San Francisco Service Guide

Trusted destination for San Francisco's most vulnerable to find the right resources at the right time.

Timeline

3 months

Who I worked with

3 UX Designers

2 UX Researchers

My role

Design research

User interview

Project type

User Research

Volunteer project with ShelterTech

Introduction

ShelterTech is a volunteer-only organization that aims to address the issue of homelessness in San Francisco by building product experiences powered by insights, technology, data, and design.

Our mission is to empower homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness with access to technology, training, and resources, thus our main focus is on creating digital platforms that can connect the homeless with essential services such as housing, healthcare, and employment.

Problem statement

Low-income and vulnerable residents in San Francisco experience lots of difficulties when looking for services that address their essential needs like shelters, food, hygiene, and health assistance. These challenges result in frustrated residents, overcrowded service organizations, and a limited understanding of the needs in the community.

Interviews and Affinity Mapping

After joining several interviews as a note-taker,

I designed a Google survey in order to:

save time and effort in recruiting participants instead of reaching out to them individually.
collect data on potential future participants, including their availability, to streamline the process of scheduling.
screen for participants who are willing to provide valuable insights into their needs and preferences that are relevant to our research.

I onboarded ShelterTech UX team at the early stage of conducting interviews with individuals in San Francisco who are at risk of eviction and homelessness to better understand their experiences looking for housing, finances, physical or mental health, transportation, and information.

The survey data showed that many users were struggling with finding a job, so I took the lead on the Job section.

I developed an interview questionnaire and made a sample job board that I can present to participants during my interviews with them, in order to better understand their preferences and behavior.

Survey Data

Job board (lite version) presented (What do you like or dislike? What category do you find most helpful? Do you have any suggestions on how this could be improved?)

11 Contextual
Interviews

60 Minutes

User Interview

Types of questions:

What is your current housing situation?
How do you feel about using technology in your daily life?
What devices do you use to access the internet?
What resources do you use to find jobs?
What is most important to you when looking for a new job?
What caused you to feel frustrated?
How comfortable are you with the online application process?
What kind of help would better support your job-hunting experience?

Synthesis and Insights

Creating order from chaos is something I always take delight in. I gathered all the notes and insights from my Job-focused interviews and synthesized the information.

40% of participants were previously incarcerated, with 30% currently living in Halfway House, and some others live in low-income housing/SRO
Many are unable to provide documentation (SSN, birth certificate, proof of income, etc) because either they do not have it or it was lost.
60% say they want to upskill in tech/software/case management space.
Jobs with flexibility, proximity, and benefits are desired.
Most are relatively comfortable with learning to use technology. Some have trouble with basic Microsoft Office skills.
Besides word of mouth, LinkedIn is most trusted. Glassdoor and Indeed are known to have scams.
45% of participants mentioned they are not able to distinguish jobs that are scam

For the findings from my team's interviews, I took the initiative to host online affinity mapping sessions with our UX team so that as a group, we can brainstorm potential solutions together.

Personas

To better guide the design for San Francisco Service Guide and help everyone on the team to empathize with our target users, I further synthesized the interview results and created the following personas for our team:

Journey Map

User pain points

💡

How might we ensure up-to-date, accurate information and simplify the navigation?

💡

How might we make SFSG accessible to users with limited English proficiency?

💡

How might we ensure users that they can trust us?

💡

How might we streamline

the applications to be more

user-friendly?

💡Solutions

Vulnerable residents in San Francisco need an accessible and easy-to-use way to find current, relevant, reliable, and clear information about resources that they need.

our solution is developing San Francisco Service Guide as a digital platform that connects San Francisco residents with the essential services they need at the right time.

Among the ideas I proposed, the following were approved for the design:

Relevant

From the list of all essential services displayed on the homepage, users can further filter the resources they need based on their preferences and interest.
Short, quick questions to help guide the users to the resources that are most relevant to them.
Users can filter jobs based on Availability, Eligibility, Categories, and Distance.

Credible

A chatbot to reduce users' confusion and help them find information or answer their questions.
A banner for real-time updates and breaking news in the homepage.

Accessibility

Translation resources that support Spanish and Mandarin Chinese-speaking residents (Vietnamese is on-going)

Design Principles

👍

Simple

Easy to understand and navigate, with intuitive, simple process, and

clear language.

📱

Real-time

Up-to date, relevant, accurate content that users can view clearly on any devices.

💙

Responsible

Commitment to be a trusted and responsible source that addresses users needs & challenges.

🙌

Personalized

Provide personalized recommendations and resources based on user's location & interests.

Responsive design

Our reports show that the number of users who access ShelterTech on their mobile devices equals that of desktop users.

Responsive design is prioritized, making sure users are able to find the information they need and stay updated with news and alerts on any devices.

Improving upon feedback

I helped design a simple, easy-to-complete Google survey as a tool to gather feedback from homeless individuals in a more private and confidential manner. The goal is to help them feel comfortable sharing their thoughts on our site.

We were able to learn a lot of valuable insights that suggested how our site could be effectively improved.

Reflection

San Francisco Service Guide was successfully launched. Click here to visit our site.

Being a part of ShelterTech UX Team was significantly important in my growth as this was my first project as I made the transition into a UX Design career. I learned the importance of user research and the skills to synthesize insights, as well as improving my question-asking skills when interviewing the at-risk and homeless individuals. I look forward to making more contributions to projects that make an impact in the community.

San Francisco Service Guide

Trusted destination for San Francisco's most vulnerable to find the right resources at the right time.

11

Contextual
Interviews

60