FindMe Tag System
Aim
"Many natural disasters are becoming more dangerous due partly to climate change and their far-reaching impacts have negatively affected people and wildlife" (The National Wildlife Federation, 2019).
The FindMe Tag System aims to help people prepare for natural disasters and facilitate rescue efforts after disasters by assisting rescue workers in locating victims and prioritizing where to help.
The system is composed of:
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a tag, worn by civilians that track their location and biometric data;
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the civilians' app that supports preparation before a hurricane and allows to connect and manage the tags
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the rescuers' app that allows visualizing the data tracked and localizing and prioritizing victims based on the level of emergency
Civilians' app
FindMe Tag
Rescuers' app
Role
Research
Concept development
Workshop facilitator
Prototyping
User testing
Time
5 months (2022)
Tools
Figma
Collaboration
Margarida Xavier
Stakeholders
Publication
Design process
FindMe Tag Project
Industrial design
Electronics
Digital design
The project has been conducted by a multidisciplinary team composed of two industrial designers, an electronics engineer, and two UX designers ( among them me 😊✌️)
1. Immersion and research
The initial research part was shared among the multidisciplinary team and consisted in a literature review and interviews with experts.
2. Concept creation
The findings were synthesized in this phase, allowing ideation with the support of participatory design interventions. This phase involved the production of user archetypes, user journeys, card sorting, MVP definition, ideation, cultural probes, and a co-design workshop.
3. Concept refinment
4. Prototyping
It occurred a visual exploration and the production of sketching, storyboards, lo-fi prototypes, and user testing.
Hi-fi prototypes and user testing.
Context
After a storm, locating victims and prioritizing where to help is hard and speed is crucial.
Areas in developing countries and remote communities such as those on islands are disproportionally affected by natural disasters and have fewer resources available to mitigate them.
Climate change is fuelling natural disasters like tropical storms.
In addition to damages to buildings, hurricanes threaten infrastructure, undermining energy systems, water and sewer systems, transportation, and flood management structures.
Interviews
Who?
A Professor in Risk Management and Societal Services,
A doctor in emergency rooms
An Associate Professor of Disaster Psychiatry
A RedCross International volunteer
“I would like to know who owns my data and how it’s being used”
Civilians
“My family is my priority.
I want to know where my relatives are after a disaster”
“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do if a hurricane comes, like where should I go?”
“Rescuers need easy and quick access to the information. They should see what matters first.”
Rescuers
“Rescuers communicate through radio, but a visual language and tracking options would improve the operation”
“People's first instinct is to find information about their loved ones. Rescuers can assist this need.”
Civilians, what do they need?
⛑️ Be found after a hurricane hits
👪 Find loved ones after hurricane hits
📊 Freedom of sharing preferred data
🦺 Feeling of safety and trust
Rescuers, what do they need?
📍 Visualize location and status of victims
💬 Unified communication channel
📖 Intuitive and easy-to-learn interface
🥵 Non-intrusive interface
Ideation Process
Brainstorming |
civilians + rescuers
The elements from the research phase have been processed and translated through brainstorming into possible features for the interface, both for rescuers and civilians. The features were grouped in three main clusters: function, language and communication, and accessibility, both for rescuers and civilians.
Card Sorting | civilians + rescuers
Card sorting was deployed to prioritize the features identified after the brainstorming session.
Civilians' Card Sorting
Rescuers' Card Sorting
Features prioritized
🏃 Prep exercises
👁️ Visual instructions
👪 Family Finder
🗺️ Offline map
👨👧 Differentiating child/adult
📊 Sharing data with rescuers
Civilians
🔉 Sonic, 👁️ visual and 📝 written information
💬 Communication with team members
🎨 Customizable dashboard
📊 Visualize civilians' data
📳 Scanning civilians' tags
Rescuers
Co-design Workshop | rescuers
Why?
To understand collaboration aspects and what different actors involved in Search & Rescue operations might need to know or share.
To explore and select the parameters to include in the dashboard, from the general, intended as parameters that every actor might need, to the particular, intended as specific parameters for specific rescuers.
Who?
6 participants:
3 interaction design students to provide designers’ perspectives on the visualization’s structure
3 human rights students with previous volunteering experience in different organizations.
Where?
The workshop occurred on-site at the Frog design’s office in Malmö,
What? Activity 1
In the first activity, “context visualization,” each team received a context sheet showing a fictitious operation’s report, a printed map, and a transparent sheet.
The participant’s goal was to analyze the context sheet and use the map and the materials provided to structure how to visualize the data on the map, considering their personas and roles in the operation.
Once this part was concluded, the participants swapped the visualizations they built and were provided with an empty context sheet to fill to understand if the visualizations were understandable or why they were not.
What? Activity 2
The second activity, “digital interface,” was conducted within the same teams.
They were provided with features, the same printed map, and physical materials, and asked to provide a way to visualize the following features that emerged from the card sorting activity on the map: chat, team, data overview, me, location, biometrics, scan, and child/adult.
After they built the visualization, the last part consisted of considering their needs in the first activity and selecting the essential features according to their personas.
Take Aways
🔍 General and particular visualization
🎨 Colors combined with 📝 text and
🔢 numbers
🍝 Different layers of visualization
🧑🎨 Less (features) is more!
Sketching |
civilians + rescuers
Civilians
Rescuers
The outcome
The Civilians' app
The civilian’s app supports the preparation before a hurricane hits and allows pairing the FindMe Tag to facilitate Search and Rescue operations.
The app comprehends five features: Tag, Family, Tasks, Map, and Instructions.
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“Tag” allows for managing the data shared by the tag and pairing and managing connected tags of people in the household.
“Family” allows to visualize all the connected tags and add non-manageable tags, to find them quickly after a disaster.
“Map” provides a visualization of emergency points to find safety and service centers for the tag’s maintenance.
“Tasks” comprehend checklists for getting prepared.
“Instruction” allows simulating an emergency event by providing instructions for using the app and getting ready.
Information architecture
Prototype
Wireframes
The rescuer's app
The rescuer’s interface allows localizing civilians and team members on a map visualization during Search and Rescue operations.
The app comprehends five features: Login, Data Visualization, Communication, Scan, and Family Finder.
The login enables the rescuers to share information that might be useful to other team members.
The dashboard is populated with three layers of data concerning team members, people (civilians), and children.
The app provides a general communication channel and an individual one.
By scanning civilians' tags, rescuers can mark them as rescued and remove them from the map visualization.
After the rescuers scan civilians and mark them as rescued, they have access to the family finder feature and can see the family’s tags, if they have been rescued, their status, and location for supporting social connectedness.
Information architecture
Prototype
Wireframes
Future iterations
Desktop visualization for the headquarters
Tracking system for rescuers' safety
Other natural or man-made disasters
Support NGOs in the recovery phase