Rapport Society
RESEARCH | UX DESIGN
Rapport Society
RESEARCH | UX DESIGN
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INTRODUCTION
Rapport Society is a digital card game that aims to discover solutions on how to reduce homelessness by bringing awareness about the issue to the society in Los Angeles County. It is a motivational digital card game to start conversations about homelessness issue that's being shared with community. Companies who want to get involved can create rewards for employees who participate. Depending on what areas of concern are highlighted, data is collected and organizations pertaining to area of concern are notified.
TEAM
Maria Fryer, Nicole Escalante, Novia Elvina, and Vivian Tran
ROLE
Research, User experience design, design systems, visual design
TIME
Spring 2021, 2 weeks
TOOLS
Miro, Figma
FINAL DESIGN OVERVIEW
Onboarding and game instructions
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Customize avatar for anonymity
Community questions
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Top answers based on location
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Urban settings, cities and communities, and urban inhabitation are projected to rise to 60% by 2030. Consequences of rapid urbanization are evident in a growing number of slum dwellers, lack of decent and affordable housing, unplanned urban sprawl, and overburdened infrastructure and services. Our team focused specifically on Los Angeles, California's poverty impact of unaffordable housing. How might we better understand poverty and homelessness to be an aide to those in our community?
Discover
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Researching public views online
To identify some of the major problems affecting the communities in Los Angeles, we started off our exploration by gathering published statements from residents.
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PRIMARY RESEARCH
The Los Angeles County Community
From our internet research, we gathered that homelessness was one of the larger problems in Los Angeles County. We split up to explore the county to get additional information and then conduct user interviews.
This was during the height of the pandemic so we didn’t get to ask people in person, but the visual information we received was helpful.
This was during the height of the pandemic so we didn’t get to ask people in person, but the visual information we received was helpful.
Research Goals
To gather quantitative and quantitative data about residents views on homelessness in Los Angeles County. demographics and their perspective on food waste. To obtain qualitative insights of the concerns, influences, and solutions to homelessness.
Research Methods
We conducted a structured survey that was sent out to participants between the ages of 18-60 and received 22 responses.
Research Questions
- Do you think LA is doing a good job at allocating resources for mental health in the homeless population?
- How much of a role do you think mental health plays in homelessness and poverty?
- How safe do you feel around homeless people?
- What is an area you would like to improve in your city?
- Do you think homelessness is a choice or is it based on circumstances?
- What is your perception of homeless people?
1. Do you think LA is doing a good job at allocating resources for mental health in the homeless population?
2. How much of a role do you think mental health plays in homelessness and poverty?
3. How safe do you feel around homeless people?
4. What is an area you would like to improve in your city?
5. Do you think homelessness is mainly a choice or is it based on circumstances?
6. What is your perception of homeless people?
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Key Takeaways
A majority of people believed that homelessness and poverty was a socioeconomic issue that had to do heavily on living expenses and may be due to poor education and/or drug use.
Some people believed homelessness was a personal issue and that individuals made choices that led to or kept them in poverty.
Most people want to help those facing poverty, but aren’t sure how they can help and whether their small contribution will be helpful at all.
The majority of interviewees think homelessness is the number one problem in Los Angeles County and would like change to happen.
Define
DEFINE AND CONTEXTUALIZE
Design Goals
Design principles were developed when the product was going through the ideation process so that the project could be narrowed down to a functional MVP.
Empathy
Understanding other’s experiences builds a non-judgmental and service orientation community.
Engagement
Especially large coporations, employees should have an incentive to help those in their own community.
Awareness
Building awareness and the needs of homeless people can create a more helpful way to assist.
PROCESS
Identifying game play and user expectations
Our team brainstormed ideas and came up with an MVP to develop. We wanted to also ensure that our proposed solution would have an impact on the problem at hand.
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TARGET AUDIENCE
Game play as future scenarios
The ideal user based on our research includes professional workers that still believe the myths of homelessness, e.g. homeless people are lazy, drug and alcohol use led to homelessness. However, all people can benefit from participating in Rapport Society to understand the stories of those struggling in poverty.
Defining the project mission
To discover solutions on how to reduce homelessness by bringing awareness about the issue to the society in Los Angeles County. To create empathy for people who are homeless and understand their pains in order to better assist them.
DEFINE AND DEVELOP
User flow
Our user flow demonstrates the process in which the user will run through our app. In this example we can see the different experience between a volunteer and non volunteer during onboarding
Deliver
Final Outcome Highlights
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HIGHLIGHT GAME FEATURES
Card play
The main part of this application is to engage people in the community to share their experiences. Providing a question prompt can help users open up and share anonymously or openly with others in their organization.
HIGHLIGHT GAME FEATURES
Option for anonymous sharing
Collecting data during the onboarding process allows for accurate information within the correlating city.
While users can choose to be anonymous, knowing where the user is located makes it useful for the city to pinpoint the most common concerns in their city and where they can best allocate their resources.
While users can choose to be anonymous, knowing where the user is located makes it useful for the city to pinpoint the most common concerns in their city and where they can best allocate their resources.
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HIGHLIGHT GAME FEATURES
Reading common themes or outliers
Breaking the stigma of the struggles of homeless people starts by listening to their stories.
Users can view answers to a specific question and see the area in which it was submitted.
Users can view answers to a specific question and see the area in which it was submitted.
TAKEAWAYS
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Keep the scope narrow
I found myself wanting to find a solution to every difficulty a child with an incarcerated parent faces that it took me quite some time to narrow down a specific problem to design for.
Although it’s important to ensure I’m solving the most appropriate problem, keeping to a strict deadline would keep me focused on one topic at hand - after all, I can’t solve everything, but I can solve something.
The right participants for the target demographic
I initially was unsure how to conduct primary research on my target demographic due to ethical concerns, and as this was a fictional topic.
In the future, when the research is safe to do so, I would want the appropriate participants to do research and user testing to make sure my results are reliable.
Failure is an option
In some phases, especially development, I found myself wanting to have the perfect product from the jump before conducting user testing.
Understand that perfection is not going to be possible and that learning from a mistake and moving on is the best way to keep pushing forward.
Copyright © Maria Fryer | Last updated 2022