Reflection
Studying abroad in the UK and participating in the Digital Civics challenge has been a truly transformative experience for me as an aspiring designer. Creating an interface that is supportive, non-intimidating, and respectful of individual contexts has been eye-opening. This included considerations for cultural barriers, varying levels of digital literacy, and potential triggers for trauma. This experience has significantly shaped my personal design philosophy, highlighting the importance of ensuring that users feel confident and in control.
Gamified learning via role-playing and task-based elements
Guided activities to enrich their experience exploring the city
Opportunities for creative input, such as drawing an avatar
A reward system that encourages users to try different roles
While we did not have direct access to our users, we were provided with research papers and representative personas that our users developed. These materials provided us with key insights to guide the development of our application.
Users possess varying levels of English-speaking ability and confidence
All children own a phone, but not all have access to data
Must be respectful of gender, culture, and race to avoid potentially triggering users and driving division
Users demonstrate a preference for creative activities such as drawing and music
Research
What Considerations Must Be Made?
Mobile App Concept
Final Design
To effectively present our vision for Dovely, we developed a clickable walkthrough of our prototype from the process of joining a game up until users are assigned individual roles, shown below.
Introducing Dovely: An App for Collaborative Learning
Solution
Our final design employs role-play to teach social/environmental cues. Users are assigned roles such as translator, leader, and navigator, and they learn through active participation in assigned roles. Dovely will include the following features to maintain a comprehensive and engaging learning experience:
To explore how our mobile app could be used in real-life situations, we conducted a bodystorming activity that allowed us to step into our users' shoes. We assigned ourselves various tasks at the local library, such as “Find a book about Newcastle.”
By walking through the different steps needed to complete these tasks, we were able to identify potential challenges that children might face. This process also enabled us to examine various roles and their interactions. The insights we gained helped us develop sample activities for the app.
Bodystorming: Exploring Roles and Interactions
Ideation
Drawing Inspiration From Group-Based Learning Tools
Style Guide Development
Our team conducted a comparative analysis of applications that align with the two core aspects of our project: educational and collaborative content. We drew inspiration from role-playing games like Mafia to implement fun and engaging group-play mechanics to include in our application.
About The Sponsor
Problem Statement
Action Foundation aims to explore and prototype mobile learning experiences for young refugees and asylum seekers (YRAS) during outings around the city. These experiences are intended to help maintain and develop their learning skills, encourage peer collaboration, and combat the isolation often felt due to exclusion from formal education systems.
Ideation
Background
Who Are We Designing For?
Our user group comprises 11 to 15-year-old refugees who have immigrated to the UK from various countries. These individuals face barriers to joining formal schooling, and as a result, require alternative learning opportunities to maintain and develop their educational skills and foster social connections within their new environment.
Problem Statement
Dovely
Prototyping an interactive mobile app for Young Refugees and Asylum Seekers (YRAS) to help building confidence in public spaces and supporting personal growth through leadership and relationship-building activities.
Project Info
Duration: May 2024
My Role: Research, Sketching, UI Design
Team: 2 undergrad + 1 grad UX students