CBO - Services and Interfaces
Prototypes
Introduction:
There is a significant role played by these Community Based Organisations (CBO), and there are also studies identifying the need for further research to fully understand their impact on reducing barriers to accessing services for immigrant/ non english speaking individuals. While these are theoretical assumptions that such organisations could be actively involved in facilitating access, more comprehensive evaluation and research are necessary to assess their effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. This understanding is crucial for ensuring that government services effectively reach marginalised and high need immigrant populations.
I aimed to create prototypes that are user centered, intuitive, and effective in addressing the identified pain points. This iterative approach allows for the creation of an environment that fosters inclusivity and accessibility, facilitating immigrants' societal integration and enhancing their overall level of inclusion within Irish society.
Problem Area:
The primary concern is to provide more language support services such as interpreters, translated materials, and multilingual staff, to facilitate immigrants' comprehension of instructions, forms, and procedures with ease and accuracy.
It's also important that such individuals gain access to digital services and use it effectively. This involves receiving training with digital literacy training programs and gain computer skills, internet navigation, and proficient knowledge and expertise of online public service portals and applications.
The secondary concern is to reduce the risk of migrants experiencing isolation. To address this imperative need for respect and inclusion, it's paramount to prioritise their integration into social networks. By fostering these connections, the community can access vital social support networks and peer groups, providing essential personal guidance, practical assistance, and navigational support in accessing public services and seamlessly integrating into the community.
Solution
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Social workers could help identify and address the needs of immigrants, ensuring they receive appropriate support and services.
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These organisations could serve as intermediaries and help immigrants navigate complex government systems and access available resources and benefits.
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Create awareness and advocate for policies and programs that promote the societal integration of immigrant communities, addressing systemic barriers to service access nationally.
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Offer educational initiatives such as 1 to 1 or workshops to empower immigrants with knowledge and skills to navigate the application system and understand the complicated process.
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Mobilise the community to address broader social and structural issues affecting immigrant populations.
Concept:
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Accessibility and Awareness: Ensuring that users are aware of the available support services and resources for government housing applications, and making these resources easily accessible to immigrant communities with diverse needs.
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Trust and Credibility: Building trust with users by demonstrating expertise, transparency, and reliability in providing assistance with housing applications, thereby alleviating concerns about the legitimacy and efficacy of support services.
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Creating an Inclusive and User Centred Design: Designing the application process and support services with a focus on user needs and preferences, including considerations for language barriers, digital literacy, and cultural sensitivity.
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Efficiency and Support: Streamlining the application process and providing comprehensive support services to assist users in gathering and submitting required documentation, navigating bureaucratic procedures, and following up on application status.
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Empowerment and Advocacy: Empowering users by providing information, resources, and guidance to advocate for their housing needs, including support with appeals processes and access to alternative housing options if needed.
Understand: Empathise and Define
Explore: Ideate and Prototype
Design Challenges
Developing an effective service design entails continuous reflection on the needs and pain points of the target audience. During the prototyping and testing phase, it was crucial to explore appropriate key actions to ensure a successful Customer Journey Map (CJM). Initially, the development process did not prioritize considering potential questions the user might have. However, by placing emphasis on this aspect and clearly identifying potential pain points and barriers, it became possible to uncover opportunities and mitigate the risk of a negative user experience.
For instance, during the first discovery phase, the media channels and marketing activity was inadequate in spreading awareness about the service. To address this issue/ gap, various media channels should be leveraged to ensure widespread dissemination of information and effectively reach the target audience. By doing so, they aimed to enhance the discoverability of the service and increase awareness among the intended users, thereby reducing the risk of users missing out on valuable support.
This shift in focus allowed the team to identify key opportunities for improvement and take proactive measures to address potential barriers, ultimately improving the overall user experience and increasing the likelihood of success for the service.
Different styles were designed to understand which poster was the most eye catching and effective. Distributing the information is a minimalistic design approach, enforced user control and visibility of system status in allowing users to understand the information and quickly access specific content and data.