to.morrow
Duration: 8 Weeks
-
to.morrow is a cross-platform SaaS solution to help newcomers like immigrants, refugees, etc. integrate into the new host societies.
-
As the UX/UI Designer, I was in charge of conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on responsive designs.
-
Icons by Feather Icons and Icon8
Animations from Lottie
Objectives
Arriving in a completely new society and country could cause difficulties for many people, specially the vulnerable people who need special aid to guide them step by step in integrating into the new land.
The Challenge
The aim of this project is to design an active and accessible platform to help newcomers find their way in new locations. These people should easily access available properties, open positions and career opportunities, workshops, language courses, and so many other features and services independently or with volunteer helps.
Find your way around
to.morrow helps newcomers like immigrants, refugees, workers, students and etc. integrate into the new host societies.
User Research: Summary
I conducted interviews and prepared questionnaires as well as empathy maps to understand the users I am designing for and their needs. The primary user groups identified through research were:
Users who are looking for the necessities to start their new life. This means quality accommodations, jobs, education opportunities, etc. are sometimes difficult to find.
Users who struggle with the variety of spoken and official languages halt them using the available tools and platforms smoothly.
Users who are afraid of falling into trap of scammers and doing some activities beyond the law because of their lack of knowledge. This group of users is looking for maximum transparency and efficiency.
These user groups somehow confirmed initial assumptions about to.morrow target audience, but research also revealed that independency and unmoderated activities are not only the factors for them to use the platform, but also the possibility to connect with locals directly and to efficient organization of the plethora of data and information are also crucial.
User Research: Pain Points
In many countries with less widely spoken national languages, many users find it difficult to communicate or use the local tools since they are not available in universal languages.
Accessibility
Users need easy-to-use and accessible platforms and tools to connect them with locals, volunteers, expats, and other available people nearby.
Connectivity
Most of the users are not tech nerds or savvy tech users. These users prefer to have a tool with much simplicity and without any complexity to easily find their way through it.
Simplicity
Persona: Dana
Dana, the Syrian student who fled her country after the turmoil and uncertainty, is now looking forward to starting her new life together with her family. As a young technology user, she is well experienced with using different gadgets and devices, and able to find her way in fulfilling different tasks.
Dana is looking for a user-friendly and rich platform to help her find a student job, as well as track her studies and meet new people in the city.
Persona: Nabil
The father of 2 sons, experienced in carpentry and working with tools, is now looking for aid to help him find a new career and improve his notion of the local languages.
As he mentions himself, Nabil has the expertise but needs a guide through the local labor market, workshops, recruiting platforms, and adult schools.
Persona: Olga
After leaving her beloved land and family with her son of 5, Olga is now ready to take her first steps into her new life in the new country. As a young single mother, she is now struggling with finding a proper place for her small family as well as finding nearby activities and education facilities, both for herself and her son.
Olga wishes to find a multi-language platform so she can cross the language barrier in connecting with landlords and real estate agencies.
Wireframes
Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points. For the home screen, the dashboard can be built and modified with interactive widgets that show useful information as well as lead to the relevant pages of the app.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
The low-fidelity prototype connected the primary user flow of using the app in sync with the profile on the website which prioritized the needs and aims of the user, so it could be used in a usability study.
Usability Study: Findings
Frustrations
It was difficult for the users to use the app in languages other than their native language, an insight is: to provide the app with the feature of choosing the preferred language in the very first steps.
Users found simplicity and visuals more likely to figure out and easier to interact with, an insight is: to use graphics, clear visuals and iconography, and smooth animations in the interface.
Users found it frustrating that they can not have their data, contacts, and calendars from their social profiles in the app, an insight is: to provide a feature to integrate social accounts and sync their data with the app.
Users expected the networking tab to be more useful, comprehensible, interactive, and social, an insight is: to bring more features for making friends, networks, attending events, finding people nearby, and publishing stories.
Mockups
The final mockups and high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows in order to have the necessary widgets and info right in your hand. The seamless experience in both application and the website help the users to have their documents and data synced all around different devices, everywhere.
Dynamic Dashboard, Different Widgets
When starting to use the app, the multiple choices by different tags will help the user to easily customize the Home page of the app, what we call it “Dynamic Dashboard”. These widgets actively collect and show data, progress, and required info to the user.
Make New Friends, Find Social Spots
to.morrow gives you many options and possibilities to find and connect with like-minded people, as well as those who are living nearby and free for a cup of coffee and a friendly chat! Keep in touch with your friends and follow their stories.up.to.date.
Keep in Touch, Be Always Available
Whether with a recruiter or a landlord, a teacher or fellow classmates, or your friends and beloved ones, keep in touch and reach out from time to time right in the app.
Responsive Website:
The Seamless Experience