ASK & ASSIST

brief:

“The practical project should be defined by your semester 1 research proposal as the particle outcome resulting from your research and carries a 75% weighting. You must show the creative journey through your write up”

intro:

In part one of this project, I investigated the impact that digital technology has on relief efforts of disabled people during both natural and humanitarian disasters. My research found that there is little to no support for disabled people to evacuate, and even less for the rehabilitation of individuals post disaster. In order to address this issue, I chose to create a digital platform specifically for disabled people, to connect them to relief workers.

“With the rise of social media, discussions about the impact of both natural and humanitarian disasters have skyrocketed. A number of these conversations have been about the vulnerability of these individuals during the disasters. This has been a particularly prevalent focus for the disabled community. For me as a disabled person, I am acutely aware of the challenges facing our community in terms of evacuation during relief efforts. Even on smaller scales with incidents such as fire alarms, where we are often told to stay in a building as they have no way of safely evacuating us, to large scale events such as the LA fires. For a significant number of people, evacuation isn’t possible: healthcare professionals, those from lower income backgrounds who don’t have the financial ability to relocate, and disabled people (Walker, 2024)”. (Segment from my research project)

deliverables

Initially I wanted to create an app, social media feed and a website, however I decided that it would be a better use of my resources to focus my attention on making a high quality app and a series of icons to match my branding.

research

Through my research project, I was able to identify a couple of existing disability specific provisions such as the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies and the CBM Global Disability Inclusion, and then you have the more generic relief aid such as the Red Cross and UNICEF. However, the connection is limited. Most of these services require phoning up for support or being allocated support by emergency services, leaving the autonomy and independence out of the conversation. What happens if you are unable to verbally communicate over the phone or your deaf and can’t hear what the operator is saying? What happens if your support needs are complex and you can’t communicate this over a 5 second phone call? That’s where Ask & Assist comes in.

indirect competitors

Seeing as there is limited resources and specific services that are pre-exisiting, I decided to research into other systems that have a dual purpose of a user side and then a dispatcher/supporter side.

passenger assistance

In 2021, Transreport launched a system called Passenger Passenger Assistance, an app that allows disabled people to send in a virtual request to train stations, guards and assistance departments at the different train networks, allowing disabled people to travel with increased reassurance, knowing that their needs have been communicated in advance. This was the biggest inspiration for my app, given the fact that it requires as little effort from disabled people as possible.

computer aided dispatch

The dispatch system that emergency first responders use, CAD is a great tool for organising and co-ordinating care.

Watch Duty

This is the closest app I could find to what I wanted to achieve with my project, its a desktop and mobile app that allows you to access the most up to date information on wild wires in your area so that you can plan and protect both yourself and your community.

brainstorming

Before I even started the branding I started brainstorming the app and the features I wanted on it. This gave me enough structure to then develop branding from it with a clear understanding of what the purpose of the app was going to be.

In terms of the font selection for the branding, I wanted to go for a bold, simple sans serif typeface that matches the logo, so decided to go with Futura, a bold and clean font, paired with the serif font Libre Baskerville for accent text. I went back and forth with font pairings to ensure that it fits the overall aesthetic the best.

iconography

Before I could start manufacturing and designing my app, I had to work out what symbols I wanted to use such as how do I generate depictions of specific support needs or in app accessibility systems. For this, I based my list heavily off Passenger Assistance’s app, which showcases a variety of support needs.

Seeing as my apps primary initial use is assisting with natural disaster evacuation, I needed to develop a series of symbols that are instantly recognisable for all users.

wireframing

planning

Before I loaded up figma, I decided to start with a basic wireframe sketch of what I needed to do for the intro screens. The majority of the app I had already got an idea of from my initial brainstorming at the start of the project, but wanted to ensure that I didn’t miss anything.

first draft

With a clear plan and structure in place I was able to start designing. The first draft of the intro screen and the accessibility settings looked off: it was a very blocky design which isn’t the most fluid for a positive UX.

intro screens

For the next draft, I decided to change the colour boxes of the different elements of in app accessibility to cover the whole design rather than the subheadings. This made it much clearer to identify the different setting, as well as being more aesthetically pleasing. Within the disability community, accessible products and solutions are often very medical, rather than prioritising aesthetics, so for this project I wanted to demonstrate that its possible to do a non medical design and move away from clinical grey and solely black and white.

Although this app is a prototype and not a fully fleshed out project, I still wanted to treat the user journey the same as an app that you would download from the app store so I brought in things like Google and Apple sign in’s as well as ensuring that every button has a connection so it is fully testable. I wanted to make the login and register text fields editable so you could actually type into them, however the variants and plugins weren’t co-operating for this specific project, but will be something I will continue investigating and working on for future projects.

ask vs assist

The next thing to organise was the differentiation between the different user profiles: those asking for help and those assisting. As those asking for assistance have higher rates of needing in app accessibility, I decided to keep their version very clean and simple with the typical light mode settings which meant I could bring in the red accents but it would still be as accessible as possible. Then for those assisting with the relief, I decided that a red background with white text would be a perfect contrast to give clear differentiation.

As mentioned, those who are using the app to access and request support, the support needs are going to be higher and more specialised. In order to demonstrate this, I used a grid system similar to the ones that Passenger Assistance use, which allows users to go through and tick each box which represents a different support need. I originally wanted these to turn red once clicked, but I was unable to work out the best way to do this with variants, which meant that they aren’t the most functional at current, but they are something to be worked on past this specific deadline as its a project that I am hoping to continue post university.

map

One of the most crucial parts of the app is the map, which shows exactly where the disasters are happening, gives updates and allows users to either ask for or offer assistance. There is a few key features of this design:

The design of this was based off of the Watch Duty UI design, with circles showing the radius of the damage, as well as a locator to show you where you are in comparison to the disaster.
Each disasters icon uses high colour contrast of the yellow on black to make it as accessible as possible, and then once clicked they open up a pop up showing the details.
The map screen also features a live feed of updates and the latest incidents in your area.
Once the icon on the pop up is clicked, it will take you to a key which shows the different disasters, which helps users to feel empowered by knowing what each one means.
There is also a severity scale to indicate how high the risk is and what next steps the user should take. For example, a low severity warning may be reducing unnecessary travel or avoiding particular roads, whereas a high severity warning may be to evacuate ASAP.

messages

One thing I haven’t seen before, is a community element where you can directly reach out to supporting organisations or reach out to others who are in a similar boat to you, so this was something I wanted to bring in. There is a variety of support groups such as pet owners or renters, where people can share their advice and get support from others, without having to rely on first responders.

sos

Potentially one of the most important parts of the app is the ability to put through an emergency SOS request. This allows users to request urgent and immediate assistance when they need it the most. Once clicked, the request will go through to the relevant assistance parties (the Assist users on the app) who will receive a breakdown of the parties location, their support needs and what assistance they require.

wireframe

conclusion

time management

Seeing as this project is a 12 week task, I broke down my time into the different stages and allocated them each a set amount of time based on how large they are as well as what I have already got going on in those weeks:

Research: 1 week
Brainstorming and sketching: 2 weeks
Branding: 2 weeks
App design: 4 weeks
Connectivity and prototyping: 2 weeks
Write up: 1 week

The aim was to do a lot of the connectivity alongside the app design, which would allow more contingency time. However, this schedule unfortunately was disrupted by my unpredictable health causing me to require an extension.

Overall I have loved this project, it genuinely may be one of my favourite projects from my time at Winchester, and I am so happy with how it turned out. It’s really powerful to be able to compare this design to my previous prototype projects in second year, and it’s a clear example of my design progress and improvement.

names

Originally, I wanted to go with the name lighthouse: a beacon of hope, support and survival during rocky times. However after doing some more research and getting some user feedback, I decided that it sounds more like a cafe rather than a support app, it also doesn’t convey the message of what the app is used for.

With this in mind, I then went back to the drawing board and broke down exactly what the app is and what its used for. Above you can see a mind map of ideas and sketches of a couple of logos. A couple of ideas I came up with were::

RescUe
sUpport
AccessAid
Safe & Sound
Haven
Ask & Assist

Ultimately I decided to go with Ask & Assist: it conveys everything you need to know about the app. I then started thinking of symbolism in the logo such as a life ring or a plus for support, before seeing a logo that used negative space with 2 hands reaching out together. I decided that this was exactly what I wanted to use in my design, with both of the A’s in Ask & Assist should be linked to the meaning of the words themselves.

branding

Previously I’ve been apprehensive about doing a negative space logo as it can often be hard to give enough clarity to differentiate from the two elements. I also decided to go for a deep red, conveying urgency but not so bright that it’s overwhelming.

To bring it all together, I chose to use the accent colours that I originally paired with The Lighthouse logo of the mustard and teal which is a complementary colour to the red).