The WHY

10 million.

That’s how many people are suffering each year at the hands of an abuser.

You could fill an NFL football stadium 167 times, and that’s just scratching the surface of how many souls are affected by domestic violence each year.

MyStory can help.

MyStory App

Slide Deck

The HOW

MyStory is an app and responsive website with the goal of combating the problem of domestic violence head on.

Using DV education, easy documenting, and tracking, we aim to empower victims to successfully leave and get help.

The CASE STUDY

Role

UX Research

UX Designer

UI Designer

Responsibilities

User Research/Interviews

Sketching

Wireframing

Storyboarding

User Journey Mapping

User Flows

User Personas/Stories

Design Mockups

Prototyping (Lo & Hi-Fidelity)

Surveys

Creating UI Style Guides

Responsive Web Design (3 platforms: mobile, tablet, and desktop)

Duration

April 2022- September 2022

Tools

Figma, Canva Design, Rocketbook

DV Research

User Base

Demographics Affect Design

Although domestic violence affects people from all backgrounds, my research (both primary and secondary sources) has shown our primary target user group to be women ages 18 years and older who have a limited educational upbringing.

1 in 4 Men

1 in 3 Women

Preliminary Design Thinking

User Pain Points

Not Being Believed

Victims are traumatized. They don’t think they will be believed over their abuser.
Resources

Victims of DV are stressed and operate out of fear/anxiety. They don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to researching how to best exit their relationship.
Overcoming Fear, Guilt, & Shame

These are the emotions that prevent a DV victim from seeking help.

User Personas

Meet Andrea & Carmen

These personas were developed based on user research. Each represents the characteristics and struggles embodied by our users.

Andrea Reynolds

Carmen Diaz Morales

Behind the Scenes

My Process

Distilled Characteristics

What Does The Research Mean?

First of all, for our platform to even be considered successful, victims of domestic abuse need to:

1) Download and regularly use the app to document their abuse.

2) Use the data and resources from the app to seek out help and leave their situation.

Based on preliminary research, the interviewees gave us the 3 key focus areas to that success.

Check it out!

3 Key Focus Areas for Persona Development

Due to the sensitive nature of the case study (designing for victims of abuse), lawyers, social workers, managers and directors were interviewed on behalf of those who suffer from domestic violence.

Synthesized & Categorized Notes

Click to Expand

User Research

Click to Expand

Needs of DV Victims

User Journey Mapping

Walk in Our Shoes

In order to best anticipate the needs of MyStory users, I developed two unique user journeys based on Andrea and Carmen’s profiles.

This process proved to be valuable.

Eleven insights on how to best improve our app and serve our users were developed.

Competitive Audit

How Can We Differentiate from the Market

There are many different avenues for DV victims to get support. I have compiled an audit of the direct and indirect competitors below to evaluate how to best give value to our customers over the other corporations.

Opportunities

User Research Says

Solutions

How competitor strengths and weaknesses informed my decisions

Ideation Evolution

Information Architecture

Mobile First Design

Victims of domestic abuse are usually at the mercy of their abuser financially (99% of DV cases). It is one form of control.

So although they won’t always have access to a pricy desktop/tablet, they will have access to a phone. It is also more inconspicuous to take notes on a phone than on a computer. Safety for the user comes first.

Prioritizing the platform to build out first also will save our company money. We can beta test the app’s effectiveness first before spending more on developing the responsive web design.

Keeping our users first & our budget top of mind.

App Information Architecture

Responsive Web Information Architecture

Responsive Web

Desktop | Tablet | Mobile

The responsive web layout was modified from the app allowing for more parent function tabs. Research shows that victims of DV need simple and intuitive design. Categorizing in this way therefore just made sense.