ARK - Acts of Random Kindness

Inspiration

Our teammate's personal story! When arriving to Sydney with a different cultural background, the unwritten rule of thanking a bus driver became quite apparent. Now, she actively only takes the bus because the human-to-human relationship of thanking a bus driver, makes her happy and brightens both hers and the driver's days.

What it does

Only part of the unwritten rule is universal within Australian culture. People will instinctively say thank you when assistance is offered voluntarily. However, when service is expected (i.e. service industry workers), acknowledgment and thanks is not always assumed. In an effort to change that, we've created a 2 part experience. The first transforming an average bus station into an immersive art piece, raising awareness of the power of a single act of kindness, thereby encouraging empathy in viewers. The second being an in bus experience integrated into one's app navigation of preference, that showcases the effort each driver commits and encourages individuals to acknowledge and thank these efforts.

Functionally - think "R U Ok?". ARK is a company grounded in perpetrating kindness. It's about raising awareness and encouraging action, all while easily integrated in the apps users already use on a daily basis.

How we built it

We narrowed down the key devices involved in this user journey and explored how to build empathy between passengers and the bus driver while they wait at the bus station. This helped us uncover the unwritten rule within the experience. We then redefined this rule and designed a new behaviour around it, translating the concept into a cohesive UI/UX experience across different devices.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

In the end, we are proud to have more than the average UI/UX experience. We designed with the conscious intentionally of the implications to the future of society and the impact our design has on expanding Australian culture. If a single act of kindness can change one's entire viewpoint, imagine the positive impact a culture of "thank you's" could achieve.

What's next for ARK

Bringing acts of random kindness from people all over the globe to co-create a kinder future! Bus stops are only the beginning. Just as "R U Okay?" has succesfully integrated themselves into numerous cultural touchpoints to encourage the practice of valuing one's mental health - so is our intention. Think schools, job sites, restaurants, and more.

In an era of artificial relationships, let us all remember our humanity.

Thank you :) xxx