Project 1

Homeless Shelter App

Finding a way back to a better life

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Desktop
Tablet
Mobile

The product:

The Shelter Finder is a app/site focused on locating a sustainable living condition for their users. Shelter Finder is a tool that helps people learn about and manage their life as they rebuild. Shelter Finders’ primary target are users including Homeless young and adults who are concerned with turning their lives around and would like to learn more about what they can do to turn things around for the better.

The problem:

In 2022 LA County Homeless Count is 69,144 people. This is a 4.1% increase from the 2020 Count. The strategy for the Shelter finder app/site is to identify the lack of general knowledge about homelessness and limited understanding about personal shame as crucial motivators to not seek help.

The goal:

Design an app that will improve education on the topic of homelessness and help people manage their lives for the better.

Responsibilities:

Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframes, low and high fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design.

My role:

UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery

Project duration:

November 2022 to March 2023

Understanding The User

I used Shelter Finder data on homelessness to develop interview questions, which were then used to conduct user interviews. Most interview participants reported feeling badly about homelessness, but they weren't actively participants of homelessness. The feedback received through research made it very clear that users would be open and willing to work towards reducing as well as eliminating homelessness if they had access to an easy-to-use tool to help guide them.

Problem statement:

Margaret is a working class woman who lost her job and her only form of income that helped pay her bills. Now she needs help getting back on her feet and find a job.

Problem statement:

Timothy is a husband and a father of 3 who needs to provide for his family after losing his job, he needs shelter for his family, programs to get him on his feet and a job to help his family out.

Competitive audit:

An audit of few competitor’s programs provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the Shelter Finder app/site.

Click here to view the full competitive audit and ux study plan

Ideation:

I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically on finding homeless shelters , programs and jobs for participants.

Starting The Design

Digital wireframes:

After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the Shelter Finder app. These designs focused on delivering personalized guidance to users to help find a nearby shelter.

Low-fidelity prototype:

To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of viewing a shelter that accommodates for your needs and using job and program features.

Usability study: parameters:

Study type:

Unmoderated usability study

Location:

United States, Los Angeles, remote

Participants:

5 participants

Length:

30-60 minutes

Usability study: findings:

1 Finding:

People want easy access to information to make a better informed decision for themselves.

2 Finding:

People had difficulty adding helpful programs to their account.

3 Finding:

People preferred clear indications when a shelter was available.

Refining The Design

Mockups:

Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied design changes like providing a clear section from the home screen to browse homeless shelters specifically near the area you currently reside.

Mockups:

Additional design changes included adding an option to specify details to your situation, and providing a clearer indication of how many people are required for the stay.

Mockups:

High-fidelity prototype:

The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.

Accessibility Considerations:

1: Clear labels for interactive elements that can be read by screen readers.

2: Initial focus of the home screen on personalized recommendations help define the primary task for action for the user.

3: Created a language interactive element that allows for a larger range of people to use the app.

Responsive Design

Sitemap:

With the app designs completed, i started work on designing the responsive website. I used the Shelter Finder site to guide the organizational structure of each screen’s design to ensure a cohesive and consistent experience across devices.

Responsive designs:

The designs for the screen size variation included mobile, tablet and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.

Going Forward

Takeaways:

Impact:

User shared, that the app made finding a shelter seem like something they could actually use if life throws them a curveball. One quote from a peer feedback was that “the shelter finder app helps bring caring back to homelessness and gives a way to help out.”

What I learned:

I learned that even though the problem i was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.

Next steps:

1

Conduct research on how successful the app is in placing people who need a place to stay in shelters.

2

Add more educational resources for the user to learn about homelessness and how they can help.

3

Provide incentives and encouragement to users for successfully getting back on their feet by providing success stories and tax exempts.

Desktop
Tablet
Mobile