Ready Response
Tools
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Miro, Figma, Airtable
Role
Sole UX/UI Designer
Context
This project aims to develop a comprehensive disaster response mobile application, focusing on New Orleans as a case study. The app addresses critical needs such as real-time alerts, resource management, and tailored features to enhance preparedness and response during emergencies. By providing customized functionalities to meet diverse user needs, the app ensures accessibility and support for all. The goal is to empower individuals to effectively navigate disaster situations and stay connected with vital resources.
The Challenge
The challenge was to design a disaster preparedness platform that could adapt to diverse user needs in real-time emergencies. It required addressing varied scenarios like personalized evacuation routes and localized resources, all while ensuring the platform provides relevant, tailored guidance for each user.
Understanding the Problem
Background
New Orleans has long struggled with disaster preparedness, exemplified by Hurricane Katrina, which revealed how socio-economic disparities intensified the disaster's effects. Recovery outcomes differed widely based on race, class, and neighborhood flood levels, exposing significant social vulnerabilities. These disparities highlight the urgent need for accessible, tailored resources to empower vulnerable populations in managing emergencies and enhancing disaster preparedness and recovery efforts across diverse communities.
Problem
Despite ongoing disaster preparedness initiatives in New Orleans, substantial gaps persist in equitable access to resources and information. Vulnerable populations, especially in socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, experience the slowest recovery rates due to insufficient tailored support. These challenges emphasize the need for enhanced disaster response strategies that can provide customized, real-time information and resources to effectively address the unique needs of all communities.
Solution
1. Personalized Disaster Response Framework: Establish a platform that delivers tailored alerts and relevant information based on individual user needs, promoting effective preparedness for various disaster situations.
2. Enhanced Preparedness Resources: Offer interactive tools and guidelines that support users in their emergency preparation efforts, fostering confidence in their ability to respond to disasters.
Empathize
User Interviews: Key Takeaways
I conducted one-on-one, moderated user interviews with six New Orleans residents, including renters and homeowners from diverse backgrounds, to gather in-depth insights into their disaster preparedness needs and experiences.
Lack of Confidence in Disaster Preparedness: A significant number of respondents expressed uncertainty about managing disaster situations independently, highlighting a widespread need for external support and guidance.
Challenges in Evacuation Planning: Many renters reported difficulties in formulating effective evacuation plans, particularly due to lack of transportation options and absence of nearby family support.
Desire for Comprehensive Information: Respondents emphasized the importance of having clear instructions for various disaster scenarios, as well as access to real-time alerts and essential resources to aid their preparedness efforts.
Communication and Connection Needs: Users identified a strong need for features that facilitate communication with loved ones during emergencies, underscoring the importance of maintaining connections when facing potential crises.
Critical Resources for Safety: There was a consensus on the necessity for information regarding safety essentials, such as food, water, and shelter options, as well as guidance on how to secure their homes before and during a disaster.
Competitive Analysis: Key Takeaways
I conducted a competitive analysis of key disaster preparedness tools, including Disaster Alert, the FEMA app, the Red Cross app, and NOLA Ready—a widely utilized local resource. This analysis focused on understanding their strengths, limitations, and user experiences to identify opportunities for designing a more effective and user-friendly solution.
Customization Options: There’s a clear demand for platforms that allow users to personalize alerts and information according to their specific needs and preferences.
Enhanced Real-Time Alerts: Opportunities exist to refine real-time alert systems, focusing on delivering more accurate and timely notifications to users.
Comprehensive Multi-Hazard Coverage: The potential to develop a platform that encompasses a wider range of disaster scenarios is evident, aiming to provide users with extensive hazard information.
Integrated Emergency Kit Checklist: Incorporating an interactive emergency kit checklist could assist users in effectively preparing for various disaster situations, meeting an important need in disaster readiness.
How might we develop a disaster response platform that enhances preparedness by delivering critical, tailored information and timely resources, ensuring accessibility for all communities and adapting to the unique circumstances of each user?
Define Opportunities
User Persona
I created this persona, Derek—a 29-year-old Sustainability Coordinator who struggles with disaster preparedness due to limited resources and time—based on user research to better understand my users. This persona was used throughout the design process to inform decisions and illustrate the app's highly personalized features in flows and prototypes.
Ideate Solutions
In addressing the challenges associated with disaster preparedness and response, the aim was to transform identified issues into practical solutions.
Problem: Users often struggle to find personalized, accessible information during emergencies, hindering their preparedness and response efforts.
Solution: A comprehensive disaster response mobile application centralizes critical resources, including tailored evacuation routes, emergency kit checklists, and real-time alerts. This streamlined experience ensures users have immediate access to relevant information and tools for effective crisis response.
Prioritizing Features
I evaluated potential features by considering user needs, technical feasibility, and impact on the overall user experience. Prioritization was informed by user research insights, focusing on what’s essential for addressing core user pain points and ensuring a smooth development process.
Sitemap
I then created a sitemap, outlining the app’s features and their relationships to one another, to ensure a logical and intuitive navigation flow.
User Flow
To capture the highly personalized experience of ReadyResponse, I developed specific user flows tailored to key interactions: an initial assessment questionnaire that customizes the app journey, an evacuation route flow that adjusts to user-specific factors, and an emergency kit checklist personalized to individual needs. These flows illustrate how ReadyResponse adapts to each user’s unique situation at every step.
Assessment Questionnaire: First Time User
Evacuation Routes
Emergency Kit Checklist
Prototype
Low Fidelity Wireframes
I created low-fidelity wireframes that emphasize a personalized experience, starting with an assessment questionnaire to assess users' preparedness for emergencies.
I also sketched wireframes for essential features, including the evacuation route planning page and the alerts page, while considering how resources are integrated.
Mid Fidelity Wireframes
Next, for the assessment questionnaire, I refined the pages to capture essential information that personalizes the app and improves preparedness insights.
I also refined the designs for the homepage, alerts, evacuation routes, and emergency kit checklist pages, incorporating insights from the assessment questionnaire to ensure that key information is organized and easily accessible for seamless navigation.
Usability Testing
I conducted usability testing with five participants, including renters and homeowners from diverse backgrounds in New Orleans. The participants were asked to complete tasks related to disaster preparedness using the app. These tasks included completing the assessment questionnaire, accessing alerts, and planning an evacuation route.
Tasks
Complete the assessment questionnaire.
Access the alerts page.
Plan an evacuation route.
Findings
Overall feedback highlighted some areas for improvement. Users found the assessment questionnaire straightforward, but several suggested that the homepage could be more tailored to their specific needs. Additionally, users felt that the evacuation routes page should offer more personalized options, listing specific resources or instructions relevant to each individual based on their responses, such as transportation methods or nearby shelters.
High Fidelity Prototype
For the high fidelity prototype, the assessment questionnaire was refined to focus on Derek, the user from the persona. The answers from the questionnaire are factored into the rest of their app experience.
The homepage was redesigned based on usability test feedback to be even more personalized for the user, including an action plan. Information on pages like evacuation routes and the emergency checklist is now tailored by responses from the assessment. For example, since Derek doesn't have a car, they receive shelter and public transportation options that meet their specific needs as part of their evacuation planning.
Interactive Prototype
Takeaways
Reflections
Personalization is powerful but complex – I set out to create a platform that could be tailored to each individual user, but usability testing revealed how difficult that is. The process of figuring out how to balance personalized features while maintaining a consistent user experience across the app was challenging, but ultimately rewarding.
Research, research, research – Given the seriousness of disaster response, I felt a lot of pressure to get all the content right. This really emphasized the importance of thorough research. It was crucial to back up every design decision with data, and not rely on assumptions about what users would need in such high-stakes situations.
Balancing content and design – With so much critical information to provide, the challenge was in delivering it in a way that wasn’t overwhelming. Striking the right balance between a user-friendly interface and delivering essential information was a huge learning experience.
Future Considerations
Expanding beyond New Orleans – Since the project used New Orleans as a case study, I would want to explore how the platform could be adapted for other regions. It would be important to research the unique needs of different areas to ensure the app provides relevant and accurate resources for those specific locations.
Partnership opportunities – Collaborating with organizations like FEMA could really elevate the platform. This could ensure the app provides even more reliable, up-to-date information and potentially streamline emergency resources directly from official sources, making the app more robust and dependable.