Community building in Meadow
As part of my Master's Program in Interaction Design and Information Architecture, I worked with the Market Center Merchants Association and Bromo Arts District in conjunction with the Design for Distancing initiative. They developed The Meadow, a temporary civic design to encourage responsible social interaction that draws attention to the Downtown/Seton Hill neighborhood area.
We proposed designing a platform to facilitate in-person and remote interaction centered on The Meadow during the pandemic. This experience would provide flexible social tools to allow visitors to plan their trips and businesses and artists to use the site as a platform for interacting and promoting their work with potential patrons. The hope is that this tool would, in many ways, augment existing physical and communal relationships in the park and the surrounding neighborhood by serving as a “front page” for everyone.
Meet OUR USERS
Among our key user groups, young professionals were selected because they represent Baltimore’s largest digitally engaged demographic. They crave immediate, flexible communication and are passionate about driving meaningful social change, making them ideal for a community-focused digital platform like The Meadow.
User Analysis
Multi-device users with a range of tech literacy.
Want to find information quickly on the go.
Prefer not to download apps.
Wary of tools that require the personal. information.
Community-oriented, trust the recommendations of friends and family.
Profile
20-something
Baltimore resident
Lives alone
Loves going out
David's Motivations
Just got a job after being unemployed for 10 months
Wants to celebrate with friends and family
David's Challenges
Indoor venues are closed or unsafe
Outdoor areas are unpredictably crowded and don't offer entertainment
Prototypes
Goals for the Initial Prototype
Serve as a neighborhood landing page.
Facilitate in-person and remote interaction.
Features
Create An Event task flow
In The Community recommendations feature
Virtual Meadow hangout space
Account-locked features
Testing Tools
Paper prototype: each of our three group members found two to three participants who offered to review our prototype and provide us with feedback during their review. To comply with social distancing guidelines, all studies were completed on Zoom, using a prototype uploaded to Google Slides.
Technical prototype: testing was conducted on User Testing for over one week. Participants were recruited based on the same criteria we defined for our user groups in the paper prototype testing process.
INITIAL PROTOTYPE
FINDINGS
Technical PROTOTYPE
FINDINGS
recommendations
Mobile First Design
Home page, search filters and reservation feature should all be usable on smaller devices.
Lower barriers to socialize responsibility
Drop-pin and reserving a spot in the park should have lightweight, minimal task flow and short forms for each use.
Integrate Familiar Digital Tools
Promote live stream events on other popular platforms to encourage remote discovery
Develop Community Features Slowly
Use ambassadors from the neighborhood and businesses to make community recommendations.
FINAL PROTOTYPE
TASKS USED FOR
THE FINAL TESTING
You want to find an event or activity to attend outdoors with your friends to comply with social distancing. Using The Meadow, find an upcoming event and reserve a spot in the park for your group:
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Find an event to attend at the park ( use December 2nd).
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Reserve a spot in the picnic area for your group of 4 to enjoy the event.
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Share your reservation with your group chat.
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Return to the homepage.