Herd V3

DATE

2020 - Present

TEAM & ROLE

2020 - Present

COMPETITION

Winner of Ford Smart Mobility Fund

INTRODUCTION

Herd Network is a service that helps people maintain their mobility in times of crisis. It connects those in need to other members of their community who can provide help and resources.

Users in need simply send out a ‘flare’ from their mobile device, and those who can help, respond to these flares, enabling the natural instinct we have to help one another in time of crisis.

Send flares when in need of help

Act on flares to support those in need

Features

MVP SCOPE

The Golden Moment

The period of time when self-help is most crucial

Use real-time data to warn users
Recommend actions in line with a flood timeline
Present new options for mobility as the flood evolves

Sending a Flare

A rapid request for assistance

Allows users to communicate their individual needs to the wider community
Facilitate immediate response based on priority

Resource Distribution

Improving the mobility of necessary items.

Maintain a database of local resource information
Build a request-based system
Establish supply chains optimised for flooding conditions

Resource Distribution

Improving the mobility of necessary items.

Maintain a database of local resource information
Build a request-based system
Establish supply chains optimised for flooding conditions

Principles

Intuition over fluency

This service is likely to be used most often by people new to it or who haven’t used it in a while, so the design should cater to beginners rather than power users.

Ways to implement

Actions are discoverable
Fewer interactions
Transferable mental models
Scalable metaphors

Momentum, not thought

This service is likely to be used most often by people new to it or who haven’t used it in a while, so the interface must make action as simple and easy as possible.

Ways to implement

Always suggest
Flare everywhere
Don't overwhelm
Remove action friction
Build habits

Social over personal

Primarily being a social service, the user must be encouraged to act in a social way.

Ways to implement

Reinforce social choices
Encourage sharing
Maintain internal social rewards (Such as feeling pride by publicly volunteering).

Flare Development

Felt old, visually cluttering the screen when stacked with multiple. Too much text.

Simplified visual design & attempt to communicate category through colour

Realising the importance of the flare itself is the message. Thus we increased its prominence and decreased the hierarchy of category & location info. Introduced the idea of significantly limiting character count to 50.

Reducing the colour as it was too overwhelming when stacked. Giving some more breathing space within the flare.

Further simplifying the visuals. Exploring a lighter font thickness & introducing ‘time sent’ & exploring the idea of sub-categories and how this might be communicated.

Removal of colour as a communicator as we felt it was hard for users to associate colour with unfamiliar categories, as well as it overwhelming the list view.

Settling for the most minimal but balanced option that can be comfortably presented in a list view on multiple devices.

User flows

Avoidable risk to mobility is predicted product guides user actions

This journey tackles common barriers to mobility in a crisis, namely confusion and lack of awareness of risk. The personalised warning ensures users respond, and the ensuing actions keep them able to prepare for the flood calmly.

User lacks a resource, product helps communicate need to wider community

This journey pieces together how a user could alert the community to their need, and how the product can maintain their mental state as they wait. In the instance of the flare receiving no response, further options are explored.

User wants to help, product enables this

In this journey, those who want to help are encouraged to identify the ways in which they may be able to and add them to a database. From this point, the product uses an algorithm to match those who want to help those in need.