DubAlert

DubAlert

Inspiration

Being back in person, we have already experienced numerous COVID-19 scares. With these scares comes the stress of notifying our friends and peers about our exposure. After conducting research, we realized that a majority of our classmates had similar anxiety in communicating their COVID test results to their friends. We wanted to alleviate this stress and streamline the process for UW students.

What it does

DubAlert centralizes the COVID-19 communication system between close contacts and classmates. By connecting to MyUW, user's schedules are synced to the app immediately. The user can then send anonymous exposure notifications to their classmates. Another function is that students can receive and share exposure alerts with their close contacts all at once. These alerts come with exposure timeframes, step-by-step guides on how to get tested and quarantine, and the ability to alert others.

How we built it

We performed user research by creating a survey through Google Forms, and distributed the survey through various social platforms (Reddit, Discord, Instagram, Slack) to get feedback. The survey asked students about their experiences with current COVID tracking services, their motivations for getting tested, and their frustrations behind communicating COVID test results and exposure with those around them. Utilizing the insights we gained from our research through thematic analysis, we brainstormed and ideated a user persona, a user journey, and low-fidelity wireframes using Figma, FigJam, and community-led Figma libraries. From here, we were able to create a working prototype in Figma.

Challenges we ran into

Since hackathons have a short time constraint, we weren't able to collect as much data as we would have liked to. We also had trouble protecting the privacy of our users without compromising clear and effective COVID alerts. By making this an opt-in service, excluding quiz sections, and leaving classroom alerts anonymous, we were able to resolve this issue.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Being an all design team, we were proud of our ability to create a high-fidelity prototype in Figma. Also, being able to go through the entire design process in under 24 hours is a FEAT! Most importantly, we had fun. This was our first time working on a hackathon together, and it was great getting closer in the process (as people.. and designers!)

What we learned

We learned that our peers weren't happy with current COVID tracking solutions, and there isn't a real fix for their frustrations on the market right now. We also were able to try out different Figma plugins (Anima, UI faces, Jitter, etc.)

What's next for DubAlert

Ideally, we would love to actually create a working app available within MyUW to further streamline our transition back to in person learning. We would also like to receive more data to confirm our findings and improve upon our design.