This project came as the product of a conversation I had with a friend visiting the USA and Canada from Fukuoka, Japan. Coming from a safe country where she doesn't need to have a guard up in public, her immediate feelings about the cities she visited in North America were public anxiety and unease. She could safely walk around through dimly lit alleys back in Japan, but even if surrounded by peers here, she had a heightened sense of anxiety.
Vancouver is a constantly growing city that sees an estimated 1.3% annual population increase, coupled with a .8% - 1.2% annual increase in violent crimes. With an increasing student population fueled by Vancouver's reputation as an accepting multicultural area, there is growing concern for student safety both on and off campus as 19-27% of women and 6-8% of men in post-secondary education will experience unwanted sexual violence.
A surprising amount of respondents were unaware of available resources. This led to the common perception in interviews that if assistance for the problem isn't well advertised, it's not a problem worth worrying about.
After a session of affinity mapping,
I narrowed my focus to creating an immediate and plausible
long-term change. In addition to the exercise, through qualitative research and further interviewing, over 60% of
respondents preferred the idea of an independant resource database that can be accessed for functions aside from finding resources.
The idea of having this information coupled with a report feature resulted in greater trust compared to searching
the internet for sites such as Options for Sexual Health or having to download multiple ineffective applications
catered to both awareness and immediate aid. Aware also offers unbiased and non-politically-charged typically found in government and agency-backed platforms
Over 60% of interviewees acknowledged that having an independant resource platform would provide subconscious comfort in public and appears more secure than a government-backed digital ecosystem.
To avoid going off the assignment path and risk creating false constraints or new ideas, I established a set of guiding principles that would inform all future decisions. In a group setting, this would resolve potential confusions by having members refer to these as a guideline for their decisions.
After conducting interviews with both domestic and foreign students from various universities, I constructed two main personas. To narrow focus for the remainder of deliverables, the Cautious Observer, a reserved international student, was chosen as an extension of my Japanese friend and to represent the depth of individuals that public violence affects.
Respondents saw the practical use of Aware as a passive application on their device, accessible whenever needed. Compared to competitors such as Navy Domestic Violence Prevention, a government-created resource for domestic violence in the Navy, Aware would not be a short-term intervention with single use followed by immediate drop-off.
Informed by the persona and the insights gained through their frictions, I established product brand values to cater to a wide variety of potential customers affected by violence. These values helped shape the form of the UI in addition to understanding the product's success and effectiveness in my community.
The dashboard allows immediate access to the most relevant information based off interview questioning. This exploration was chosen over others as it provides immediate actions and an emphasis on retention. Based off the first round of testing, the first exploration resulted in an abundance of potential UI changes from the ability to add and remove custom panels. Features deemed unnecessary were removed as they strayed too far from the original problem.
By leveraging the current industries' online focused information hubs, I maintained what potential customers may expect when opening up Aware for the first time and emphasizing customer retention. This allows those not making a report or finding assistance to have a readily available database written by members of the community that active customers may empathize with more than a writer from a government-backed blog.
The centralized list of contacts was an important feature that I wanted to implement, and received approval from testers. A common initial critique was "why have more contacts when you already have some built into your phone?" By allowing customers to edit and prioritize custom contacts in addition to updating relevant and reliable location-based contacts, customers will have more confidence that their worries will be heard and understood.
This differentiating element is the ability to make reports or search for specific resources in the area based on a customer's filtered need. By improving the copy to be more clear and direct in this conversational design instead of superficial and romanticized, the customer does not feel as though they're being interrogated or put down for putting out their sensitive experience.
From 10 interviewees, 8 spoke multiple languages, and 4 noted that English was their second
language. With a growing population of first-generation Canadians that lack confidence in their English
comprehension, it was important to understand how their cultural influence and differences would inform design
decisions.
This platform will be available in multiple languages to prevent individuals being forced into unwanted
situations due to language barriers, as well as making the customer feel cared for in a potentially new country
with different social norms.
After a round of testing with students at both Simon Fraser University (3) and Kwantlen Polytechnic (2), a frequent comment was the feeling of being interrogated and that the conversation-based interface appeared overly mechanic. Through adjusting copy towards a serious/genuine tone, the same respondents had felt more compelled to provide detailed accounts of, albeit made-up, user-stories. The incorporation of my communication background aided in the production of copy that met product needs and propelled customer enjoyment
Too much time was spent optimizing for speed. More time could have been put into early process in order to benefit greater long-term confidence in the project and final product. Despite all of the research that amounted to the physical product, I found more opportunities to configure a final product with the output of more wireframes and low-mid fidelity prototypes. The information gathered through interviews and testing resulted in a better understanding of both the overall project context and how to proceed with final mockups. However, there are still a few concerns that I may potentially tackle in the future:
What if the customer doesn't feel safe reporting to the police?
Would the customer feel more secure knowing that actions were taken against their perpetrator?
How would our end know if someone is making a legitimate report?
How would I enable customer-made content for empathetic stories based on actual experience?