CrimeWatch
The app that lets you feel safer in any community.
I know how it feels to walk alone at night, the anxiety it creates when one is in a certain neighborhood. The possibility of being attacked, assaulted, or kidnapped when traveling alone. This is a common feeling for many people, however; I wanted to research the statistic of attacks to build a stronger case for the need for this app.
Crime Statistic:
"1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States have been raped in their lifetime."
- NCADV
"During 2016, 647,435 missing person records were entered into NCIC, an increase of 1.9% from the 634,908 records entered in 2015."
- NCIC
"L.G.B.T. people are twice as likely to be targeted as African-Americans and the rate of hate crimes against them has surpassed that of crimes against Jews."
- By Haeyoun Park & Iaryna Mykyalshyn, The New York Times
After researching about the statistics of attacks, I outlined my target demographic from the research. Then looked for direct and indirect competitors to see what was in the market, what made these apps unique and what needs were missing or need bridging in the market.
Personas
Research Findings
Competitor Discovery
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Currently, there isn't something in the market that allows users to see real-time reports of a crime or incident. Since most police reports are a 24 - 48 hours turn around. Unless it's something catastrophic (example: flood, fire, police pursuit or shooting) the media will cover it.
After figuring out my demographic and competitor research, I had an idea of how I wanted to design the app. However, I needed to do some interviews to understand the target demographic that I'm going after and hear their stories about their encounters and feeling when walking alone at night. Hence creating personas.
Research Findings (Continuation)
Interview Discovery
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Depending on the stage of life of the users.
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Single women who live alone tend to travel alone more often over women living with families.
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Users who live with families tend not to travel alone often.
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People with families tend to be more engaged with their communities.
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People who are resident homeowners are more likely to organize within their community association.
After developing CrimeWatch personas, I began storyboarding on when would the app be used and what type of scenario would the users be compelled to use it for.
User Flow
Competitor Analysis
Direct Competitor
Indirect Competitor
NextDoor and Waze due to the community contributor and notification functions for the users.
Lo-Fi Prototype
Traveler Mode
After having an idea of how the users would use the app from the storyboards, the next thing I wanted to focus on was how the app would be organized.
Watcher Mode
Testing & Discovery
During User Testing:
"Like the app. However, is there a way to change modes? For instance, what happens when I want to report something that I saw while I'm walking to my car?"
- Frankie
Discovery
Realized there should be a way to change modes without needing to close the app.
After my discovery, I went back to the drawing board.
Sketched a Low-Fi prototype to see how users would interact with the basics of CrimeWatch's design. I sketched modes: Traveler and Watcher.
User Flow 2.0 & Hi-Fi Prototyping
I decided to implement the users' suggestions to outline the flow and started creating a Hi-Fi prototype to test.
Testing and Improvements
“Setting my route then walking it was kind of confusing for me... I didn't instinctively think to drop the pin on the blue dot because I thought I was setting my destination to where I was going and not my current location. Maybe add text/pop up somewhere to let me know what I'm supposed to do?”
- Ann
“I like this parked car feature, but are there other features in the app that allow you to choose your destination?”
- Ryan
"The easiest thing for me so far was reporting something happened. Just tapping on the map drops a pin, and that brings up the report screen. It's pretty great."
-Hart
Improvements
Implement suggestions. I was surprising pleased user results.
Prototype
What did I learn?
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Ask voluminous questions when interviewing the subjects.
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Paper prototyping is a very efficient.
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tool to use prior to making HiFi prototype.
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Always listen to your test subjects because they can see things that were overlooked.
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Marvel is a great tool for prototyping, however, Principle is a great tool for hands off to the developers to what exactly what the app should do and look like.
Design Thinking and Reflection
Reflecting on the CrimeWatch app, I was surprised there was not a crowdsourcing app which help vulnerable communities. The inspiration was for women to feel safe while traveling on foot alone. However, women are not the only ones that become anxious when traveling alone. LGBTQ communities, racial minorities, children, and many others feel this way. Therefore, I defined my demographic as the "vulnerable community."
Since we live in a day of social media and crowd sharing there created the concept of the Watcher. The behavior of people sharing their experiences, their food pictures, their strong political opinions, and their likes and dislikes. The concept of people sharing so that others can talk about the shared experience. So why not translate that social engagement by helping others to walk safely to their destination? The idea that the user engagement will be identified as Watchers of the community help the lonely traveler and vice versa.
Conducting user interviewers was the fun part when developing the app. I enjoyed hearing the interviewees' stories and experiences. Listening to how they felt when walking alone in the streets, how their gut would react when they are traveling in an unfamiliar territory and seeing unfamiliar faces. Every one story was unique and at the same time very similar.
When building the app, I started with pencil and paper for a mock-up of a low-fi prototype because I found it easier to make edits when users had a suggestion or were unclear about the next steps of the app's journey. After that, I started to create a user flow of the layout. This was important because it helped structure the framework and made me feel more confident when designing a hi-fi prototype.
Lastly, the toughest part of the process was getting user feedback. I think it was challenging because I had too much of an ego about my design. However, to make a successful experience for the users I needed to be objective about my feelings and listen to the feedback. Which allowed me to discover other missing elements about the app and user preferences on what they found enjoyable or difficult.
Overall, designing CrimeWatch app was a very enjoyable experience. I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses in designing. However, my goal is that Crimewatch will help many people who are traveling on foot feel confident that they are safe in their surroundings.
Intro
CrimeWatch is an app that allows the members of the community to read, update, and engage on what is happening in their surroundings/communities and which gives members of vulnerable communities (children, women, and LGBTQ) a sense of safety when walking alone to their destination.
Challenges
To reduce the anxiety when walking alone at an unusual hour and get real-time updates of when an incident has occurred.
Goal
Find a way for members to travel on foot safely to their destination.
Roles
UX | UI | IxD Designer
Platform
Mobile | iOS
Deliverables
User Personas | Competitor Analysis
User Flow | User Testing
Wireframes | Prototype.
Tool
Whiteboard | Pen and Paper
Photoshop | Illustrator
Lucidchart | Marvel | Principle
Noun Project | Pexels
User Demographic
Travelers
Likely users' communities:
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Age: All Ages
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Sex: Females, LGBTQ
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Minority communities
Watchers
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Ages 16 and up
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New parents
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Neighborhood community watch groups.
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People who are active in the community.
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Costs about $5 per month per User.
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Tracks users movement when they are walking to their destination, only used when user feels like they are about to be attacked. User must shake the mobile device to activate a video recording of the incident and calling 9-1-1.
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Target market: Corporate employees who travel frequently.
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Shows all crimes that has been reported to the police in the last 5 months.
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Has mobile and web interface.
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Free for anyone.
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Compass – Quick overview of user’s surrounding.
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Map Overview – Interactive heat map with GPS tracking and search capabilities.
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Data might not be updated in real-time, appears to be updated once a week
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Lite version is free, and a paid version ($7.99) that allows users to expand their map.
