Haven

Inspiration

We are all activists, interested in the intersectionality of technology and activism. We are passionate about using technology in helping marginalized groups.

What it does

This is a prototype of our app Haven. It aims to help women, girls, and members of the LGBTQ community who suffer from sexual assault, harassment, and domestic violence. It provides three main services. First, it locates nearby safe spaces through location sharing if the user opts to do so. Otherwise, the user can manually locate one. When the user taps on a safe haven, they are redirected to a page that gives them more information about it. Secondly, it provides hotline information that the user can directly call. Finally, the user can click a button which will immediately call 911 and alert their emergency contacts. If they accidentally click this button, they can cancel the call. The user can enter their information and emergency contacts in the settings page.

How we built it

We built this prototype using low fidelity prototyping and Figma.

Challenges we ran into

First, we had to learn how to use Figma. While we were creating the prototype, we had to figure out how to use many aspects of Figma. Another challenge was figuring out which features we actually wanted to implement. Through research, we came up with several ideas of how we could help individuals suffering abuse, yet we only had so much time and space on the app to provide the services. We wanted to keep the app simple and easy to use, as we understand that users may already be undergoing a lot of stress. Thus, we had to narrow down our ideas and choose services we believe best support our users.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud that we were able to complete a prototype of this app, especially considering we used a tool we've never used before. We were able to fully implement our idea for this app and finished it before the deadline.

What we learned

Through our research in thinking of app ideas, we learned a great deal about the kinds of abuse and suffering women, girls, and individuals of the LGBTQ+ community disproportionally undergo. We felt as if this is an issue that needed more attention and hoped to bring to light ways in which everyone can help do their part to minimize the violence. On the more technical side, we learned a new comprehensive app prototyping tool and learned the actual amount of preparation and time needed to launch an app. Initially, we planned to code parts of the app but then discovered the number of features we included and limited time did not allow us to take the next step.

What's next for Haven

The next step for Haven would be implementing it as an actual app. We believe this app has the potential to help thousands of individuals suffering abuse at home, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Built With

• figma