Providing assistance in all ways

Role: UX Designer

Tool: Pen & Paper, Figma

Duration: June 2023 - July 2024

Providing a quick and easy way to provide and receive local assistance

Creating a website and companion app that will allow users to find social services near them. It will also have a secondary functionality to connect social services with volunteers and service workers interested in assisting.

The Problem

The support industry can be difficult to navigate, especially when you are already struggaling due to the situations you are in.

The Goal

My goal is to provide a tool for users to guide them through the support process whether they want to assist through volunteering as a career, or to to find local services.

Research

Interview

User Journey

Persona Development

Competitive Audit

Ideation & Lo - fi Design

Pen & Paper

Layout & Structure

Testing with Paper

Mockup

Evaluation & Iteration

Prototype

User Testing

Finalization

Further Testing

Re-Evaluation

Understanding the User

Meeting People with Experience

Using multiple online support forums for a variety of support groups, I learned about the struggles that people face when in difficult situations where they couldn't afford food or shelter.

Additionally, I spoke with a few users and interviewed people who experienced food, shelter, and financial instability and learned the difficulties they had in looking for support.

From the research I learned that the main issue is

1.

Not knowing that there are support providers for food, work, and shelter insecurities

2.

Finding a support provider near you can be difficult, and time is a very important factor in situations.

Personas

Using the information from the research and user interviews, I created two personas for the verity of users who will use the app. One for social workers and volunteers and the other for people who need assistance.

Competetive Audit

To find a solid base to work with a competitive audit was done comparing social service sites and finding both the negatives and positives of each site.

4 Sites were researched to confirm an initial direction to follow and find the gaps that can be fufilled by the Provide app.

Beginings of the Design

Using the information learned in the research phase I used an ideation exercise to generate multiple screens and menus to address issues found during the competitive audit. The focus was to find a variety of ways to provide the services for the functions of the app.

Ideation

Digital Wireframes

After ideating and drafting paper wireframes, I used the best parts and pieces from the ideation to create a filled out initial design. The designs were focused on the users who need assistance, while also providing the option to people who are interested in volunteering or working within the industry.

Low-Fidelity Prototype

To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connects two of the main flows. One to allow users to donate and the second flow is a quick map to find nearby food banks.

Usability Study

Using the prototype an unmoderated usability study was done with 5 participants. The participants took 10-15 minutes to go through the main user flows. The user test methods ensured that unbiased and clear feedback was provided.

From the usability studies, we learned the main struggles users were having with the app.

Using the pain points and other issues users faced as a guide, I proceeded to refine the design and create the high-fidelity prototype.

High-Fidelity

Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied the design changes, removing unnecessary buttons and adding higher contrast to the donation overlay.

High Fidelity Mock Ups

Prototype

The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype updating the design to adhear to the usability study.

Scaling Up

As the app is to be used as both a job search app for service workers or volunteers and assistance for people in need, I created a scaled-up version for the web. The main focus of the website is for job and volunteer opportunity searches while the app's main focus is for people in need.

To do this the home page of the website first shows the job bank search on the home page.

The section to learn and use the assistance program is also available on the site to ensure people who use the website has the same access as they would have on the app.

Final Thoughts

Takeaways

Next Steps