U CARE COVID-19

Mobile app

2020

PRoject Description

COVID-19 is a problem that requires efforts at the community level to contain its spread. U Care COVID-19 mobile app will help students, faculty and staff access COVID-19 related information. At the core of this project we want to help protect each other and sustain a healthy campus environment.

PRoduct Description

An opportunity for a location-based app revolving around COVID-19 has introduced itself to the University of Miami community. The purpose of U Care COVID-19 app aims to allow the student body and faculty to easily locate resources such as personal protective equipment (PPE), testing location, and location densities to raise awareness of safe practice while also providing essential resources links to COVID-19 hotline and additional resources.

PRoject Details

Timeline:
- August 24th- August 31: Empathize, Define, Research
- August 31-October 11th: Ideate, Design
- October 11th: Finish prototype
  - Total duration: 8 weeks

Goal

Help the UM community sustain a healthy environment

Role

UX Researcher

UI Designer

Team

6 teammates/ researchers

in total

Research

To better understand the experiences, needs and wants of students and faculty regarding to COVID-19, the team conducted semi-structured, 1:1 interviews with 18 participants using a discussion guide and a pre-survey questionnaire to gather qualitative data such as demographics, learning/teaching mode, age, mobile app familiarity, and experience with UM app.

Key Results

Based on interview responses are grouped in three main areas:
- Location Density
  - Most participants were unaware of the location density feature.
- Access to essential resources
  - Some voiced the lack of accessibility of PPE's and have expected more access to hand sanitizers on campus
- Access to COVID-19 related information
  - Clarity and transparency in their communication, as a pattern of difficulty in accessing the information / available resources

Concept Map

Sketches

Affinity MApping

Design Strategies

Real-time location density feature
Wayfinding to the campus buildings and essential resources (PPE, testing site)
Peak time feature showing when a space is most busy / clustered
Color-blind accessible/high contrast tool in location densities table

Features, functions, task lists

Locate PPE stations
- Get directions to PPE stations
- View image of the selected PPE station
Locate testing site
- Get directions to testing location
- View image of the testing location
View location densities
- Location density table at a glance
- View peak times of locations
- Status key to indicate whether a space is safe to enter or not
- Color blindness accessibility tool/ high contrast
Book appointments
- For COVID-19 testing
- For booking a seat at the library
Access to COVID-19 related information
- WHO
- CDC
- Florida COVID-19 Response
- U.S Department of State Travel Advisories
Get technical support