CAlert Mobile App

An app to be alerted about crime in your area.

Roles: UX Research UX Design UI Design

Overview

I had the freedom to create any mobile app and conduct the user research along with making the app's low to mid-fidelity wireframes. The topic that I wanted to focus on was crime and how an app can effectively alert those living in different areas. I have been working in law enforcement for about three years and realized how much crime occurs in my area every day, but those who also live in my area are unaware of what’s happening around them. This app would include features such as crime reporting, a community feed, location tracking, and be connected with the emergency line 24/7.

User Research

Research Goals:

  • Find features to be integrated into the app

  • Understand user’s needs and wants

  • Gather user experiences with crime in different areas of Aurora, CO

Research Methods:

  • Conducted five user interviews of people living in different districts of Aurora, CO (D1, D2, & D3)

  • Organized notes through affinity mapping

Findings:

  • User would like features such as community forums, connection to the emergency line, and geolocation tracking

  • Users always have the fear of safety, even if they are living in safer areas

  • Police involvement would bring app more credibility

User Persona/journey Map

After the interviews were conducted, a user persona was created based on interviewee Lisa Wiseman. Lisa Wiseman works for the Aurora Police Department and knows how often crime occurs in her area. A user journey map was created based off of the persona to go through the user’s steps and actions when downloading the app.

Affinity map uncategorized

Design Team:

Solo project

Mission:

Keep civilians aware of crime
occurring in their area to
ensure their safety at all times.

Duration:

This was a one month project.

Affinity map categorized

User Flow

The wireframing was based on the user flow of creating an alert post to the community. This felt like one of the crucial features to the app that would engage the user.

Mid-Fidelity Wireframes

Low-fidelity Wireframes

Low fidelity wireframes were sketched on paper. The purpose was to figure out the steps needed to create a community post on the app. It starts from the crime feed page, creating a post, and finalizing the post.

Key Features

  • Set the crime type (robbery, assault, etc)

  • Warning level: 1-5 (five being severe)

  • Set exact locations/addresses

  • Add images

  • Write detailed posts about event

Future Improvements

  • Locate crime hotspots on map

  • Connect to emergency/non-emergency chat line

  • Add emergency contacts

  • Create high fidelity wireframes/prototype

  • Test prototype with users

Reflection

Reflecting on my first UX/UI design project, I feel proud of the progress I made with the user research process, which was a new experience for me. Diving into understanding user needs and pain points helped me shape my design decisions. Creating low and medium-fidelity wireframes on Figma was both exciting and challenging, as it was my first time using the tool. While I recognize there’s still much to learn and areas for improvement, I’m grateful for the hands-on experience, which laid a solid foundation for future projects. Overall, it was a great learning experience, and I’m eager to continue refining my skills.