CASE STUDY - 2020

Haven

My Role

UX Designer, UX Researcher, UI Designer

Tools
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InVision, Sketch, Miro

About Haven

Haven is an app that empowers employees to report misconduct, anonymously if preferred, in an easy way from their phone.

Haven is a personal project that I created to find a solution to a very real and important issue to many.

Problem

People need a secure reporting solution because they are frustrated that their problem is left unsolved and unheard at work.

Research

To understand the problem better, I scoped out individuals that had met one of these:
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1. Participant that wanted to report something at work, as a witness or victim but did not
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2. Participant that did report something at work within the past 3-5 years

‍I was fortunate to have obtained 15 participants for this research.

Findings‍

• 85% of participants said their workplace culture affected their change of reporting because they worked with ‘unprofessional people.’
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• 75% of participants said they felt uncomfortable with emailing to set up a 1:1 with HR because they didn’t trust HR.

• 65% of participants said their reports sent to HR takes weeks to get a response, it at all, which lowered morale of reporting.

Current Process

While the current process of emailing to a selected HR representative remained the norm, the comments made along with data posed a need for a new solution.

Comepetitor Analysis

I conducted a competitor analysis, analyzed existing services’ approach to reporting, user flows, language and design to better understand what was 'out there.'
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While many of the apps analyzed required making an account, only one allowed anonymous reporting.

(More on anonymous reporting further into this case study)

User Persona

I created a user persona after synthesizing user research. Creating a persona helped communicate the user needs, to all involved in the project to keep the user in mind.

Opportunities

Based on the user research, I noticed 3 opportunities to aid my initial wireframes.

• Create an anonymous log in, as a guest, to immediately get the user to start reporting

• Create a comment box instead of a questionnaire to allow freedom and simplicity during a stressful moment

• Use of a confirmation page to ensure a report was filed

Sketches

I created quick sketches to test my 3 assumptions of opportunities to then test in Marvel.

Usability Testing Discoveries (Round 1)

Here's what people thought after the first round of usability testing.

• Asking for an email when submitting a report bothered people as they believed it would be anonymous reporting.
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• Users wanted to know when they would hear back about the report they submitted.

Hi-Fidelity Wireframes

After taking into consideration the usability findings, I updated my wireframes accordingly and loaded them into InVision for further testing.

Usability Testing Discoveries (Round 2)

Here's what testers had to say about the updates made:

• Users felt encouraged to report having seen an intro screen to the app
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• Users wanted more material to inform themselves of work misconduct and how they could protect themselves

• Users felt confident they'd get a response back once they entered their emails when they understood that it was required for filing purposes due to copy in the design

Takeaways

Stepping out of my comfort zone
‍We have all been there at some point or another either witnessing or experiencing a work misconduct scenario. Listening to vulnerable stories. I was pushed to remain encouraging but neutral.

‍Reach out to the professionals
‍I was lucky to be paired with an HR consultant that shed lots of light on HR practices and resources. It made me realize that the app could be seen just as HR itself which led to a pivot in goals for further updates of the app concept.

I realized due to HR limitations, a form of identification needed to be added to confirm a report as well as file a report.

‍The goal is to create an external, objective reporting solution for companies to utilize.

In future updates, I plan to create more insight for the user to know the app is for them and not against them. I hope this concept of a 3rd party, unbiased mediator, can continue to grow as the need for it is. It can only lead to a better work environment if people can trust in someone to report to.

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