability studies, wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping.
User Research
I conducted user interviews, empathy maps, and user flows in order to better understand the pain points of the end-user and how to proceed with the design.
It focused on qualitative research methods in order to pinpoint the main aspects that users really needed .
The key takeaways from the research centered around users needing a way to get into contact with resources that could help alleviate their situation and how to support their communities in a more direct fashion.
Pain Points
1. Not knowing what resources are available to them and where.
2. How to help their respective communities directly.
3. Apps that feel cold and unsupportive.
Solutions
1. Provide a map and ways to contact organizations directly.
2. Build a system where people can donate or participate directly with initiatives.
3. Focus on building a welcoming and inviting user experience.
Sketches & Wireframes
For quick ideation, I performed the Crazy Eights exercise to give myself some idea which direction to go in.
Initial wireframes and the general flow of the app. Main focus was on how the user would reach the needed resource.
Style Guide
High-Fidelity Mockups
Resource Map
The biggest pain point most users centered around was the inability to properly get the help they needed — whether that was finding a suitable organization or the organizations reaching out to them.
In order to alleviate that, I decided to really focus on the map and resource locater as the main component of the app.
Resources/organizations are highlighted through map pins across the map for their desired location. Pin and list item is color coded to help the user spot the right information quickly ( for example: purple = food, blue = shelter, red = misc.).
A search function was added at the top too to let the user either search for a specific resource they wanted for an easier and quicker user experience.
Home & The Board
The home screen focuses on activities, actions, or what-have-you at the top to let users participate with local orgs to gain new skills while also building community relationships — a goal users pointed to as well.
Below the top banner, I wanted large buttons with clear descriptors and fun illustrations to direct the user to where they want/need to go quickly. I want them to able to find the necessary navigation points for their intended goal.
To tackle the community engagement aspect of the research, I decided on creating a message board where users can create posts on items, resources, books, or whatever they want that other users can claim or attend.
I thought this was a neat idea on creating community engagement and helping others without creating a hassle for some people for in-person meetings in large crowds.
Onboarding
My main focus on the onboarding process was to give the user the ability to jump off at any point to get to their desired location if they so choose. Each screen prompts the user continue through the onboarding process, to view the specific service they want, or to skip it all together.
I want the app to feel lively, fun, and inviting. The target demographic for this app are people in crisis. I didn’t want to further burden them with a cold and uninviting experience. I want them to feel like they can use this app without judgement and get to the place they need to. Also, I wanted users who might not be in such circumstances to want to keep coming back and participate within a good-natured, inviting environment.
Takeaways
Some difficulties I had throughout the process centered around the map and available services. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have them color-coded. Looking back at the project, I would probably go a different route, even though I like it very much, since it doesn’t really take visually impaired individuals into account very well. The contrast does far surpass the accessibility test, it still makes me a little nervous that some users will be unable to use it properly.
Another consideration I had was the amount of information to put in front of the user. In the original prototype, there was a final screen where it gave info about the selected organization. After some testing, users pinpointed it as an unnecessary step and actually detrimental to their user experience. I’m glad I decided on a second test to gather feedback and affirm my original hunch.
Finally, this is a very special project to me. I wanted to deliver something very positive to someone that might be experiencing maybe the worst thing that’s happened to them. I wanted to create something that would, hopefully, help lift someone up — even just a little. Also, I want to help people be more engaged in their community. Whether that’s through donating items, volunteering at a meetup, or participating at a workshop, I just want to help facilitate community bonding.
