Acclimate is a digital application that helps people discover and apply for resources after being displaced by a natural disaster. Acclimate works to provide individuals with the assets they need to reclaim a sense of normalcy and adjust to their new circumstances.
An 8-week academic case study for a senior interaction design course
Karmen Suen
Serena Ho
Grace Lai
UX/UI Design
Interaction Design
Visual Design
Prototyping
“By the end of the next century, it’s predicted that more than 180 million people will be displaced due to climate change.”
- Colette Pichon Battle, TEDWomen 2019 Speaker
Rising temperatures are a factor in longer and more intense heatwaves and drought-like conditions in inland areas. Warmer ocean temperatures and higher sea-level can also cause more severe tropical storms, increasing the frequency of flooding in low-lying areas and coastal towns.
These disastrous weather patterns pose a threat to communities, displacing families and destroying homes. It is often difficult to recover from these disasters as resources and information is not easily accessible, especially to underserved communities.
As part of the team's research methods, remote user interviews were conducted with individuals familiar with the natural disaster process. These selected individuals consisted of healthcare workers, insurance brokers and a former National Director of the United Way. These professionals helped detail the main concerns and issues surrounding natural disaster caused displacement.
Secondary resources such as online articles and data concerning the impacts of climate change and natural disasters on community displacement were also vital in fully comprehending the scope of the problem.
From the research, three main issues were identified.
Disaster relief services are often difficult to find on government and non-profit websites. Under-served communities, such as those with a low socioeconomic status, often have limited access to resources for disaster recovery.
Individuals may lose out on potential funding due to their unfamiliarity with the complex process of disaster relief applications.
Many individuals develop or experience an increase in mental trauma as a result of displacement and external stressors.
Design a resilient system that assists displaced individuals by providing a meaningful and effective way to adjust and move forward with their life.
There are a variety of concerns and difficulties facing a displaced individual, so it was vital to provide an emotionally invested experience. In order to narrow our use cases, personas were produced to align with the researched concerns and user goals.
A journey map was created to highlight Acclimate’s key touchpoints within a displaced individuals recovery experience. Rather than focusing on how we could improve the experience during a natural disaster, we looked at opportunities to make the preparation and post-disaster stages become more inclusive.
A principle that we referred to throughout the project was that we weren’t designing for users, but rather designing for people in a potentially sensitive situation. The design should empower individuals and use emotionally invested language throughout the experience.
To offer the most value to the most people, the solution must be highly adaptable to the wide spectrum of disasters that may occur. Categories were determined by designing for scenarios that occur across the different recovery processes and should be able to adapt to future concerns or additions.
While anyone can be affected by a natural disaster, those within lower socioeconomic communities are the most susceptible to the damages and may never recover. Resources should be easily comprehensible and accessible to a wide range of individuals, regardless of personal status.
From the synthesized research, the team designed, Acclimate, a digital application that works to provide displaced individuals with the appropriate resources and services needed to recover from a natural disaster.
The onboarding process is designed to personalize each user’s experience. Language options and survey questions are provided to understand the user's situation in order to display the most relevant and personalized resources.
Priority resources are assets for the user’s urgent needs during displacement or evacuation order. In the case that a user wants immediate assistance, Acclimate provides a set of predetermined resources and services based on their GPS location.
A library of resources is available and categorized into different assistance tabs. Assets consist of job opportunities, nearby shelters and food banks, and health clinics or helplines.
Offline resources allow the user to access previously saved resources without an internet connection. It stores data on the device and is automatically synced to their account once a network connection is established. This feature allows the user to quickly and efficiently access important assets.
Acclimate should be accessible to all, with words, phrases and concepts that are familiar to all users. The application simplifies complex legal language and provides definitions for system-oriented terms.
Users can upload their essential personal documents to a password protected library. A digital copy is stored within the app and can be used during application processes.
Opposed to presenting long descriptions, complex information is broken down into easily digestible portions for better understanding.
By providing basic personal information and uploading documents to the Profile, Acclimate can later populate common form fields with the autofill feature. This process reduces unnecessary stress and repetition.
Developing Acclimate has trained me to design with more empathy and compassion towards the intended users. The initial research stages were some of the most stressful, but rewarding steps throughout the process. Performing relevant interviews with professionals familiar with natural disaster recovery and learning about all the available assistance opportunities allowed the team to make more informed design decisions. From this, I have seen the importance research plays within the design process and the result is an application that could potentially benefit those in need of help.