buoy
Problem
Female college students often feel less safe walking on campus, particularly at night, compared to their male counterparts. They rely on various physical and digital methods to enhance their safety but struggle to easily access necessary resources and maintain connection with friends.
Solution
buoy provides users with seamless, integrated access to safety resources and improved connectivity with friends, allowing female college students to stay safe and connected in any situation.
Timeline
3 months
Role
UX Research, UX Design
Design Process Overview
Problem
The issue of female safety on campus
Female college students are 20 percentage points less likely than male college students to feel very safe walking on campus at night. For undergraduate students at Florida State, 26.4% of females will endure rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence or incapacitation.
Many female college students at FSU reported relying on various physical and digital methods to enhance their safety, but struggling to easily access the necessary resources and maintain connection with friends.
“I navigate campus mainly using apps such as Google Maps and Apple Maps...
I am normally with a friend when around [campus] and walk with keys in my hand just in case something happens...Remaining alert personally helps me feel safer however, I know that this is not very effective.”
Personas
Empathy Map
If they have so many tools, then what’s the problem?
Option overload. The sheer volume of options to get safety help–from an app to an alarm to video calling to a smart watch–is disorganized and highly overwhelming, resulting in stress for the user.
Difficult to access. Whether a mobile app or a physical safety product, the physical accessibility of these safety resources creates frustration as users have to bounce across various apps, or dig around for pepper spray or reach for an alarm.
Staying in touch with friends is a struggle. Juggling different communication preferences and availability—whether online or offline—creates a challenge in keeping everyone informed and feeling together.
The tools within these resources are very limited. With many of these safety resources, the range of functionality was found to be quite static and limited to a few basic functions such as calling 911, along with a restricted number of people to contact.
Journey map
Competitive analysis
From here, I asked how might I…
Create a product that promotes safety and makes such resources more accessible to users?
Create a product that would make users feel connected to their social circle at all times?
Improve information seeking process so that users can have a seamless experience when accessing safety resources?
Solution
Features and product definition
Based on my research findings, it became evident that a solution needed to be both accessible and versatile to effectively address user safety concerns. This led me to explore various possibilities, ranging from physical products to digital solutions, ultimately guiding towards the creation of a mobile app.
A mobile app emerged as the most fitting solution due to its ability to seamlessly integrate into the daily lives of students, who are already heavily reliant on their smartphones for communication and navigation. Unlike a physical product, a mobile app would offer the desired flexibility and access while on-the-go.
Jobs to be Done (JTBD)
Example use case task flow
Information architecture (IA)
Iterations
The word “buoy” takes on many meanings. Not only is it a marker indicating danger, but to buoy can also mean “to keep afloat” or “give encouragement”. I desired for the visuals of this app to communicate simplicity, safety, and accessibility, as well as trust and unity.
Initial sketches
Low-fidelity wireframes
Mid-fidelity wireframes
Highlighted changes from mid-fidelity to final prototype
Streamlined navigation: I consolidated the Explore resources into a single tab, allowing users to search broadly for topics, which simplifies navigation and reduces the complexity of the interface.
Enhanced visual clarity: To improve readability and reduce visual overload, I replaced the color gradient background and variety of colors with a clean white background and simple text, increasing contrast and focusing attention on key content.
Simplified user interface: In the Interactive Map, I removed the toolbar to create a cleaner layout, minimizing distractions and making the map more intuitive and easier to use.
Final Prototype
Get help right away.
When feeling unsafe, users can hold down the main button to trigger local police.
Users can track their help in progress using the Interactive Map and share a Quick Status with their network.
Stay connected with friends.
Users can interact and stay in touch with friends through nudging, sending a message, or use the Request to Meet feature.
Users can schedule a time and place to get together, sharing each other’s location and ETA in real-time.
Explore more resources.
Want to learn more?
The Explore tab offers additional interactive resources such as videos, articles, and quick apps with content related to medical help, mental health & psychological services, personal safety, and more.
Conclusion
Challenges and future considerations
This project began as a business pitch with no initial prototype, so I adapted the research into a user-centered design process to create a functional solution. As the sole researcher and UX designer, I took on the challenge of building out the app concept.
The next steps involve collaborating with developers to implement the design within back-end software constraints and explore the potential for accessibility settings to trigger safety help, such as through double-clicks or voice commands. Additionally, making the safety help button an interactive widget for iOS could enhance ease of use.
Key success metrics for the app would include decreasing the time it takes to access safety help, reducing the rate of harm against female college students, and increasing users' sense of security on campus. Future considerations also include expanding the app to other college campuses, potentially introducing special features and themes tailored to each location.