Selected Academic Projects
Anti-Racism Mobile Application Case Study
A major wake-up call occurred in the summer of 2020 centered around racial tensions in America. The traumatic deaths & handling of cases regarding Breonna Taylor and George Floyd sparked a national conversation with the question, “What do we do to change this?”
For those who are apart of marginalized & oppressed communities, the subject of racial injustice is apart of everyday life. To assist with amplifying the voices of people who are often unheard, the distribution of trustworthy information is important.
Methodology
User Survey
User Interviews
Affinity Mapping
Persona Development
Storyboarding
Ideation
Sketching
Wireflows
Iterative Usability Testing
Rapid Prototyping
Tools
Figma
Miro
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Duration
2 Weeks
My first step in aiming to create a mobile application that can work towards reducing racism in the world was to survey 60 participants.
I wanted to understand what their definition of anti-racism is, how it is apart of their day-to-day life, and the steps people took in their personal life to achieve creating an equal society.
Define what "anti-racism" means to you.
Tell me how anti-racism is a part of your day-to-day life.
What steps do you take in your personal life to achieve creating an equal society?
Qualitative research below addresses the following topics:
“Equity is more important than equality. Liberation is crucial.”
“I am motivated by the fact that I know my actions, no matter what they are, will make a difference in the long run.”
“The intensity of the movement around social justice can make it hard to figure out how to properly and safely go about taking action.”
“While social media is a great tool, I wish there was an all-in-one platform that housed reliable, organized, easily sharable, & accessible information to all walks of life.”
To dig deeper, user interviews were conducted which allowed me to gain knowledge of the step-by-step process users take to combat racism and how that is integrated into their lifestyles.
Synthesizing interview research through affinity mapping & reflection led me to successfully develop my user persona, Jennifer.
We all know Jennifer. Some of us are Jennifer. We want to do good.
Jennifer is hungry to help others because she sees how racial inequality has affected her best friends and the paths their lives take due to systemic racism. She needs reliable information to engage with people focused on making a change in order to take that first step of working towards racial equity.
To assist Jennifer, an ideation session was held with 6 participants who were filled with great insight that explored ways to help Jennifer utilize her own privileges to work towards liberation for everyone, help her take on more social responsibility to ease the stress of her friends who are apart of marginalized & oppressed groups, and help her envision new structures of activism that haven’t been developed yet.
Synthesized ideation data provided insight on how I would establish my minimum viable products and how users would utilize those features to accomplish the goal: ending racism.
A map locating organizations, leaders, and political affiliates that are aligned with the users’ interests.
Direct donations to those in need
Journal - the ability to not only express thoughts, but to record them and reflect on growth.
A forum to find organizations/people to connect with and develop strategies to combat racism.
I established 4 minimum viable products based on ideation.
A flow was created to help me establish how the user will interact with my chosen MVPs.
In order to determine how effective the MVPs are, usability testing was held for each round of prototype development.
Users expressed that the mobile application was simple, but individual pages needed slightly more function & clarity through labels. With all of this in mind, I proceeded to develop my high-fidelity prototype.
When I reflected on my entire process leading up to this point, I kept thinking about the word “start.” Participants in my project kept emphasizing how they wanted to start doing more direct-action work. They want to start being able to help others.
They want to start seeing their actions make a difference.
The word “start” in this context reminded me of building blocks- the toys that taught us shapes and colours. My design is based on those toys which are an integral part of childhood development.
I chose these design decisions to represent growth.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The usability testing for my high fidelity prototype showed that the changes implemented after the feedback from earlier prototypes were effective. A lot of platforms that are centered around social justice generally have an academic feel that can be daunting, especially when the content is primarily text. Users enjoyed how inviting the mobile app felt through its playful primary colours and found it incredibly easy to navigate.
Future updates would include:
Account Settings to include linking preferred payment methods
Custom colour options
Hamburger Menu - Integrate higher-level settings content like “Name” and “Profile Photo”
Incorporate stronger navigation icons so users don’t have to constantly press the home button
Expand on the subject content of the Community Directory & Daily Questionnaire
Animations for the home screen header + drop-down calendar
Define user journeys for GoFundMe Randomized Generator and surprise gifts for BIPOC