To: gether

Supporting the safety of women commuting or traveling alone.

Violence and insecurity are persistent factors in society to which, unfortunately, women are more prone to becoming victims. There is a "plus of terror" for women that generates a limitation when commuting or traveling. The experience of going out alone, being a woman should not represent extra stress and the fear and anxiety of going out alone should be minimized.

How can we reduce insecurity? Is it possible to increase security? What are the things that make women feel safer? What are some risk factors?

Exploration: talking to the user

An essential part of the research was finding out and being able to better understand the user. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted. My goal was to get insight into specific concerns and how users are currently navigating the experience of commuting alone.

Insights

She feels safer in places she is familiar with because she knows where to go or even run to in case of being in danger, she knows where to ask for help

She often carries a tool that she could use as self-defense

Pepper spray, Swiss Army knife
No one takes self-defense training

She feels safer if she is able to be in contact with a family member or a friend. Someone who is on the lookout for updates on her arrival.

She tries to avoid places she has heard are dangerous or where she knows assaults had happened. If she knows she can avoid these places and take routes that she has not heard of any assault she feels less anxious.

Building empathy

Taken from interviews:

Who is she?

She feels safer walking/passing by through places that she is familiar with because she thinks she'll know where to run and ask for help if she needs to

She tries to avoid places that she has heard are dangerous: places where assaults and robbery have taken place.

She feels anxious in places that are dark and lonely.

Having a companion is a huge relief for her. When she goes out, she keeps it short if she has no company

She feels safer during the day because she knows more stores are open. This means more options to ask for help or shelter

She often carries a tool for her to use as self-defense.

Ideation

After doing research and talking to users it allowed me to figure out relevant features to the solution. One of the main features for an MVP include: finding the safest route. This would be an AI implementation gathering data from user input and official police reports.

Feature Prioritization

Getting the Safest Route (AI)
911 Emergency
Adding "trackers"
User rating (input)

NOW

Creating a Report
Showing other users report on map

THEN

Locked SOS (password)
Track Location

LATER

User Journey

Shaping a solution: first iteration

First iteration based on user insights.

After the initial concept was defined with relevant features, I was able to craft the first paper prototype for user testing (I love paper prototypes!!)

Designing to: gether

Paper prototypes were tested with five potential users. They were asked to perform the most relevant tasks. After observing them perform the tasks, they provided feedback in a Q&A section.