Libelle
Product Strategy and Interaction Design
How might we help aid in the recovery process after a natural disaster and ensure that all those in the disaster area are provided up-to-date and relevant information?
Project Overview
After a natural disaster, many are left without a mode of communication. Additionally, resources are not evenly distributed to those who need them the most. Using the greater Savannah area as our testing ground, we embarked on a 20 week journey to help solve some of the most complex challenges in natural disaster recovery. How might we reach every person in a post-disaster scenario?
I owned and led
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As strategy lead, it was my role to create scope around the project and synthesize what we were aiming toward.
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As interaction designer, I ensured the usability and accessibility of our interfaces.
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Assisted in the creation of renders and graphics.
Outcome
Over a 20-week timeframe, we developed Libelle. Libelle is a physical pole that would be deployed within communities to help them communicate with each other through an integrated mesh network and find up-to-date information regarding the disaster and recovery process
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I supported
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Digital and physical prototyping
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Presentation Design
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Strategy and execution
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Methods and tools used
The Big Problem: Natural disasters effect millions of people each year, yet most fail to prepare when neccesary
Research
We launched our research phase around two key areas: Awareness and Behavior. We wanted to:
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Better understand how aware people of vulnerable populations are when it comes to the protocols of facing a natural disaster.​​
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Better understand how these people act when facing a natural disaster and how do their behaviors differ from those who were prepared beforehand.
To understand these questions, we conducted both behavioral and attitudinal studies to get a clearer understanding of how these people think and behave.
Behaviorally
Contextual Inquiry: 2 participants
Cognitive Mapping: 9 participants
Digital Ethnography: >100 secondary data points.
Attitudinally
Questionnaire: 324 responses
In-Depth Interviews: 6 participants
Digital Ethnography: 12 primary data points
What did we ask?
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What were you holding when you were evacuating?
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Tell us about your experience with getting information from others?
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How did you find resource after it hit?
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What would you have done differently?
Key Insights
1. User Segmentation
To better understand the different points of view that will be using our system, we segmented our user base. On the X-axis is more Reactive to more Proactive. On the Y-axis is Less Knowledgeable to More Knowledgeable. From here, we derived our four different user groups.
The Latecomer
"I know the risks I am taking, but there isn't much I can do."
The Vulnerable
"I don' t think I am at risk, and I don't plan for these."
The Preapred
"I think it is important for us to be self-reliant."
The Early Planner
"I don't know much but I want to be prepared."
More Knowledgeable
Proactive
Reactive
Less Knowledgeable
"It is very important to confront the situation and not get panicked. Otherwise, you will start to make the situation worse."
A survival trainer in Washington, USA
2. It takes more than volunteers to help a city recover
To better understand how a city reacts on an organizational level, we visited the Chatham County Emergency Operations Center to get a glimpse into how they respond to a natural disaster.
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Images of the Chatham County Emergency Operations Center.
3. Not everyone takes preparedness seriously
From our survey, of more than 300 individuals, we learned that there is little to no correlation between disaster preparedness and concerns for a disaster.
How might we help survivors navigate around chaos, trauma, resources, and disorganized data?
Ideation
With our research knowledge in hand, we progressed into the ideation stage. To set a solid foundation for our ideas, we developed 4 design questions:
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How might we reach every person during a post disaster scenario?
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How might we provide communities with personalized tools to rebuild after a disaster?
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How might we leverage crowdsourced knowledge to keep communities connected and informed?
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How might we help the community navigate through the hardships and difficulties they face mentally?
Ideas
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Images from out ideations stages.
Initial Design Concepts
Design Considerations - How might we build...
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A network of systems that
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Connect with each other
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Helps you navigate through the resources and ruins
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Helps you gain awareness and relieve you from anxiety
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Concept Development
Now that we have a clear idea of who we are designing for, and what we want to design, we began to develop our final product, Libelle. Due to the size and resources, we began with drawings and several 3D models to understand the form and functionality required to address the needs of our user base. For our application, we began with low fidelity drawings.
Idea sketches of Libelle's physical form.
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Low-fidelity sketches of our integrated mobile experience.
3D Models
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Images of LIbelle stored in the ground, and Libelle in a post-disaster scenario.
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Select Mid-fidelity mockups.
Service Blueprint
This is the service blueprint for the user segment whom we have defined as "The Latecomer".
This blueprint illustrates their interactions to connect to Libelle and navigate for resources using information provided over our mesh network.
Click to enlarge.
Deliver
After 20+ weeks of hard work, it was finally time to deliver our final design to the class.
Libelle is a physical pole marketed toward municipalities to help aid in disaster resilience. With Libelle, citizens and government workers are able to gain up-to-date information regarding the area affected. For citizens, they are able to gain directions to the nearest points of relief as well as communicate with loved ones through Libelle's integrated mesh network. For government workers, they are able to view the areas most affected through crowd sourced information and send relief to the areas most in need.
Final Concept
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Mesh network with Libelle to provide communication
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~0.5 mile connective range
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Unlimited nodes throughout the area
Receipt printer for simple, offline navigation
Final Interfaces
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Find and locate nearby resources
Find and locate nearby assistance
Connect with loved ones
Simple, crowdsources data
Reflection
At the time of its completion, this project was the longest and most ambitious project I had been apart of. We had many late nights thinking about the concept and developing our idea which made us lack momentum in the end. The most fulfilling part of this project was finally seeing our renders and interfaces come to life. Here is one of my takeaways from this project:
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To be a team player, means to be accountable and dependable
Throughout the course of this project, we had many difficulties with interpersonal relationships within the team. This left some members feeling underrecognized and as if their work didn't matter. I recognized that in order to deliver the quality project we were capable of, there needed to be a better team atmosphere. I took it upon myself to speak with each team member to better understand their needs and find a way we could all work better as a team. In the end, it's important to take a step back and observe the scope of our actions to better align with team goals, personal goals, and the overlap between the two.
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"Life is so short, you cant waste even a day subscribing to what someone thinks you can do, versus knowing what you can do."
- Virgil Abloh