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BLOC: a case study
background
Today’s political climate is fraught with civil unrest and citizens are taking to the streets in higher numbers than ever before. With the advent of social media, organizing grassroots movements came easy; however, with the ever increasing greed of these companies we have seen a large shift towards commercial profit and moderate censorship across multiple platforms.
In 2020 alone the ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project) reported a 45% increase in protest participation in the United States.
problem
Citizens are looking to engage in the political landscape and protect their privacy. We aim to deliver a product that will enable the public to enjoy those rights.
project goal
We aim to combine a variety of products that protesters frequently use and deliver an all encompassing product that will enable citizens to easily organize without fear of public reprisal or punishment.
01 - empathize
research approach
In order to develop a better sense of the current challenges, fears and anxieties protesters are affected with I conducted a thorough desk research alongside competitive analysis and first-hand user research.
I wanted to know - what tools do protesters need when in the field, and could a tool empower people to more easily organize and get involved.
competitive analysis
Most protestors rely on multiple methods of communication prior and during protests. I decided to examine and analyze three of the most used products during the initial research.
I began by looking at the ACLU’s offerings for protest support. Their app “Mobile Justice” boasted a slew of features including a direct reporting video that sends a user’s video directly to ACLU lawyers. However, users reported many issues with the app. From disruptions of video streams to server crashes, it was not a product protesters felt they could rely on.
Activists also employ products like Citizen & WhatsApp. A powerful combination – Citizen enables live-streaming from a protest location and WhatsApp enables encrypted communication.
user interviews
I recruited 18 respondents through social media, my professional networks, and online forums.
Interviews were conducted virtually and transcripts were taken for posterity.
key insights
Communicating mid-protest is anxiety inducing for protestors.
They feel unsure of what might be happening ahead of them and are afraid to get hurt.
Protesters want to have their voice heard, but they often don’t know where to start.
“ I have been going to protests since I was in college, but losing contact with my team was incredibly frightening, especially when the tear gas started”
Tracy, 37
02 - define
research synthesis
My conversations with participants revealed a wide gap between people with extensive protest experience and those who were just beginning.
The research respondents were chosen for their various backgrounds and protest experience - from a journalist who interviewed anarchist groups in Brazil to a college student on their first sojourn into activism.
Tracy, a 38 year old journalist from from New Jersey had a slew of traumatic experiences during her time interviewing Brazilian activists and anarchists in 2014. She recounted being separated from her press team on several occasions in crowds numbering in the thousands. While she was eventually taken in by another group of protestors, her inability to locate her group was disorienting and anxiety inducing.
Osin, a 25 year old student from Brooklyn reported feelings of “belonging and empowerment” while participating in direct action in his community. Ultimately, he would like to engage more with movements, but found it difficult to connect with protests and overwhelmed by the amount of protests at any given time.
These interviews interviews helped define the end user’s pain points and clarified the key problems BLOC aimed to solve.
pain points
~ It’s difficult to locate groups with aligned political leanings
~ It feels risky to communicate with other protesters in-field
~ Many worry platforms are not secure, and that intercepted communication could be used against them in a court of law.
~ Not knowing what might be happening along march routes and how the situation might be developing ahead.
problem statements
~How might we connect activists with others like them?
~How might we make finding and partaking in a protest easier?
~How might we connect and empower people with the resources they need?
personas
Meet Elenor, an amalgamation of our research participants collective experiences.
While being fairly new to protests, Elenor has felt drawn towards participating in direct action lately. Her experiences have been varied, but often she feels lost in the crowd and doesn’t have an existing network to tap into.
“I’m new to protesting, but have recently started to spend more time exercising my to participate in civil disobedience. While normally I attend protests alone, it would be great to feel safer in larger crowds and have more resources at my disposal.”
Elenor, 24
03 - ideate
user flow
Before designing my final product I took the time to structure and prioritize which features would suit my end users needs.
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lo-fi wireframes
Branding & Ui Kit
04 - prototype
final design
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05 - testing and reflections
usability testing
Throughout development I stayed in touch with the initial research participants. Many of them were anxious to see what would become of the concept after their initial interview, and I invited 3 of them back for usability testing.
The testing processes unearthed issues; given the size of the map element, memory seemed to pose an issue in the final prototype. This left many animations delayed and/or jumpy.
2 of the 3 users felt that there was a social media feature missing. While I had considered this in early iterations, ultimately I decided that it was best to focus on 3 solid task flows.
In the end I pulled back on animations to allow for a seamless experience.
reflections
Given more time, this project would have been subject to further revisions. An addition of a social media style interface would allow users to share articles, debate and discuss bills and local projects.