Starting point
A good proportion of mountain accidents could be avoided (or at least their impact lowered) if rescue teams could arrive faster to the location of danger. There is no easy to use tool that provides a one-tap approach to call help, which would be crucial in a shocked state of mind.
The goal was to create an easy-to-use app with simple user experience to minimize cognitive load in emergency situations.
Key research findings:
If people don’t do something habitually, they can’t rely on it in an emergency situation (i.e. sending light signals and remembering its pattern).
People are way too optimistic about the circumstances when it comes to hiking in the mountains. They need a “companion” that is prepared for all the possible scenarios.
User Scenarios
Someone gets injured she can call for help on her own
An accident happens in a group and and a hiking partner calls for help
Someone witnessed an accident and reports it
Product design
Key attributes the app needs to reflect: serious, reliable and helpful
The icons are used as silhouettes for the illustrations as well to reinforce their message and make them easily recognisable when it comes to an emergency situation.
The style of the illustrations supports the reserved and serious yet helpful tone of the brand with stylized shapes, round edges and limited color palette.
The onboarding process explains what’s the app is for, introduces all main features and requires the input of necessary basic information from the user to speed up a rescue operation later.
Emergency call as the primary action on the main screen
At the beginning of the call, it sends GPS coordinates to the MR operator as a message too.
Sending light signals is one of the two alternative solutions to ask for help. The app uses the flash light of the phone to create S.O.S light signals.
Summary
I enjoyed working on this concept and learned a lot about the topic of this application.
It was a real challenge, but I wanted to prove that an emergency app can be aesthetically pleasing without losing focus on the useful functions.