Meiyi's Project - Helplogue

Design Space

Groups form in-person meetup events across the internet
on platforms such as reddit, meetup.com, Facebook
Risks when it comes to participating in meetups
- Going to unfamiliar locations
- Potential harassment/assault
- Reporting bad experiences: 65% of women reported experiencing harassment in public, along with 25% of men (mostly identifying as LGBT+) (survey conducted by Growth from Knowledge (GfK))
No popular option for harassment victims to report bad groups
There may be the odd comment or two on the online forum where the group originally formed, but there doesn’t exist a way to directly look up the reputation of an individual without hours of deep search.
Current measures that some groups take to avoid harassment are limited
Many groups agree upon pre-negotiated rules of etiquette before starting meetups (Charles, 2015), but this isn’t a standard practice, nor do the rules of etiquette have to follow a strict format.
There are some groups that implement the X-card strategy, in which members can hold up a card to signal the group to drop the current conversation since it is making the individual uncomfortable (Riedel, 2018).
Many members look to the group’s organizer to set ground rules, and have the final say on group dynamics. However, this can be harmful if the organizer does not have the best intentions.

Chain of Causality

Pink highlights: areas where we felt we could have a design intervention to break the endless cycle of harassment.

Ideation

Ideation Suite

When brainstorming in the context of our problem statement, we came up with solutions that fell on 2 intersecting spectrums: visual to tactile, and individually-driven to group-driven solutions. As we view the issue of harassment from multiple perspectives, solutions took place before, during, and after harassment.

Outcomes

Encourage people to stand up for themselves in groups
Make reporting incidents easier and accessible
Decrease the likelihood of harassment
Promote healthy social interactions

Design Principles

Build a foundation of respect
Empower the underdog
Have our user’s back
Discrete and comfortable

Intervention

Visual representations of where in the sociotechnical system intervention will happen (helplogue interventions shown in dark green)

Concepts Overview

Send alert to the group
Get guardian
Report an incident

Initial Design Model

Low-fidelity Prototype

User Insights

We presented our ideas to users, conducted user testing based on our low-fidelity prototype, and gained some valuable insights.

Insights for Concepts

“Why stand up in a group”
“How subtle would reporting be?”
“Get out when feel uncomfortable”

User Testing Insights

Users skipped the onboarding
How to send and receive notifications discreetly
Users couldn’t find information on how to use the screens

Final Prototype

We incorporated the user insights into our final design, high-fidelity prototype.
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Theme: address the issue of discreet usage of our screens in public settings.
We replaced the previous flashy nd attention drawing theme to a darker toned, grey and teal accented theme that does not give the user away in the case they pull out their phone and use the app.

01 Onboarding

To resolve the skipping onboarding issue which led to confusion and unintuitive app button decisions making, we limited the verbose description to make a concise description within a few sentences that helps the user quickly onboard and use the application.

02 Notification Features

Allows our users to have a reason to stand up in a group.
We set up a pre-written sentence template that users can select and send in the case that they are uncomfortable. The “Vibration” and “Button” settings, recommended from our user group for discreteness, allow the user to send and receive notifications based on the vibration or button pattern they set up and click, which is distinguishable to the app instead of regular phone notification alerts.

03 Guardian Rosters

Provides a platform for users to seek additional support and guidance if they feel excluded or unsafe in a situation.
Users can select a Guardian that is experienced and trained within the venue of the user's meeting space, or that is receptive and understanding to the user’s background to help make the user feel assured and respected when they feel their safety or identity is jeopardized.
We implemented an “Information” after clicking “i” icon on screens. This helps users understand what each screen is about and how to use it, providing instructions for the user to refer back to.

04 Incident Report

Allows users to report any malicious activity that occurs within a group to the group organizer.
This addressed one of the issues in the chain of causality loop by reducing interacting with these individuals again. The group organizer can review these reports against them and take further precautions in integrating them back into the group or consider them too much of a hazard to keep.
Along with all the other screens, users will be prompted by a warning box before they proceed with their actions. After they click “YES”, there will be a confirmation screen to affirm them that their message has been sent.