Udhavi - Helping Mobile App

Problem Statement The lack of a convenient platform for volunteers to find and sign up for activities, as well as for requestors to post and find volunteers, resulted in missed opportunities for both parties. The app aimed to address this gap by providing an easy-to-use, secure, and engaging platform for community volunteering. User Research User research revealed that volunteers valued convenience, efficiency, and a wide range of activities. Requestors wanted reliable and trustworthy volunteers, with clear communication and coordination.

Design Process The Double Diamond process was chosen for its emphasis on user needs, iterative approach, and encouragement of idea exploration. This process helped the design team to continuously gather user feedback and make changes to the app design as needed.

Challenges

1. Discoverability: Ensuring that volunteers could easily find relevant activities by implementing a location/interest-based search feature.
   

2. Availability: Designing a flexible and user-friendly way for volunteers to set their availability, allowing requestors to find volunteers who can help at the desired time.
   

3. Communication: Facilitating easy communication between volunteers and requestors by integrating in-app messaging and WhatsApp messaging.
   

4. User motivation: Creating a motivating and engaging app experience through gamification elements that leverage intrinsic motivation.
   

5. Trust factor: Ensuring security, privacy, and the legitimacy of activities offered by implementing human verification and other trust-building measures.

Personas

Key Features

1. Location/interest-based search: Enabling users to find relevant activities nearby, based on their interests and location.
   

2. Authentic Human Verification: Ensuring a trusted community through manual verification of requests and volunteer sign-ups.
   

3. Easy communication to WhatsApp messages: Streamlining communication between requestors and volunteers by integrating WhatsApp messaging with in-app communication.
   

4. Intrinsic motivation elements: Encouraging continued volunteering through gamification elements like plant growth, watering, and rewards that tap into users' intrinsic motivation.
   

5. Choosing availability: Enabling volunteers to indicate their availability for activities, making it easier for requestors to find suitable volunteers.
   

6. Anonymous names: To protect users' privacy and avoid spam messages, the app allows users to participate without revealing their real identity, ensuring a safe and secure environment for both volunteers and requestors.
   

Gamification Design Leveraging Intrinsic MotivationTo engage and motivate users, the app incorporated gamification elements that leveraged intrinsic motivation. A plant metaphor was used, with a plant on users' profiles changing its appearance based on their activity levels.

Key Insights and Learnings

1. User research is essential: Conducting user research and gathering insights from volunteers and requestors allowed the design team to understand the needs and motivations of the target users and design a solution accordingly.
   

2. Design thinking is a powerful approach: By following the Double Diamond design process, the design team was able to identify and solve the problem in a structured and user-centered way, leading to a more effective and engaging app experience.
   

3. Gamification can be an effective way to create intrinsic motivation: By incorporating gamification elements such as a plant in users' profiles, watering rewards, and plant evolution, the design team was able to create a sense of accomplishment that kept users motivated and engaged with the app.
   

4. User testing is crucial for refining the design: Conducting user testing helped ensure that the app was user-friendly and met the needs of the target users, allowing the design team to make necessary adjustments before the app's launch.
   

5. Building a trusted community is important: By implementing human verification and other measures to ensure trust, the design team was able to create a trusted community of volunteers and requestors, enhancing the overall user experience
   

UI Screens

Conclusion The Udhavi mobile app successfully addresses the problem of connecting volunteers and requestors in a convenient, engaging, and secure platform. The Double Diamond process allowed the design team to develop a user-centered app that meets the needs of all stakeholders. By incorporating learnings from user research, design thinking, gamification, user testing, and trust-building measures, the app is poised for success and is a strong contender for design awards.