2024
The Problem
Community First Responders (CFRs) attend accidents and emergencies in their local area to provide critical early care while ambulances and emergency crews are on their way.
The current system for notifying CFRs of incidents involves a somewhat complex and not entirely efficient text messaging service, which requires CFRs to send text codes back to dispatchers to relay information about their status, and the incident. It gets the job done, but the cognitive load on CFRs is higher than necessary, and the information they receive can be hard to parse.
The Challenge
Create an app to improve the experience for CFRs and benefit the real end user - the patient. Improve response times, save lives.
The Solution
A simple, direct app MVP that can parse the raw information in the system and present it as a more readable interface for CFRs.
Information from dispatchers could be scant, so arrangement and legibility would be key - splitting the information out helped to create a clearer picture of an incident’s status.
Further new features included:
Roaming feature for CFRs travelling into other areas
Auto check-in when arriving on the scene
Information about other respondents ETA, equipment, and status
In-app post-incident reporting
Ability to snooze notifications
The results
The app has been extremely well received by stakeholders in the government and CFR community - it is currently in development and will be released to a test group in early 2025.
Community First Responders
Closer Look
Defining scope
In late August we began work with the client to understand their problem and streamline their antiquated text messaging system with a new, modern approach - as well as unlocking further functionality to ease the stress and cognitive load of their First Responders.
The first step was to define the flow and narrow the scope - the thinking to this point had been very free-form and so needed narrowing down to what was possible, what was required, and what could wait for future iterations.
I began by creating a comprehensive flow from start to finish, noting everything we needed to figure out in each section of the flow, as well as alternative paths depending on the level of integration.
In this case, map integration was up in the air and needed some exploration - we quickly ascertained that the psychology of the respondents likely meant that in-app navigation was more likely to increase cognitive load, and in many cases wouldn’t be necessary at all. This approach was applied across the app, guided by the engineering team as they did their own technical discovery.
Time was of the essence generally, as we originally had a tight deadline of the end of the year. I began toying with early concepts while we discussed the scope with the client as a team to really set expectations.
While this was ongoing, the client wanted to get people excited about the new app at their annual conference, and ideally wanted something visually interesting to show. Within around three weeks I managed to pull together a first version of the app in a fully functioning clickable prototype, maintaining most of the look and feel up to the actual version currently in development.
Feedback was extremely positive, and this was far more useful in getting people on-board than just some slides in a Powerpoint - adoption of the app is an important KPI, and nice interactions and visuals at this early stage really helped create a buzz, especially for the client.
In the following two weeks I built a baseline component library, utilising advanced Figma variables and interactive components to ensure small, easily editable tools for any future designers to come onto the project. You can read more details about this part of the project (and other design system work) in an upcoming case study.
I also set about finalising much of the UI and working through the remaining edge cases, while trying to make sure engineers had what they needed to support the now active build. Meanwhile the project team confirmed and finalised a shifting scope.
With the design now complete, my time on the project came to and end, with the engineers building in earnest.
The MVP launches soon into the hands of the first test group, and hopefully nationwide soon after, with the full design taking roughly two months from conception to completion.