WJ - 375SQFT Brand Design

intro.

the problem

research

pain points

Protothon - Seattle Fire Department

Protothon is a 2-day rapid UX design hackathon. As a team consisting of a project lead, three UIUX designer, and a computer science student, we were given 30 hours to provide a UX solution to the given prompt:

"Making the Seattle Fire Department Go Digital"

The SFD was looking for a brand new digital platform to improve communication, data management, and resource allocation for the most optimized emergency response experience and operational efficiency.

Role

UIUX Designer, UX Researcher

Date

May 4th 2024 - May 5th 2024

The Problem

With increase in emergency calls by 2.3% and number of responses by 5% from 2022 to 2023, SFD is struggling to keep organized and communicate efficiently between the dispatcher and their units.

Research

Due to the tight project duration, we primarily relied on resources from SFD's annual report, online sources, and an interview with a dispatcher in Vancouver, British Columbia.

SFD Annual Report

Reviewing the annual report provided by the SFD, we gained insights on the type of data and information they gather from historical incidents such as incident type, severity, location, time records, resource used to gain insights for future incidents.

Interview

We were fortunate enough to hold an interview with a current dispatcher for Vancouver Police Department through a phone call, providing us with insights on the workflow and pain points in their current system.

Pain Points

Pain Point #1

The outdated system has a steep learning curve

The current system's UI is outdated, making it hard for new dispatchers to be efficient as well as slowing down the workflow in general.

Pain Point #2

Inefficient resource allocation leads to delays

In emergency situations where every second is crucial, the assessment and allocation of resources should be efficient and impactful.

Pain Point #3

Poor data management and report process

After every incident, a member of the unit must fill out a report of the incident's details such as resource used, time spent, causalities, etc. Filling the report out manually can take away the responder's time and efforts.

The Process

User Journey Mapping

From identifying the workflow of the dispatchers and how it connects to the responders, we created a user journey flow to identify each actions' potential pain points and opportunities.

User Flow

Keeping the design goals in mind, we also created a user flow to align the project scope with the team by identifying the type of information and features needed in each step of the user experience screen.

Our Solution

Solution #1

Organizing Data for Incident Assessments

Main Dashboard

A dashboard with organized data and live information to allow the dispatcher to quickly assess the situation and keep updated.

Incident List

Display a list of reported incidents from 911 for dispatchers to quickly assess the overall situation.

Real-time Map

Interactive map linked to the incidents report to update and display current situation.

Resource Dashboard

Overview of current units and equipments and their status. This allows the dispatchers to quickly assess the inventory and how to allocate them.

Solution #2

Optimizing the Dispatching Process

Incident Discovery & Resource Allocation

Creating a overview map with list of incident reports and available resources to optimize resource allocation and dispatching units.

Filtered Incident List

Displays in-progress incidents filterable by severity and type for prioritized resource allocation

Interactive Map

Displays data of location of incident and fire stations and their available resources. Allows dispatchers to quickly assess the situation and dispatch the appropriate units.

Solution #3

Importing, Analyzing, and Displaying Data

Post-Incident Report

Re-designing the report creating and submitting process to be intuitive and rapid by importing the incident's data through their incident number.

Importing the Data

By allowing the report writer to import the incident's data through their serial code, accelerate the process and accurate.

Additional Details

Allows further editing of the report and submit ing directly to the database or download as a PDF.

Data Analytics

Through the reports submitted from historical incidents, organize and display the data to provide insights on trends, patterns and resource allocation.

Live Incident Tracker

Displays the today's busiest fire stations and their resources, updated in real time.

Informative Map

Analyzes and displays high risk areas and trends based on data from historical incidents.

Trends

Displays analytics of collected data from historical incidents such as: call response time, trends, and type of responses.

Conclusion

Challenges

Time Restriction

As a 2 day hackathon (30 hours), the time to research, ideate, and iterate the design was very restricted. To make up for the lack of time, we mostly relied on resources provided by the fire department or online sources. Also, this gave us no time to do user testing to validate the UI design.

What I would do different?

Focus on a Flow

Our group set an ambitious goal of achieving every objective or key points the stakeholder listed. For my next opportunity, I would like to focus on a specific flow to iterate and refine for a more polished and well-presented design.