PROJECT: Ware
DURATION: July - August 2021
ROLE: Concept, Research, Visuals
Project Vision
Ware allows users to prepare and get support if needed before and during extreme heat. With current weather applications, the support and specific information about extreme heat are either non-existent or very limited. Ware aims to fix that by introducing features in one app that will allow them to achieve this goal.
Kickoff
In order to start, I asked myself several questions. Who is our primary user? What kind of goals do they have? Why would someone want to use this application? Just how large of a scope do I want this project to be? After interviewing five participants to establish trends, it became obvious that their needs were mainly related to protecting themselves and preparing in the event of a forecasted wave of extreme heat.
"Is there a noticeable preference for using an app or a desktop?"
"What are the users'
pain points?"
"What do our users need the most in a product like this?"
"Who are our primary
users?"
"Users are using more the app
or the desktop?"
Preliminary Ideation
Then I created an affinity mapping to identify the general idea of Ware, and which direction I wanted to take the product to move forward. This brainstorming started during the kickoff period and in the end, proved to be helpful in setting up the foundation for the rest of our process.
AFFINITY MAP
PRELIMINARY ATTRIBUTE IDEATION
Research Insights
I conducted a series of 5 interviews to better understand their behaviour when it comes to heatwaves, how they prepare or act during one and what are their main pain points.
These are the main insights that I discovered during the questionnaire time.
Meet the Users
PRIMARY
Name: John
Age: 45
Occupation: Electrician
John is a 45-year-old electrician. Most of the time he's on the field and he always has issues with not having water on him. Because he works many hours and is always on the run, he is frustrated because he can’t find an easy way to buy water at every corner.
PRIMARY
Name: Janet
Age: 22
Occupation: Analytic
Janet is a 22-year-old analytic with a busy schedule. She is trying to drink water every 2 hours and has a healthy lifestyle. She travels a lot and sometimes she finds herself without any water. This makes her frustrated because it leads to her going without water for hours at a time.
HOW MIGHT WE...
Design a way to help communities ensure all residents are protected from extreme heat?
After generating a couple of HMW's, I chose my favourite to focus on.
Information Architecture
Lo-fi Ideation
Working through a couple of really preliminary sketches, I realized some of the ideas and layouts that we were thinking of just wouldn't work. Not only was I able to quickly turn around the ideas I had, but they also led me to develop them faster and easier than I would have the others.
Wireframes
After that, we created a higher fidelity but still fairly preliminary version of our wireframes and we were able to work out some of the technical issues that would not be viable or useful in Ware, as well as pin down the design in the right direction, simple and easy to understand. It was important for us to start big with lots of ideas and scale down so that we could work around the features that we really wanted to have, rather than missing something that would've been useful for the user.
Final App Design
1. Start
The users have more than one option to choose from when they decide to Sign up for the first time.
4. Map
The users will have the option to choose from the map, the closest tent near them if they need to visit one.
2. Heart rate
Here the user will tap on the 'Heart' button and then they will use their finger on the rear back camera in order to check their heart rate.
5. Warnings
Checking for warnings and temperatures is easy and when a warning is issued, the colour changes to orange, so that the users can better notice the warnings.
3. Reminder
The user flow in creating a reminder is very simple and easy to follow.
6. Support & Tips
By pressing the 'Support' button, users can access useful information about extreme heat and a special 'SOS' button is available in case of emergency. If pressed, the location will automatically turn on, and help will be sent to that location.
Sitemap
With the app designs completed, I started working on designing a responsive website. I used the Ware sitemap to guide the organizational structure of each screen’s design to ensure a cohesive and consistent experience across devices.
Responsive designs
The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.
1. Desktop
2. Tablet
3. Phone
Style Guide
Using a soft green colour palette is intended to give the user a sense of freshness and well being evocative of being in a rainforest. Appealing to this subconscious need of the users, but still maintaining a clean and sleek design, felt like the perfect fit for Ware's branding.
The main typeface of choice for the app is Sofia Pro Soft. I felt this typeface best fits the app due to its friendly style and ease to approach young and old alike.
Takeaways
Ware as a concept is something that I feel will help communities a lot. There is no app that offers all the options that can help people in need. The primary difficulty I had while designing was choosing the features that will actually be useful for a lot of people. I feel that although it could have more solutions, we designed an experience that works well for most users.
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