WayHome
A mobile application built to cultivate a safer campus community.
UX Design Lead @ Texas Convergent
Collaborative Extracurricular Project
Design a service that addresses and mitigates a pressing issue of safety.
THE OPPORTUNITY
The West Campus area of The University of Texas at Austin's campus had been experiencing an increase in crime rates. This period in time was also turbulent due to an increase in Asian-American hate crimes due to prejudice surrounding COVID-19. We uncovered a unanimous hesitancy to walk around alone at night due to these rising crime rates and a general lack of security that existed within the environment. This social impact centered project was aimed to provide people with extra comfort and security while walking around late at night through the presence of a trusted figure.
THE PROLOGUE
In a situation where they are feeling unsafe, a user could utilize WayHome to be paired with a University-hired escort to walk them to their destination. Once requesting a buddy, the user will be assigned someone and be able to view their profile as well as get a color on their screen. Once the buddy arrives, they can color match to ensure that this is the right escort and be walked safely to their destination.
WayHome was designed with a straightforward and user-friendly interface, considering that our target users might access the service after a night out or in low-light conditions. The design emphasizes simplicity, with clean and easy-on-the-eyes color schemes, ensuring effortless navigation for all users.
THE SOLUTION
WayHome is a University-sanctioned app that connects a trusted "buddy" to escort a person walking to their destination.
THE OUTCOME
I developed a high fidelity prototype to encompass the basic function of matching the buddy to the user, generating the color matching, and informing the user of the app's functions. The result is a sleek, intuitive interface that garnered overwhelmingly positive reactions and feedback from our previous research participants upon presentation.