In May 2020 Adobe hosted a Creative Jam, a weekend-long event where teams addressed a project brief provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
PROBLEM
Many farmworkers do not qualify for government stimulus packages, making it critical that they get access to safety net services like legal aid, healthcare, housing aid, counseling and/or food distribution.”
GOAL
Create an app that would address the following criteria:
Many farmworkers do not qualify for government stimulus packages, making it critical that they get access to safety net services like legal aid, healthcare, housing aid, counseling and/or food distribution.”
GOAL
Create an app that would address the following criteria:
- sign up for services like legal aid, healthcare, housing aid, counseling and/or food distribution
- get access to timely and credible information
SOLUTION
We came up with three key features of the app to address the project brief and keep our design user-focused: a chatbot, a feed of national, state, and local levels, and a community section.
Our chatbot helps farmworkers navigate access to services by breaking down the information into simple questions to guide them.
We came up with three key features of the app to address the project brief and keep our design user-focused: a chatbot, a feed of national, state, and local levels, and a community section.
Our chatbot helps farmworkers navigate access to services by breaking down the information into simple questions to guide them.
CHATBOT
|
A chatbot better imitates an actual interaction that a farmworker would have in an office as opposed to navigating the app on their own.
The chatbot can connect them to a representative if they were to need further assistance. |
NEWS AND UPDATES
|
News is filtered into 3 categories, which are also paired with icons for an audience of various literacy levels:
We wanted to add visual elements when possible to make the app friendly for users with low-literacy. By designing with this constraint in mind, we are also making the app more accessible for the rest. Each card couples an image with text for maximum comprehension. |
COMMUNITY
|
The Community section features crowdsourced information from individual users and grassroots partners.
Posts can be pulled from social media as a way to connect farmworkers to city-based resources from local organizations, and create another outlet to mobilize people to take action. |
THE PROCESS
One of my initial questions was how can we create an experience that promotes buy-in and communicates safety for the farmworkers.
Since many are likely undocumented, they may feel uncomfortable registering their information during the app’s sign-up process.
Since many are likely undocumented, they may feel uncomfortable registering their information during the app’s sign-up process.
How might we design a tool that creates the same, or similar, sense of trust that farmworkers may get from visiting an office to register for safety net services?
We wanted to ensure the chatbot used concise language and was clearly a bot to prevent users from thinking they were speaking to a live representative.
The chatbot also functions as an additional entry point to connect farmworkers to resources, such as legal aid, healthcare, housing aid, counseling and food distribution.
The chatbot also functions as an additional entry point to connect farmworkers to resources, such as legal aid, healthcare, housing aid, counseling and food distribution.
RETROSPECTIVE
Though we were not able to conduct user interviews or much user research, it was a welcome challenge to work within the project and deadline. The constraints allowed us to come up with creative solutions such as a chatbot, and considering what personality and tone it should take.
By designing for constraints — which is a low-literacy user in this case — we make designs more accessible for the rest of users. A second constraint we kept in mind were the farmworkers who migrate seasonally — even each month — to different states, and optimized for that lifestyle.
By designing for constraints — which is a low-literacy user in this case — we make designs more accessible for the rest of users. A second constraint we kept in mind were the farmworkers who migrate seasonally — even each month — to different states, and optimized for that lifestyle.