Positive Parcels
Project Parameters
Problem Space And Scope
As global conflicts continue to emerge and environmental catastrophes continue to spiral, the formation of new refugees is inevitable. According to United Nations estimates, children (under 18) account for 42% of all displaced people. The diverse range of difficulties they face range from economic inequality to stark cultural differences. However, government and private support for child in particular is often sparse, especially in the US. In response, Positive Parcels was born, in order to supplement and enhance the capabilities of organizations in providing toys and books to these young refugees.
Diverse Stakeholders
Despite ultimately constraining the scope of the project to a younger audience (5-10), there are still different needs and preferences. Those on the youngest and oldest ends will want different toys, different cultures will have certain restrictions, and various organizations will focus on different communities.
Streamlined Customization
In responding to the diversity of stakeholders, there will need to be flexibility in meeting their wide range of needs. However, there will be necessary constraints that are realistic for production costs and production scale. Therefore, within each age group and cultural group, there ought to be a small set of package options.
Identifying the relevant stakeholders and project objectives preempts full-on research and experimentation. The major parties involved are organizations that either currently cater, or could easily cater to refugee children and the children themselves. The goals of this project is to generate a system and interface for facilitation of aid that is otherwise very difficult to provide at the moment.
User Research
Interviewing
After having conducted independent research on various organizations offering aid to refugee as a whole, I began to reach out. For organizations who did respond, I managed to set up interview appointments to gather in-depth information not presented on website pages or press releases. Illuminating information came from contact with government organizations such as the Office for New Americans, who also shed light on other organizations they regularly affiliate with. This allowed the development of further contacts and additional data points to consider.
Analysis
Due to the nature of voluntary interviewing, research data could only be gathered from organizations who cooperated. However, a pattern of operation emerged from organizations I could interact with, likely indicating an overall trend. This mainly coincided with a distinct lack of support for young refugee populations, as they had lower priority and no specialized attention. Therefore, a niche in which to build the system was identified.
Wireframes
Here are a selected few wireframes. Layout and basic interaction zones are made clear. Drawing together the needs of stakeholders identified in prior research resulted in designs built for those individuals in charge of ordering supplies for the organization itself. As such, the design makes no assumptions about the technical capabilities of the user. aiming for simplicity.
User Flow
The above user flow illustrates an original conception for the Positive Parcels project. In addition to the features already present (package creation and delivery for organizations), the original concept also featured a crowdfunding concept to enable collective funding for campaigns to deliver packages to various refugee groups. However, by interviews and self evaluation determined that such a feature is out of scope for the initial intended effort. Therefore I simplified and refined from that point on. Below is an updated flow.
Hi-Fi Prototyping
Featured above are a few of the high fidelity prototype screens. These are a synthesis of small iterations that evolved from user feedback from some individuals working in the field. Generally the overall structure remains pretty consistent, although some minor item placement changed.
Reflections
Scope Management
As mentioned earlier, I came to realize that the ambitions of the project were originally too multifaceted. I essentially had 2 goals: build a package delivery system, and create a new sort of crowdsourcing platform. As such, I narrowed my scope and focused my efforts on the delivery system and associated functions.
Intentional User Design
Universal design is often poor design. In attempting to create for everyone, you may end up creating for no one. Specific users have unique needs and preferences that must be catered to. In this instance, menus and navigations needed to be accessible to those with little technological knowledge.
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