The result is a nation that is ill-prepared at absorbing and providing proper relief for refugees. To date, the humanitarian response has largely been a grassroots operation — each with its own hurdles. Since there is no central forum that houses relief information, refugees often find themselves stuck searching for aid or confused about the process — while jobs & aid are available, communication is complicated therefore inaccessible.

This problem is particularly challenging for many factors such as the demographic’s emotional challenges and sensitivity of the situation. However, I held fast through the design thinking methodology, which includes 5 stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.

I visited the conflict zone on a photojournalism assignment in early November to document narratives and spread awareness. I saw the issues firsthand and led the project through all aspects of the design system, including the product concept, brand idea, and interaction model.

Although situations like this are riddled with problems, my focus is an attempt to streamline access to resources for the refugees, in hopes of adding sanity and structure to the chaos.

The goal for the exercises below was to gain a deeper understanding of the problem sphere and behaviors by exploring the refugees’ actions and narratives. And through qualitative and quantitative data collection, let our discovery and insights drive conceptualization & area of focus.

We gained in-depth knowledge of the situation’s landscape through various papers, articles, and resources. Notable highlights of the findings are as follows:

+ Only 11% reported that any of their household members found a job since relocating.1

+ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) promotes durable solutions for refugees by focusing on measures of self-reliance.

+ Reported priority needs for refugees is shelter, while for hosts is cash.1

Through survey and evaluation, five interviews were conducted with refugees from NK. During the interviews, I began to see common patterns and differences based on their location, educational background, and personal experience.

The data was synthesized through two rounds of affinity mapping, which highlighted different groupings and relationships through each round. Ultimately, the exercise garnered insights of the main pain points and desires of refugees:

+ Connecting to resources is cumbersome, in some cases futile, due to disorganization of information management.

+ Focusing on re-employment is difficult when basic needs are not met.

+ Skepticism of government institutions hinders them from seeking aid.

+ Demographic is prepared to work remotely.

+ Open educational resources (OER) are generally desired.

Data was also organized through empathy maps which translated into three personas shown below. Adding a name and face grounds the personas, making them tangible for empathy.

By defining themes and insights, we were ready to reframe our challenges as “How Might We” statements revealing opportunities to solve core challenges the refugees faced.

How might we demystify organizations’ offerings to refugees?

How might we connect refugees with high-quality jobs?

How might we empower refugees with new skills for growth/learning?

Leveraging what we’ve learned, there was a strong foundation for us to put pencil to paper. I filled pages with sketches, mind-maps, notes, ideas, and iterations of flows.

This process ultimately resulted with many solutions — I used a prioritization matrix to identify the features that align with my MVP goals and the user’s main needs.

+ Provide access to active and vetted programs.

+ Categorize aid database for easy access.

+ Create a platform for online course providers.

+ Streamline application process through simplified resumé, interview preparation, and recruiting.

+ Connect refugees & diaspora willing to share skills and educate one another.

A sitemap was devised as a skeleton program that contains the features listed above.

These red routes act as high-level structures highlighting user flows and actions to fulfill critical task.

Sketching first allowed me to gain intimate insight on using design principles to verify what layouts work. It also allows for rounds of guerrilla testing to make sure the user flow is fluid before getting to digital. Some findings from testing include addition of notifications, reshuffling buttons & screens, and the ability to star content.

Creating detailed wireframes helped make navigation seamless, straightforward, and validated our ideas would translate correctly to digital. Edge cases were defined and bugs from guerrilla testing were remedied. The wireframes were then connected through a wireflow to test interactions and accessibility.

Understanding the market landscape is imperative to creating a sticky product that users would want to use. To do so, elements of branding were studied. The mood board expresses the characteristics of trustworthiness, gentleness, and optimism.

A brandbook serves as a live document for the branding system. The brand name was crafted keeping in mind its cross-language meaning of a peaceful area in the midst of a difficult, troubled, or hectic place or situation — it’s worth noting ‘oasis’ has the same phonetical structure in Armenian as it does in English. All choices made for the brand revolve around the idea of trustworthiness, gentleness, and optimism.

High-Fidelity mockups were crafted using Figma which then served as a clickable prototype for user testing. Micro-interactions were studied via Principle.

Be it color contrast or font & button size, we were conscious to create an accessible application that users of any generation can navigate.

Also, it was confirmed early on in the process that our demographic does not have access to the latest and greatest technology, hence our product was designed for devices that are ubiquitous, albeit an older generation of mobile with aspect ratio of 460×620.

Usability testing and iteration are ongoing. The following changes were implemented because of feedback I received from two rounds of usability testing:

Onboarding was reduced to a web-form that provides a touch of personable connection and allows the user to add bio information via chatting with an AI.

Multiple users found it challenging to navigate to the profile and notifications sections because they were not as familiar with the icons on the menu bar. I decided to label them.

I conducted initial user research, used key findings from the research, and learned from usability testing to provide tools and services that make it simple for refugees to find jobs, aid, and training.

I learned a lot of unexpected lessons as I interviewed multiple participants during my primary research, gaining perspectives that helped me understand the gaps and needs of the users. I want to continue to refine the user interactions and UX / UI flow, as well as build out a few more features, such as community and user-to-user connection.

At the end of the day, most importantly, creating an app for the social good has the highest reward and opens the mind to the endless possibilities of using these tools.