Philly Truce
Increasing Task Completion by 15% Through Improved User Interaction.
Role
UX, UI, Interaction
Industry
Community Safety
Duration
3 months
What is Philly Truce?
Philly Truce is a grassroots organization in Philadelphia aimed at reducing gun violence and fostering peaceful conflict resolution in communities.
What's the Problem?
Peace patrol personnel struggle with an inefficient paper-based incident reporting system that causes inaccuracies and complicates tracking ongoing and past incidents.
Goal
Develop a user-friendly mobile interface for peace patrol personnel to document new incidents, view existing incidents, and claim unclaimed incident reports for real-time resolution.
Features:
Document new incidents
View existing reports
Claim unassigned incidents
Benefits:
Streamlined incident report management platform
Improve response times
My Role
Design Focus (July–September 2024):
Key Areas: Search feature, new report button, and reports tab.
Team Collaboration: Worked with 2 lead designers, 3 designers, and research, content, and strategy teams, plus 2 product managers.
Process:
Audited designs and user flows to uncover usability gaps.
Ensured revisions were user-centered and aligned with product goals.
Outcome: Enhanced designs grounded in user needs and project objectives.
Process
Ideation and Prototyping
Exploring the flow of a seamless prototype
How Feedback Shaped Philly Truce Iterations
Key Improvements Identified: Simplified task flows and enhanced interface clarity.
User Insights Applied: Refined design for usability and real-world alignment.
Outcome: Improved engagement and effectiveness for peace patrol personnel.
Usability Testing
Unveiling Insights Through Heatmaps
Collaboration Highlights
Streamlined Collaboration
Collaboration Tools:
Trello: Organized tasks by priority, keeping teams aligned and on track.
Figma: Enabled synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, ensuring flexible yet goal-oriented workflows.
Slack: Maintained seamless communication for quick discussions, feedback, and real-time updates across teams.
Tools
Tools That Powered Collaboration
Figma
Maze
Slack
Trello
Methodologies
Design Sprints
Sprint 1: Audited existing flows and collaborated on the Incident Report Management Platform with the content team.
Sprint 2: Identified gaps in information architecture and shifted focus from login/sign-up flow to the incident report platform based on usability tests.
Sprint 3: Ideation for high-priority changes (e.g., improving CTA visibility, refining dropdown menus, defining report tabs).
Sprint 4: Finalized master prototype, incorporating feedback and copy changes from the audit and content team.
Challenges
Adapting Priorities to Maximize Impact
Urgent Shift: User and stakeholder feedback highlighted the incident report management platform as a priority due to its critical role in supporting community efforts.
Revised Focus: We redirected resources from the settings page and sign-up flow to address this platform's immediate needs on the Incident Report Management Platform.
Name Update: "Safe Path Monitors" was rebranded to "Peace Patrol" to reflect the Philadelphia School District's withdrawal and align with the community's evolving identity.
Research Roadblocks
Platform Issues: Maze made task flow setup challenging by not allowing the last screen of one task to link to the next, complicating task sequences. It also restricts user control after task completion, unlike other platforms such as UserZoom.
Tight schedule, Limited Preparation Time: Imposed time constraints necessitated accelerated usability testing, involving rapid task development and testing with a sample of five participants (incl. one pilot test) within a one-week timeframe.
Unsatisfactory Testing Environment: Some participants were consistently distracted (e.g., greeting or talking to others during the test) or even in potential danger (driving), which could jeopardize their test results.
Future tests: should emphasize a quiet and safe testing environment through pre-test participant guidelines.
Solution
Optimized Layout: Repositioned Search for Cleaner Interface
Moved search feature to the top navigation bar to declutter the interface
This allows more focus on the main content
Search is still accessible when required
Clearer Call to Action: Redesigned New Report Button with Bold Icon
Testing showed that report numbers placed near the new report button created visual confusing, reducing clarity
Updating the button design clarified its role as a call to action with a clear bold icon
Streamlined Navigation: Improved Tab Contrast for Better Focus
Increased contrast on active tab
de-emphasized the others to reduce cognitive load
Prototype
Annotated User Flow
Impact
Redesign Boosts Report Creation and Reduces Distractions
The redesign of the Incident Report Management Platform had a positive impact on the new report experience. The app is still in production and will update the impact as we gather more data.
