Hacky New Year
2023 DemocracyLab Hackathon
Our Team: Community Circle
A Place to Start
Amanda and Mariah, our project leaders, brought a V1 mockup to the group in the form of an app as a proof of concept. We used this to determine the minimum viable product.
From here I pointed out the lack of resources such as a phone that may make an app difficult for our users. We pivoted to a web app with a hackathon scope to develop a desktop version for a use case where a homeless user may use a computer at a public library to access the tool.
User Flow
Wireframing
I brought the group in to wireframe our tool using a whiteboard space. I wireframed the userflow frame by frame, and as we went important feedback came out.
Our project leaders are experts in shelter services and homeless experience and were able to communicate constraints and user needs as we went.
Developers were able to provide important feedback in terms of implementation as we explored different ideas.
Important factors that influenced our design:
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No usernames or accounts
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We couldn't assume users would have an email or phone number to create accounts
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Users may also be reluctant to share names in domestic violence cases or for reasons of general distrust
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Demographic collection
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Shelters have specfiic requirements in terms of demographics that will rule out options for specific users
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Some may have pets, only feel comfortable in gender split shelters, or be youth which need specific shelters
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Shelter Seeking User
Shelter Admin Portal
Development & Next Steps
Over the course of the day our developers were able to set up the back-end foundation of the platform and the begining implementation stages of the Figma prototype I created. The project is on course to implement the designs we made at the hackathon and be incorporated as a 501c3 later this year.
