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UX/UI Case study

How to create a safe environment 

for queer youth 

encouraging them to ask for help?  

lee-gif.gif

LEE is a native app designed to bring together queer youth and more experienced adults and allies from the community to aid with their own experience and help queer young people in certain areas of life.

The gender-neutral first name LEE stands for creating awareness for sexual and gender diversity.

ROLE 

UX/UI Designer

Researcher

Tester

Project Manager

TOOL KIT

Adobe XD

Miro

Illustrator

Pen & Paper

TIMELINE

March 2020 - ongoing

THE PROJECT

Living far from cities, no supportive family, cyber mobbing & online safety -  why it is difficult for queer youth taking the first step, going to an organisation and asking for help? 

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS

  • Young people ages 14-16 have initial questions but are not sure yet about taking the big step of seeking help from an organization in person

  • Young people living in the countryside might have difficulties going to cities and organizations in person on regular basis

  • Young people with no supportive family might find it difficult to go to any organization in person

  • There are great organizations to help but with no modern digital support addressing generation Z (the first generation growing up with a smartphone)

  • In a small community/in the countryside it is less likely that young people will find a role model, member of the LGBTQ+ community or associates that they can connect with.

  • There are supportive groups to join on social media but it is not seen as a safe environment for many young people – cyber mobbing and online safety are real problems for LGBTQ+ youth

PROBLEM STATEMENT

LGBTQ+ youth need a way to connect with people who went through their LGBTQ+ process successfully because they often do not have role models near them or have difficulties reaching out for help in person.

HYPOTHESIS STATEMENT

We believe that an app-based, 1-on-1, anonymous mentoring program can help young LGBTQ+  people to take the first step and ask for support in a safe, supportive environment.

THE PROBLEM

LEE has no direct competitor on the German market and the idea to bridge the gap by offering an app-based support among existing sources of help is what makes this project unique.

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I started the market analysis as I always do: reviewing organisations in Germany, their services, profile, online presence and potential online support. 

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I wanted to see the big picture: at the same time I started to read studies about queer youth and GenZ.

WHERE DOES QUEER YOUTH LOOK FOR HELP?

Digital

Social media (groups) and online platforms  (forums) are available but may not provide a safe and secure enviroment

Analog

Organizations that are mainly in cities have no appealing and modern digital support and are not accessible for everyone

HOW CAN LEE MAKE IT EASIER ASKING FOR HELP?

That's what I tried to illustrate below: looking at LEE's position in the ecosystem of existing organisations helps to see LEE's unique role and opportunities for cooperation toward a greather good, reaching as many young people as possible.

 

The goal of LEE and other organisations is the same: helping young people. Thus, instead of the usual competitive analysis, I call it a cooperative analysis. 

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What you see:

User Scenarios & App Usage

  • On the left side I draw out 5 main scenarios in which our potential young users would use the app, based on the possible problems.

LEE's Position & Role

  • LEE in the middle, bridging the gap between young people who have difficulties or no possibilites to go the organisations in person. 

Organisations & Cooperations

  • On the right side there are the organisations with unique profiles, addressing different issues like migration background, education of mentors, housing people, etc. 

Lee's_position_in_the_ecosystem_–_1.jp

IS LEE ALWAYS THE FINAL STOP?

Considering the delicate and sensitive nature of the problem - the different, difficult and sometimes dangerous situtations of young individuals - cooperation is needed with organisations that address these difficult issues! 

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This shifted our focus more toward the mentors' side: what do mentors need to feel safe? How will LEE offer mentors a safe environment with all sources of support they might need when facing challenging situations? 

THE BEST OUTCOME 

After positioning LEE, the LEE team started to reach out to organisations, explaining LEE's role and how LEE can contribute to the common goal and efforts. Organisations' answers were positive, saying they would gladly cooperate with LEE since digital support is what they lack! 

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Futhermore, the organisations helped us to reach users for our upcoming survey as part of the research to better understand users needs!

After reviewing the German market I looked further and conducted a content analysis for big international organizations offering mentorship program for queer youth. They are:

Out for Australia

An organization that seeks to support and mentor aspiring LGBTIQ+ professionals as they navigate their way through the early stages of their careers.

UCI Counseling Center

Offering a one-on-one LGBTQ+ Mentoring Program for queer youth; providing a venue for the mentee to explore many issues regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in a safe, non-judgmental, supportive, and empowering environment.

FINDINGS

Through my research I identified focus points that showed similarit with the initial hypothesis:

  • Safe environment is everything

  • Registration process for mentors must be taken seriously

  • Mentors do (want to) receive support and further training

  • Defining the role of mentors and mentees by offering a frame for how to behave, act and  communicate  will help to create a safe environment

  • A well crafted manual that is accessible before registration helps both sides to understand what they can expect and what they need to take into consideration

COMPETITIVE...? COOPERATIVE ANALYSIS!

CONTENT ANALYSIS

LEE addresses two main groups: Mentees (16-27 years) and Mentors (18+years). 

Mentees

Coming from different ethnic or racial as well as socioeconomic backgrounds, are facing different challenges but that's what they have in common: 

  • They are queer youth and young adults who are keen to develop their full potential; live and express their sexual orientation and gender identity freely and independently

  • They are ages 14 to 30 and belong to Generation Z – the first generation that has grown up with a smartphone to manage all areas of life

SAME GOALS IN DIFFERENT SCENARIOS

Based on extended research sources in the web (and a large amount of empathy), I created assumption personas for mentees:

Personas_-_mentees_–_1.jpg

Mentors

Are more experienced adults and allies from the community who can help the young people with their own experience if the mentees need help in certain areas of life.

PROTO PERSONAS

Based on the survey resulsts we conducted I created proto personas representing LEE's potential mentors:

Personas_-_mentors_–_4.png

UNDERSTANDING THE USER

We ran separate surveys for mentees and mentors at the same time. Both surveys included specific questions for each target group. We included some questions that were supposed to discover overlaps in the needs of mentors and mentees. Our goal was to harmonize these needs to offer a safe and supportive environment for both groups.

MOST IMPORTANT RESEARCH GOALS:

  • What features do mentees feel safe and comfortable to use to communicate with mentors?

  • What features do mentors think is the most effective to communicate with mentees?

  • How often do mentees expect feedback?

  • How much time are mentors able or willing to spend on their mentees?

  • What kind of support do mentors expect from LEE in order to provide good support for mentees?

Results will be shown soon.

RESEARCH GOALS

A great foundation of the first user flows and wireframes was delivered by enthusiastic attendees at the Future of Education Hackathon. 

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​​​​​​​As a next step, I started to draw out a detailed user journey for both sides and turned these paper-based wireframes into digital ones.

Hackathon wireframes_2.jpg

DETAILED USER JOURNEY AND WIREFRAMING

I made both user journey and wireframe together to keep both side's priorities in mind: what data should we provide mentors and mentees after signing up, how they look from both group's point of view. 

LEE - Flow charts.jpg

DIGITAL WIREFRAMES: THIS IS HOW IT LOOKS LIKE

Web 1920 – 1.png

The project is in the testing phase

WIREFRAMING & PROTOTYPING

TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK

LESSONS LEARNED

Gender inclusive design is one important dimension of inclusive design because our design decisions in this area directly impact our users. Designing for all gender identities means acknowledging this and creating experiences that do not discriminate based on gender, in fact, we make sure we design for all of us.

Designing Form: How to ask for gender

Do we need to ask for gender in order to register?

  • Be transparent, explain how the required data will benefit the users. 

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If there is no benefit for users providing the data, simply don't ask!

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The given options should be inclusive

  • Moving away from the "Male/Female" options that refers more accurately to sex than gender.

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Provide inclusive salutation options

  • Mr, Ms, Mrs, Mx, etc.

How to use gender-inclusive language

Don’t assume pronouns that are based entirely on whether the person we talk about is expected to be a man or woman.

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Don’t default to “he or she” or “his or hers”—instead, use the far more inclusive ”they” or “theirs.”

 

It’s easier, it’s faster, and you won’t cause anyone to feel excluded! 

Ask for chosen names

What to do if we need to ask for users' legal name? 

  • We ask what name they want to be used and then use it. 

 

Othar than that, we need to make sure the name we’re using within the product or in marketing materials is actually the name the user wants us to use!

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Some banks and financial corporations like Mastercard are already working on improving the experience of account holders who are not cisgender

Like what you see?

Let's chat.

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