Helping Hands APp
Due to the changes brought by the Coronavirus, my team found an opportunity to design an application that will make high demand supplies accessible to those who are lacking essentials due to stretched supply chains or crisis conditions.
Tools Used
Overview
In March of 2020, Covid-19 began spreading across America forcing many people to head to the stores to stock up on essential items in order to shelter-in-place and stay safe. Due to this, there were many critical need items that were gone from the shelves for long periods of time making it difficult for groups like the elderly or parents to find the supplies they needed. With this in mind, I teamed up with 4 other co-workers to create an application that would allow neighbors and communities to work together and help each other with items like medicine or food that were in high demand.
We found an opportunity to design an application that will make high demand supplies accessible to those who are lacking essentials due to stretched supply chains or crisis conditions. There is also a demand for an easy-to-use mobile application that could enable efficient and safe supply sharing within communities. The application would be multidirectional, and allow users to list their available supplies as well as request the supplies they need from the community. It would guide users through a safe transfer of goods and foster community engagement.
Application Overview & Features
Helping Hands is a supply sharing application tailored specifically to helping communities overcome the supply challenges present in times of crisis. Helping Hands’ minimalist design helps users access the most important functionalities quickly and effortlessly.
User Persona
With social distancing protocols in place, Jessica has gone to the grocery store to buy essentials but there is no toilet paper, disinfecting wipes or diapers. Jessica finds that stock is sold out online as well. She is unable to run all over town looking because she is busy with work and must take her kids wherever she goes. Jessica grows desperate as her supplies runs out.
With the Helping Hands application, Jessica would have no trouble reaching out for her much-needed supplies. Jessica downloads Helping Hands and sees groups in her area including a group for mothers in her apartment building. She joins the group and sees several mothers have over-purchased diapers and toilet paper in anticipation of the crisis. Shortly from requesting the lost items she is on her way down the stairs to safely pick up the items from outside their door
Feature Comparison
This chart highlights the features most critical to a supply sharing platform during a period of crisis like COVID-19. Combining all these features in a single application provides a platform that can effectively help its users overcome the unique challenges present during a crisis. Helping Hands is designed specifically to deliver these key features.
Conclusion
Our team started this design process by asking one question, “How can we help?” Over the past few months that one simple question has guided us through application development. Our commitment to finding a way to help drove our passions while creating Helping Hands. However, we know our desire to help is not unique, that is why Helping Hands enables people everywhere to help in their community.
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis effects everyone. From our initial inspiration, through research, concept development, and iterative design, we developed an application that is as accessible as possible. We included features, like item requesting, that serve the needs of people, specifically during these hard times. We dedicated ourselves to this project so that Helping Hands can make safe supply sharing easy for communities everywhere.
Helping Hands can stretch beyond the current crisis. Looking forward, while activities such as grocery shopping and commuting move more permanently into online spaces, we see Helping Hands as a new community center. A place where a sense of community can be built in the age of technology. As a connected community, we are stronger facing a crisis, stronger facing the challenges of everyday and happier to lend a helping hand.