Eye Watch is a user-friendly mobile app designed to provide reliable and real-time safety updates for users in their area. The app focuses on delivering a seamless and intuitive user experience, ensuring that users can stay informed and take proactive measures to stay safe. Eye watch will help users enrich their mental well being of feeling safe in their surroundings and their loved ones
This was created during my enrollment in CourseCareers UI/UX bootcamp.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), between 2021 and 2022, there was a notable decrease in the overall rate of violent victimization, dropping from 79.8 to 23.5 victimizations per 1,000 individuals aged 12 or older. However, despite this decline, a significant number of people still grapple with a persistent sense of insecurity due to the lack of adequate preventative measures and effective victimization prevention strategies. This disconnect presents a crucial gap, overlooking opportunities to prevent endangerment, provide essential support to families, and ensure peace of mind.
The goal is to create an app that empowers users to proactively take control of their safety. This app will encourage secure exploration by providing trustworthy information, bringing peace of mind to both users and their loved ones.
Send SOS, receive alerts, and check in with loved ones seamlessly.
Search, explore, and access real-time safety reviews and reports for worry-free travel
Before jumping into design, I wanted to understand how much people value their safety and what they look for in safety mobile apps. I decided to conduct a survey over 2 weeks
Here are some of the questions and answers:
Through user research, I discovered a strong desire for real-time updates on surroundings, especially during travel or outdoor activities, particularly in the evening. The exploration also unveiled instances of safety concerns, highlighting the paramount importance users place on their well-being. The survey not only provided invaluable insights into user sentiments, it enabled me to assess the willingness of users to engage with the app and their expectations from a safety application. This understanding motivated me to craft effective solutions to address their concerns.
During this phase, I conducted 10 in-depth interviews with individuals aged 16 to 40 who have encountered various precarious situations. The primary aim was to deeply understand their motivations, needs, and frustrations concerning safety perceptions when either locally going out or traveling.
After conducting interviews, I compiled a comprehensive list of user motivations, needs, and frustrations, providing a deep understanding of their perspectives. By allowing users to express themselves freely, I extracted essential tasks they expect Eye Watch to fulfill. These findings formed the basis of understanding the challenges faced by victims and the critical importance of safety to them. Here are the pivotal insights I uncovered:
Peace of mind
Family and Loved Ones
Community and Social Cohesion
Crisis response and in-app reporting
Reliable real-time alert notifications
Geolocation services and features
Uncertainty of safety during nighttime
Vulnerability in unfamiliar areas
Lack of safety resources available
Through the utilization of an affinity diagram, I organized interview and survey data, allowing for the identification of prevalent patterns and recurring themes in user feedback. These insights provided a comprehensive understanding of user concerns, guiding strategic enhancements to the app to better align with and address user needs.
DISCOVERY
Numerous individuals rely on Google, social media, and community reviews to gather information about potential risks and make informed decisions to enhance their safety when venturing out.
CONCERNS
In many communities, people feel more vulnerable at night due to personal experiences with crime and unsettling incidents. This unease leads to a disconnect among community members.
SUGGESTIONS
Insights into user safety and decision-making preferences in safety apps, which influenced my app design, resulting in a more tailored solution that effectively caters to their needs benefiting individuals and families alike.
To gain deeper insights into my users' mobile safety experience, I crafted a detailed user persona, aiming to comprehend their desires, needs, and pain points.
I created a empathy map to enhance my comprehension of user perspectives and behaviors, contributing to a more informed design process
Following the research, I narrowed the MVP scope to 3 key features:
In organizing the app's content, I initially outlined the page structure and then conducted an open card sort with potential users. This revealed how users naturally organized the site's contents and labeled them which lead to the creation of a closed card sort, allowing me to test and refine the structure based on user feedback.
Following the implementation of the proposed structure, I conducted a tree test to assess user navigation and information retrieval efficiency. Subsequently, iterative improvements were made to enhance the overall usability in response to the test results.
Through these tests, I laid out the site map that had the best results and used it as a visual overview of the app.
I wanted to look deeper into understanding user interactions in the app for reviewing reports before navigating to their destination. I constructed an annotated task flow diagram to outline the sequential steps involved in this crucial task.
In order to map user interactions within the application, I developed a user flow highlighting pivotal decision points and diverse pathways for completing essential tasks before moving on to wireframing. Here are a few:
.At this point I converted my optimized sitemap into sketch concept to layout the how it would look. During this time I did not know to save previous sketches so only had the final one to show.
Utilizing the user flow diagram and sketch allowed me to move quickly and create a mid-fidelity wireframe to be able to share the ideas with the client rapidly.
I chose blue as the primary color as it instills a sense of security psychologically which is what I want users to feel using the app.
Recognizing the prevalence of color blindness among users, I conducted rigorous testing on the app to ensure inclusivity. During this process, I identified an issue with the contrast of the blue buttons against small text, failing to meet accessibility guidelines. To address this, I enhanced the contrast while preserving the original color scheme, ensuring improved readability for all users.
To evaluate the app's usability, a prototype test was conducted with 15 users. The in-person sessions involved participants engaging in specified tasks to assess the application's user-friendliness:
Once the app goes live there are several things I would like to track in order to keep improving:
