How Can I Help?
How Can I Help was a passion project from the start. Our digital and web design class was tasked with creating a website and app to help combat a human rights issue, and as my group started to discuss what we wanted to tackle, one of our members expressed that they had been hate crimed at their previous university for being LGBTQ+ and struggled to find resources to help after the fact.
Hate Crime
This inspired us to get to work. After some light research, we found that there was not a website or brand helping victims of LGBTQ+ hate crimes in existence. We developed a website and app focused on offering help and resources to the LGBTQ+ community. They’re a vulnerable group and often fall victim to hate crimes. Our UX and UI design efforts create a supportive, helpful, and easy user experience when accessing our site.
We Can Help
Our website included educational resources on hate crimes, legal rights information, a comprehensive help center offering emotional support and guidance for victims, and an online blog system where victims, community members, and allies can communicate and uplift one another. This project, inspired by a deeply personal story within our team, helped me learn more about who I should be as a person first and how to design second.
Contribution
I worked on the website and tablet versions of this project. The process began with affinity mapping, mind mapping, task flows, and improvement lists. Then, we shifted toward user profiles of our target audience, visual and competitive audits, mood boards, and the company name. Finally, after all of our research was complete, we could begin the design and prototyping process.
Considerations
Visual feedback is something that our group found to be not only aesthetically pleasing, but also incredibly effective to keep users engaging with the site. We opted for a distinct color change for drop down and hamburger menus and an outer glow for buttons.
Website Navigation Video | 2022