Designing for Community Resilience
Role: User Experience Designer & Researcher
Timeline: Sept. 2019-May 2020
Programs: Figma, Axure, Illustrator
Problem:
Human activity is rapidly changing the oceans, causing them to warm, expand, and harvest bacteria in this unnatural process. It is threatening to devastate global coastal economic centers in ways that society has not yet faced. Unfortunately, rising tides do not discriminate who they affect and impoverished communities are being forced to confronted this harsh reality first. This thesis plans to identify how coastal regions can benefit from design intervention.
Statement:
How might we implement tools and infrastructure that will facilitate community resilience to future natural disasters caused by the changing climate using service-based design?
Solution:
The solution took form as an app-based service; Communify. Communify is designed to empower individuals who are disadvantaged during a natural disaster. It gives users a platform to receive resources and get rescue during the natural disasters that are recurring at an increasing rate. It also gives leaders in the community a platform to volunteer their time, resources, and skills to help those in need during these crises.
Defining the problem.
The sea level is rising.
In the last century, the sea level rose 7.5 inches. In the last three decades, the sea level’s rising rate has doubled. With the ocean continuing to warm during the 21st century, it is rising exponentially and will pose an even larger risk as it continues to do so. Experts predict that the sea level could rise anywhere between 3 to 8 feet by 2100.
Climate refugees are increasing.
This trend shows how natural disasters (specifically floods and hurricanes) are increasing at an exponential rate and forcing people to leave where they live as a result.
User interviews.
After identifying the need for community resilience in disaster prone regions, I conducted 14 interviews and research activities with people who have firsthand experience with natural disasters. The intended outcome of these probes was to synthesize qualitative data and gain a deeper understanding of what these communities are truly going through.
“Communication absolutely breaks apart, it goes back to being person to person [during natural disasters].”
— Janice Kowalski, Hurricane Sandy survivor, geologist
“We’re not allowed to alter our own dock unless we go through the state. The last two years it has begun to flood during high tide.”
— Tom D’Ambrosio, Jersey Shore resident
“FEMA and the fire department often tell low income people to hang loose then forget about them.”
“There’s no cowboy stuff allowed [when doing rescues].”
— Clyde Cain, CEO of Louisiana Cajun Navy
Analyzing the data.
Using the qualitative data from the interviews and activities, I created an affinity map. This was used to determine groupings of traits that defined needs for people facing natural disasters. Each trait group was used to establish personas with specific feelings and pain points that would be the basis for the design solution.
Affinity Map - data used to create personas
Persona Journey Maps
Personas
User activities.
Card Sort: Users categorized resources in order to build an information architecture. Users then ranked incentives for sharing resources.
Rapid Prototyping: Users tested rapid prototypes and enacted scenarios to explore how a user might request resources and volunteer their own during a natural disaster.
Task flows.
After identifying user needs in the interviews and activities, I created task flows of the service to determine the structure and relationships between the tasks that the users wished to accomplish. These served as the foundation of the solutions addressed in the wireframes.
Wireframes.
The wireframes were designed to receive feedback on the user’s ability to navigate the service as well as visualize the interactions that will lead to the user reaching their end goal.
Communify, community resilience service
My solution is designed to empower individuals who are disadvantaged during a natural disaster. Communify gives users a platform to receive resources and get rescue during the natural disasters that are recurring at an increasing rate. It also gives leaders in the community a platform to volunteer their time, resources, and skills to help those in need during these crises.
Volunteering and requesting resources, the service’s two primary functions, are accessible within one platform to encourage users to utilize both services when most necessary. Communify also boosts the profile of local leaders so the community can become more self-sufficient.
