Behind the Action
In the month of May, I had the privilege of working with Joe Payton, the president of GeniusDen. GeniusDen is a business incubator that offers office space, speakers and workshops in a growth-focused community.
During my time with Joe and a group of college students, we brainstormed a few things that we'd like to see in an app. Joe responded with the idea of a crime safety app, due to the rising crime rate in the Deep Ellum area. In order to gain knowledge about what's been going on, a local police officer gave us access to a community watch group on Facebook. We noticed that most of the heat occurs at bars (the classic bar fight) as well as around big food hubs.
Crime rates in Deep Ellum according to Point2homes.
The first step into the app development process for the team was speak with local business owners in an interview process.
For me, a UX researcher intern, I worked with a team of film and media interns to conduct this process. We built up a specific list of questions to ask these owners or employers:
What is the scenario in Deep Ellum when safety comes to concern?
What is the feeling around the local crime scenario? How do people feel about that?
Is there a story that goes along with local crime? Personal or on an account that you heard of?
What would a personal tool or app that would keep us safer prevent something like the from happening look like?
What specific functionalities would this app have?
These questions were built to add context and insight to the design process. The main goal of design research is to inform the design process from the perspective of the end user. With that in mind, research has two parts: gathering data, and synthesizing that data in order to improve usability. At the start of the project, design research is focused on learning about project requirements from stakeholders, and learning about the needs and goals of the end users. Researchers will conduct interviews, collect surveys, observe prospects or current users, and review existing literature, data, or analytics. Then, iteratively throughout the design process, the research focus shifts to usability and sentiment.
In the video above, we had interviewed Jessica Burnham, the executive director of the Deep Ellum Foundation. She gave us the overview about the crime situation in the area, and just how it has been growing. This gave me the impression that this app should be something that can handle the areas of darkness. The team and I planned for the app to serve a beacon, similar to a rape whistle, but it would have the functionality of taking the picture of the felon. This one feature would send the image to local shops and bars, that are registered on the server, to ban service to that individual. It will also work as a notifier to a certain number of emergency, including friends and local enforcement. The idea of this application is to be a bodyguard, police officer, and best friend in any threatening situation.
Scripted interviews with local food hubs
Victoria is the owner at STIRR, a spot for cocktails, snacks, and swanky dinners. We were able get her answers here:
Data
Me: What is the scenario in Deep Ellum when safety comes to concern?
Victoria: homeless, pedestrian traffic on weekends.
Feeling
Me: What would you feel in that scenario?
Victoria: I feel highly sympathetic because it's a grey area.
Me: What's the feeling around this scenario? How do people feel about that?
Victoria: We are primarily serving a high end uptown crowd, so we barely have anyone come in willing start something.
Story
Me: Is there a story that goes along with that? Personal or on an account that you heard of?
Victoria: The crime in Deep Ellum is a recurring topic, it's something that happens everyday down here.
Want
Me: What would a tool that would keep us safer prevent something like the from happening look like? What specific functionalities would this app have?
Victoria: The Dallas Police Department and security is a hassle to manage, also we have person security guards. It should be able to track the reoccurring events, since a higher population brings more crime in the area. It also needs to have a way to notifying enforcement and locals in the area to come.
Unfolding answers
After conducting these interviews, I drew away a few implementations
In conclusion to the interviews, I believe the app should really contain an incredibly wide set of personal safety features. It can be used to privately alert friends that you’ve arrived at your destination, send info about your changing GPS location. When you need real help, The app should offer an audible alarm and immediately starts broadcasting video captured by your phone and your GPS location. Information would continually be collected and recorded, and is sharable with police and local businesses and friends should it prove necessary to do so. You could also be able to activate the alarm manually. This is great for late nights or a little extra safety on your morning run when you only want to disturb people in an emergency.