Respect
Case Study: App & Responsive Website
UNDERSTANDING THE USER (including personas and problem statements)
I used data collected from other organizations and research to develop interview questions which were then used to conduct user interviews. Most of the interview participant's self-worth and emotional well-being have been altered and even diminished by verbal
abuse, resulting in emotionally abused victims. It was also revealed that while most employers do not approve of their employees being verbally abused – they still let it happen. The feedback received through research made it clear that users would be very open and willing to be part of RESPECT'S movement to end workplace abuse. Users stated they would like an easy way of submitting the abuse that happened without having to fill out long forms with lots of details. It's hard for them to have to keep relieving it.
Marita
Marita is a mother working as a retail sales associate who needs the company they work
for to stand up for them when it comes to workplace abuse because they need to feel safe going to work and not being attacked verbally/physically by customers.
About
Age: 38
Education: BS in Education
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Family: Married, has two kids
Occupation: Sales Associate at
a luxury retail home goods store
Goals
-
To work in a safe and
supportive environment -
Find a space that allows our voice to be heard and does something about it
-
Be an advocate for the respect
of others in work environments
Frustrations
"I find it disheartening when a customer verbally attacks an employee trying to do their job and management rewards that bad behavior."
​
"Putting someone down, calling them names because they are not getting their way is bullying."
Marita is a wife and busy mother of two teenagers who works as a sales associate twenty-four hours a week at a luxury retail home-goods store. With kids growing fast and college approaching, they want to bring in some extra money for their family and help ease
the financial burden on their partner. Being in the service industry allows them the flexibility to work around their kid's schedules and various activities.
​
They are frustrated and upset with all the verbal abuse they have to endure, along with fellow staff daily from customers and clients. They are often disappointed and disheartened with management's old way of thinking that the customer is always right and want to make sure every customer leaves happy even after they have verbally abused staff.
"Arrows of unkind words, are shot off mindlessly, they make deep wounds, and echo forever in the minds." - Sulekha Pande
Sebastian
Sebastian is an HR manager working their dream job at an international hotel chain who needs to create new processes for employees to feel safe at work because it will lead to better employee retention and benefit the employees and the success of the company
"Extraordinary times require companies to do more than ever to
seek the good of their employees and do what's right."
About
Age: 43
Education: MS in Human Resource
Management
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Family: Single, has one adopted dog
Occupation: Human Resource Manager at Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Goals
-
Provide a safe and healthy
environment for employees -
More educational tools and
processes for handling abuse
Frustrations
"Companies continue to stick with outdated ways of thinking when it comes to employees and what's expected of them."​
​
"It is completely unacceptable that employees are being treated with disrespect."
Sebastian volunteers as a mentor for Junior Achievement of California and is a successful Human Resource Manager for a large International hotel chain. This is their dream job. They love making a positive impact in people's lives and always want to make sure employees are treated fairly with respect and kindness. Employee retention is top of their list as it helps their companies be successful and profitable.
​
They are frustrated because they have noticed a huge decline in employee retention, including employees that have been with the companies for many years. A lot of this is due to the increased customer/client hostility towards service industry workers.
COMPETITIVE AUDIT
An audit of a few competitor’s products provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the RESPECT app.
IDEATION
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically
on collecting/tracking data about workplace abuse.
STARTING THE DESIGN
The progress tracker creates a clear path to completion. This lets user know
how many steps they must take to complete the process
Digital Wireframes
After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the RESPECT app. These designs focused on a clear and easy way for users to click on answers that best described what abuse they experienced.
The simple design makes it quick and
easy for the user to answer the questions.
USABILITY STUDY FINDINGS
To prepare for testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype which can view here. I used this prototype to conduct a moderated and unmoderated usability study with five participants. Here are the main finding uncovered but the study.
Navigation
Users were confused
about how to add another "incident" once they
completed answering
question about the first one.
1
2
Content
Users found some of
the wording for the
answers to be confusing
or repetitive.
3
Interaction
Users were frustrated
that they could only
select one "feeling"
for question #4 .
REFINING THE DESIGNS
Mockups
Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied design changes like allowing users to be able to choose more than one feeling. I also changed the word“disgusted” to “disrespect” and the “I don’t let it bother me” to “Indifferent.”
Additional design changes included adding a clear indication of how to a “add another issue” to the last page, making it easier for the user.
Before usability study
After usability study
Before usability study
After usability study
ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS
I used headings with
different sized text for
clear visual hierarchy
1
2
I used landmarks to help
users navigate the site, including users who rely
on assistive technologies
I designed the site with
alt text available on
each page for smooth
screen reader access
3
REFINED DESIGNS
HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
The high-fidelity prototype followed the
same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.
SITEMAP
With the app designs completed. I started work on designing the responsive website. I used the RESPECT sitemap to guide the organizational structure of each screen’s design to ensure a cohesive and consistent experience across devices.
RESPONSIVE DESIGNS
The designs for screen size variation include mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific users needs
of each device andscreen size.
Desktop
Tablet
Mobile
GOING FORWARD (takeaways)
Impact
Users shared that the app makes them feel empowered – knowing that they are taking steps to end workplace abuse on a much bigger scale. One quote from peer feedback “verbal abuse from customers is much worse than ever before, and this app makes me feel like I am contributing
to a cause that affects me, and my coworkers daily."
What I learned
I learned that even though the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs
helped me come up with solutions that were both
feasible and useful.
Next stepts
Design a mobile app that will allow employees to input information on workplace abuse to collect data and use that information in marketing materials to push for better safety for employees.
Conduct research on how successful the app is in
reaching the goal of
tracking workplace
abuse within
the United States.
1
2
Identify any additional
areas of need and
ideate on new features
3
Add more educational
resources for users to
learn about workplace
abuse and what they
can do to help end it.