Occupational Violence
Social Awareness Campaign
This project aims to generate public awareness of occupational violence and the traumatic toll it takes on everyday people trying to do their job. The question that guided the project's development centered on asking "How might we design a digital tool that raises awareness of who occupational violence affects in an international pandemic and the traumatic outcomes it has on innocent workers?".
Problem statement
Sadly, some people within our society respond to a crisis with fear, anger and individualism. This has resulted in a spike in occupational violence towards working Australians on the front line. So we set out to create a digital experience that acknowledges patrons frustrations, personal issues and concerns. One that generates empathy and self-reflection rather than judging or educating the user on the incorrectness of their actions.
Target Audience
We tried to design an experience that all ages and demographics would have the opportunity to interact with, although the target age group was 18 - 60 years.
Roles & Responsibilities
Assistant Project Manager
I assisted the project manager in our team of 5 by taking meeting minutes, setting agendas and scheduling tasks to stay on top of deadlines. I worked across the board for this UX design project, although the majority of my time was spent undertaking UX research. I collected desk and guerrilla research, followed by writing surveys, conducting interviews and overseeing moderated user testing. During the ideation phase, my ideas were used to inform the wireframes, and I helped to create the first working Lo-Fi prototype.
Scope & constraints
This project took place during a transition to remote learning due to COVID-19 restrictions. As a team we tried to progress as close to how we would have if we were in the studio, tackling each task as it came and trying not to let the impact of working remotely have a negative effect on any part of the project. This proved difficult during the ideation phase, but we were able to overcome this with collaboration tools and a shared goal of iterating quickly through ideas and concepts.
Process
Interviews: We interviewed ‘experts’ who were in occupations that were more likely to experience occupational during the pandemic. This included supermarket staff, retail workers and health workers.
Surveys: We sent out a survey to discover the affects of COVID-19 on the general public and to learn of people's knowledge of occupational violence. We wanted to identify knowledge gaps in different groups of people so we could decipher what it was that we needed to inform the public
Through the interviews and survey results it was clear everyone was struggling in some way or another due to COVID-19. Financial stress, loneliness, anxiety and lack in motivation were the common themes experienced by the participants. This research led us to take a more sympathetic approach, by creating a positive experience that was designed with sensitivity and empathy.
Lean UX canvas: We collaborated on a lean canvas to refine our research and refocus our design problem. We hypothesised that when customers are aware of the negative impacts of occupational violence, the instances of violence faced by workers will be reduced.
User personas: We made user personas to create a realistic representation of our audience. This helped in visualising our audience wants, needs and pain points.
Customer journey maps: Mapping out the experience of workers during the pandemic allowed us to understand what our audience is thinking and feeling during different stages of their COVID-19 experience.
Through our research, we found that individuals were reacting emotionally in situations they may usually react rationally, escalating otherwise normal moments of friction. We refocused our design problem, instead asking how might we design an emotive digital experience that generates empathy & self reflection in the user regarding customer behaviour during COVID-19.
Wireframes: Concepts generated through the ideation phase were illustrated through the wireframing process. This allowed us to quickly test ideas before beginning the first prototype.
Low Fi Prototype: Wireframes were translated into a functional low fidelity prototype so we could test the concept and design before further development
User testing: We tested the low fidelity prototype to find out whether the user understood the intention of the project and if they were able to interact with the prototype with ease. We also wanted to discover ways we could improve interaction and encourage the user to contribute content
The feedback we received from user testing informed the direction we needed to take the design next, with these insights used to dictate the final UX layout and visual style.
High Fidelity Prototype: After implementing feedback, a final fully functioning version of the prototype was created with example content to simulate a fully developed experience
Sketches from Ideation phase
Lean Canvas
Journey Map
Outcomes & results
Our design achieved our goals by raising awareness for occupational violence in an experiential and interactive online format. The end result works to strengthen social consciousness and cultivates a sense of community and togetherness during times of uncertainty and division. Our group achieved a distinction for this project and were also awarded Semi-finalist in RMIT Adobe UX Awards.
Designing for a negative effect of the pandemic during the pandemic sure did present its challenges. We looked to breaking news to help inform our designs (such as the panic buying that was experienced in grocery stores in Melbourne). I feel in retrospect, with the knowledge we have about peoples reactions and emotions 6 months after the pandemic, that other design decisions may have been made. Overall, I am happy with what we were able to achieve despite the obstacles we faced.
I learnt the importance of digging deep into research before designing any outputs. It is important to allow the findings to help guide the project through the design process. I am able to identify and apply different UX methods and techniques in order to get the most out of a project and have gained skills in scoping a project, so that it can be broken down into manageable chunks to increase efficiency.
