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YASMINE EVJEN: I'm Yasmine Evjen, the host of "Centered"--
a new series all about human-centered design.
And I'm in Amman, Jordan to check in with the International
Rescue Committee and Google.org volunteers who
have been working on redesigning an app
to help Syrian refugees living in Jordan move
from surviving to thriving.
I'll meet with the team of researchers, designers,
and engineers who are in the middle of prototyping
the new experience based on the research they've conducted.
I'll experience firsthand what it's
like to be a part of an immersion trip
and learn how a human-centered design
process is crucial to providing humanitarian aid.
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So Rey, we're on our way to Mafraq.
We spent some days in Amman, Jordan.
And we've been working with a team of Google.org and IRC
volunteers.
What are we doing here?
REY RODRIGUES: So here in Jordan, we
are working on a project that's leveraging technology
to allow people to access information that's
publicly available, but otherwise unknown
that it's available to them.
We've been working with Google.org for the past two
years on building projects, such as the one that we're working
here, that allows our beneficiaries to come to us
or come to a particular platform to look for the information
that's most relevant to them.
YASMINE EVJEN: And who are the beneficiaries?
Can you like walk me through?
REY RODRIGUES: So in the case of Jordan,
our beneficiaries are mostly Syrian refugees that escaped
the war up to five years ago.
Their current status is more static,
but there's still some constant changes
within policy for refugees.
YASMINE EVJEN: If I understand this correctly,
when refugee.info was first created,
it was really to help assess the needs of a lot of the refugees
that were in migration.
REY RODRIGUES: Yes.
YASMINE EVJEN: So it was about finding a place to stay,
how to survive within the next couple of days.
And now, a lot of that population
is, you say, static, so they're really
wanting to know how to survive for the next couple of years.
But this whole idea of changing from surviving to thriving.
REY RODRIGUES: To thriving, exactly.
And the first version of refugee.info
was the first 24 to 36 hours.
I think now, it's more 24 to 36 months.
We're talking about how to incorporate with the country,
how to get asylum, how to find the services as a resident
of the country, instead of someone
who's just transiting through.
RHONYA HAMADA: The most vulnerable part
of the population that has the needs of legal documentation
and processes to be able to actually settle
within the country is illiterate.
And the only information sources are written information sources
as to what they need to do, how they document themselves,
what it takes, and what assistance is
out there to help them do that.
So after we wrapped up our research
and started thinking about designing the solution,
one of the top things we wanted to do
was just change the format that that content was in,
so that it was more consumable for the way
that the Syrian population here actually consumes information.
So audio, and video, and imagery, and less
reliant on the text or copy, so that we also
met the needs of the most vulnerable part
of the population, which was those who are literate.
JENNY WILLIAMS: So the first thing
that we thought about on the top is something
that has almost like a--
We're now moving into actually building, designing,
and doing kind of that rapid prototyping and iteration.
It's really important when you're
working on a human-centered design process
to think about the specific humans
that you're working to serve.
What are the actual real constraints,
not just from an abstract perspective,
but literally what device are they holding in their hand
and what is this device capable of?
YASMINE EVJEN: So we're here at the Women's Center
that IRC provides for community here.
And what is the role that design plays in humanitarian aid
and crisis relief?
REY RODRIGUES: When we start a program anywhere in the world,
we have to think not only about the aid that we're giving,
but also how we're approaching that aid,
how we're coordinating with other agencies, how
we are filling a gap that's a need and not really
just doing humanitarian aid without looking
at the requirements and the delivery.
In our project team specific, it's very important for us
to have feedback and give constant voice to our users
so that we will provide them with the best
possible platforms.
YASMINE EVJEN: And what are we going to be testing here?
REY RODRIGUES: So based on the research,
we are going to be testing today how
the users will interact with the shareability of the platforms.
YASMINE EVJEN: So we spent the day in Mafraq
and we're going to head back to Amman.
And I'm interested to see what the team has learned
through user testing and how they're going to apply it
into the next iteration.
So Ruben, I want to know what are some of the changes
that you started implementing based on the user testing
that the team conducted yesterday?
RUBEN SANTA: The goal based on our research learnings
were audio isn't discoverable, even though it's one
of the most asked-for features.
One of the components we used as a reference
were what are some of the tools and services that our users are
currently using and that they feel comfortable with.
And some of the social media apps
that our users are currently using have similar tools.
So our best point of reference was to say,
can we design a similar tool that
feels native and similar so that they don't have
to relearn how to use a tool?
These three components we landed on
based on inspiration from current social apps that
are popular within the Syrian refugee community.
YASMINE EVJEN: I also like how you added
a little bit of more context.
So I know right now, it's just says description of audio,
but I think that adding that is really
going to give the users a bit more guidance of like how this
is all connected and what's going to start playing
and what not.
So one of the main differences is that Arabic is not
read from left to right.
RUBEN SANTA: Correct.
YASMINE EVJEN: It's read from right to left.
How has that shift like changed the way you're designing?
Have you ever designed in this context before?
RUBEN SANTA: So initially, I did start designing in English.
I worked with a designer who speaks Arabic
to help me translate a lot of this,
but you know, some simple constraints
are from what I've seen, a two-word title
may translate to a four or five or six-long characters, which
creates a design constraint.
Designing for those edge cases this is obviously challenging,
but I'm starting to see how going the extra mile,
and making sure that this is localized,
and it feels native to our end users
is helping for better usability.
YASMINE EVJEN: During the deployment,
one of the key findings was the high rate of illiteracy
among the refugee population in Jordan.
The team began to focus on how they
could reach the most vulnerable through audio, video,
and other imagery, instead of solely focusing on text.
KHALIL LAJMI: We decided to use an audio player
and have it sit in every article screen,
mostly for illiterate people--
illiterate users-- and also for users
who want a very short time to consume this content.
We went with an icon that hints to the user
that there's audio there to explore
in a few different options.
And finally, we landed on a very basic player
that is chunked through different elements of the page.
YASMINE EVJEN: Human-centered design
is a process that focuses on the human
that you're designing for.
It helps you build a deep empathy
for the person on the other side of the interface.
You conduct a lot of research to really understand
the user's needs.
And based on all that information that you got,
you'd start to generate tons and tons of different ideas,
and then you actually get that into a working prototype
that you can put in front of your user
so that you can test and validate
whether those ideas actually worked.
And then you start the process all over again.
You continually iterate so that the product is always
meeting your user's needs.
As product creators we have a responsibility
to create things that are focused
on the human experience, things that are centered.
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