Pizza Aid:

Mobile App for Domestic Violence Survivors

Project Summary

I developed the UI and interactions of 'Pizza Aid,' a service app designed to offer discreet support to domestic violence survivors. This project involved crafting a user-friendly interface that prioritized discretion, undergoing several iterations of design mock-ups before arriving at a final design that was highly praised for its innovative approach to discreet support services. In pursuit of this, I led comprehensive research into existing support mechanisms, evaluating over 20 apps and services to identify gaps in the provision of discreet aid for domestic violence survivors. This research was significantly enriched by firsthand insights gained from collaborating with 40 resident survivors at a nonprofit, ensuring the app's design was both effective and empathetic. Throughout this project, I honed my skills in design innovation, user-centered research, and the development of tech-based solutions for social issues.

UI Design | Mobile App Design | Prototyping

Project Details

Role: UI Designer

Duration: December - January 2022

Nonprofit: View here

Figma: View here

Tools: Figma, iMovie

Challenge

Design a solution that addresses a critical issue, or “bug,” specifically how to provide discreet and effective support to domestic violence survivors through a user-friendly service app, while ensuring their safety and privacy.

Solution

I designed the user interface and core interactions of a mobile application that masquerades as a simple pizza delivery service. It offers a covert method for survivors to seek immediate assistance without raising suspicion from their abusers. This user-centric design includes three core elements:

  1. Disguised Interface

  2. Safety & Privacy First

  3. Multi-faceted Emergency Alerts

Design Process

  • 1. Empathize

    When I begin designing, I seek to understand the user’s needs through a non-judgmental approach. Through my experience working at Dottie’s House and interviewing residents, I gained valuable insights into the needs of domestic violence survivors.

  • 2. Define

    At this stage, I create the personas of the users of the app, making decisions on how the app will serve them. I defined key challenges and pain points from the user interviews, conducting research on pre-existing solutions and how my app design can fill these needs.

  • 3. Ideate

    I concentrated on idea generation, combining my understanding of the problem space and users to generate solution concepts. Out of my ideas, my strongest was “Pizza Aid,” an app disguised as a pizza delivery app with key features.

  • 4. Prototype

    At this stage of the design process, I rapidly prototype to test possibilities and communicate the ideas from before. Using Figma, I prototyped interactions within the app interface, from the user log in to the ordering process.

  • 5. Test

    After getting feedback from users, this stage of the design process is refining the prototype and POV. After soliciting feedback from users, such as residents of Dottie’s House, I refined features such as the customer service chat and customization of the order.

learn more about the stanford d.school design process

Final Product

My final video explained the process of designing Pizza Aid and the features it would provide to domestic violence survivors. Overall, I learned a great deal from this project, specifically about UI design and user needs.

Scroll down for more information about some of my design processes, such as logo design, sketching, storyboarding, and UI design.

Logo Design

I designed a logo for the 'Pizza Aid' app that encapsulates its essence of offering discreet support to domestic violence survivors. The logo combines visual elements that convey safety, discretion, and assistance, effectively representing the app's commitment to providing a secure and supportive environment for its users.

Sketching

I created a poster that succinctly outlines the 'Pizza Aid' app's key features and its role in assisting domestic violence survivors. The poster highlights the app's discreet support services, user-friendly interface, and innovative solutions, effectively communicating how it provides essential aid and privacy for those in need.

Storyboarding

The storyboard for the final video was meticulously designed to effectively showcase the 'Pizza Aid' app. It carefully illustrated the app's discreet support features, user-friendly interface, and operation, ensuring a clear and engaging narrative. This concise visual planning highlighted the app's solutions for domestic violence survivors, making the video a powerful tool to convey the importance and functionality of 'Pizza Aid' in providing discreet and sensitive support. Through this approach, the storyboard played a key role in succinctly informing viewers about the app's impact and benefits.

UI Design

The overall UI design was intended to focus on the aesthetics of delivery app services and appear as any other pizza app. Some features demonstrated to the right are customization of the pizza to meet the specific needs of the user and uploading photos discretely to the cloud for evidence purposes. Overall, I developed a design system and color palette to meet the needs for the user interface.