U1st

(App store image for illustration purposes only)

What is U1st?

The U1st application is a personal safety application that provides resources like shuttle, escorts, and emergency safety alarms to students at the University of Washington.Students would use this app when they were being followed, attacked, or just felt uneasy.

The Challenge

U1st was a class project designed by a team of three students with a time constraint of three months.The priority was to ideate a way to help students manage and have quick access to the university resources made to keep them safe while on the campus.

**My Role**

User researcher
User experience designer.

The Problem Space

Although the University of Washington has a system called, “Husky Nightwalk,” where a campus security officer walks with a student at night so they remain safe, often students are not escort to their final destination due to distance, time restriction and the availability of the staff. The application seeks to conveniently and discreetly provide a personal safety service, to help mitigate some of these concerns.

Research Findings

Surveys were distributed to students in the class under the assumption that people who were taking a class at the University of Washington were more likely to live on or around the UW campus. A total of 12 respondents were obtained and the main findings were:

The latest most respondents traveled around the U-district alone was at 10:00 pm.
All respondents felt safer walking around campus with others.
11 out 12 respondents felt safer walking during the day.
Women were more likely to cite a specific incident during which they felt unsafe walking on or around UW.
Women were less likely to feel safe walking around UW campus and surrounding areas alone later in the day than men.

Stakeholders

After interviewing three different stakeholders we identified some important insights about the problem.

UW Officer	UW Student
Students who walk alone and are not aware of their surroundings are more likely to be victims of a crime. Most of the UW police night services, such as night walk and ride sharing end around 2 AM. Student cannot request rideshare or night walk through the Safe Zone App. Students don't trust the Safe Zone App because they think the police will be constantly tracking them.	Students rather to walk with a group than alone because it gives a sense of safety. Students feel safer walking around campus during the day than in the night time. Some student may know someone or have experience an assault. The negative experiences have motivated students to get their own car.

Personas

SierraPersona — Sierra is the **main** persona.

She is specially concerned about **walking alone** during the night.

MichaelPersona — Michael persona represents UW police.

He deeply cares about students safety around campus.

Wireframes

Wireframing1 — **Emergency button**

One of the main ideas in the entire design.

Wireframing2 — A rough idea of the layout of the solution we wanted to design.

Features

Ping Peers

This feature allows the users to post messages about what’s going on around campus, so that other users know what to be aware of. This feature makes the app more interactive and facilitates a greater sense of community.

NightShuttle

Night shuttle allow students to access to the university shuttle in a secure, easy and convenient way. By integrating this service into the app students reduce the searching time otherwise they’ll have to do several clicks around the entire site.

image of two iPhones showing U1st app. Both screenshots shows Night Ride shuttle information.

NightWalk

Requesting a escort is easier and convenient for those in need. Now, students can send their pick up location and destination to UWPD security officer. In seconds, they’ll be notified so students can easily accept or reject the request. This feature benefits not only the students but it helps UW policy to a more manageable service and reduce the amount of time spend on the phone.

Emergency Button

This unique feature was designed for those situations where immediate danger is around. Students have an option to call the local police near them based on their Geographic location for GPS. Additionally, students can also have the option to notify their contacts of their location with a preset message.