SafeAlert

A mobile application that allows schools and organizations to alert their community, communicate and reach safety.

Safe Alert — is a mobile application designed to provide organizations, schools, and communities with a swift, reliable network for alerting members, communicating status, and guiding people to safety during an emergency.

The Challenge: A Path to Safety

During a state of emergency, panic and disorientation are common, especially in high-density settings like schools. Users needed a tool they could trust to deliver efficient guidance and continuous communication with authorities.

The core challenge was framed by two questions:

  • How might we provide a swift network of communication during the state of emergency?

  • How might we provide information that is accessible to all groups of people during an emergency?

My Role & Process

Product Designer | Timeline: 4 weeks | Tools: Figma, Miro

I worked on this project as a product designer along with Paula Barberi a fellow designer, throughout the course of a month.
Key responsibilities included:

  • UX research and analysis

  • UI Design

  • Low/High Fidelity Prototype Development

Card Sorting

Using affinity mapping and Card Sorting on interview data, we synthesized key information from community members (teachers, law enforcement, managers). This process clarified which features were most critical during an emergency, leading to the following priorities:

  • Communication Network: Users prioritized simple, rapid ways to contact family and authorities.

  • Accessible Guidance: A clear need for intuitive instructions (visual cues, not just text) and easy navigation.

  • Role-Specific Utility: The app must be highly useful for both vulnerable groups and leadership roles (teachers, first responders).

This synthesis mandated that our core strategy prioritize efficient, intuitive guidelines over overwhelming users with excess information, directly informing our key application features.

Exploring the Problem

Storyboard Sketches

To visualize the flow, we storyboarded the end-to-end user experience. The narrative highlights the critical path: receiving the initial danger alert, identifying the safest evacuation route via the in-app map, and utilizing communication features to reach a secure area. This visualization was crucial for ensuring the screen sequence remained simple and actionable during peak stress.

User Journey

We mapped the high-stress user journey from Initial Alert to Reaching Safety. The critical pain point was "Confusion and Isolation," defined by a lack of clear instructions and communication. The mandate was to minimize cognitive load using visual guidance and one-tap communication.

Refining the Path to Safety

Our primary objective was testing for usability and immediate ease of use, as the product must function reliably under high stress. We tested a diverse group including teachers, a student, a police officer, a nurse, and a department store manager. Key findings led to the following design iterations:

  • Actionable Alerts: Implemented a single, double-tap alert button to instantly notify the community and authorities, satisfying the need for high-priority, Amber Alert-style warnings.

  • Rapid Communication: Added simplified contact features to allow users to quickly reach family and local authorities simultaneously.

  • Intuitive Guidance: Integrated a dynamic, visual mapping system providing clear, accessible safety routes to counter user disorientation.

  • Trust and Reliability: Established speed and reliability benchmarks against known public safety applications to ensure user trust during an emergency.

Smartphone screen displaying ALERTNOW app with a red and orange siren icon, a red "Get Started" button, and a tagline about feeling safer at school.

Alert and Ready

With the feedback on the usability issues and a user journey for reference, we started designing the final screens in Figma. Using our developed branding guidelines, we completed a high fidelity prototype. These features work to create an intuitive experience that guides users to safety while taking into consideration their high pressured state. Now users have a tool that can keep them and their loved ones safe in precarious situation.

  • Mobile phone screen displaying a login page with a colorful alarm icon, email and password fields, a red login button, and links for forgot password and create account.
  • Mobile app screen showing a user profile for John Doe, a teacher, with a risk alert indicating at risk, safety status, and options for reporting a gunman or other threats, and navigation icons at the bottom.
  • Mobile phone screen displaying alerts with timestamps, a news image of students walking on a school campus, and icons at the bottom for home, contacts, alerts, notifications, and location.
  • A smartphone screen displaying a chat conversation with a person named Jane Doe. The chat includes a text message, a voice message, and a photo of a person holding a gun in a room with wooden floors.
  • Map of Building 5 Main Level with various color-coded locations including a danger area, safe zone, principal, students, faculty, security, and facilities, along with entrances and restroom icons.
  • Smartphone screen displaying an emergency alert with a red circle and exclamation mark, titled "State Of Emergency," with instructions to double tap to alert and hold down for 5 seconds to contact authority. Navigation icons at the bottom include home, contacts, alert, notifications, and map.
  • Smartphone screen displaying settings menu with options for location services, sound preferences, display mode, and account management, with navigation icons at the bottom.

Results and Takeaways

This project confirmed that in a high-pressure scenario, less is fundamentally more. Our focus on streamlining communication and minimizing cognitive load resulted in a high-fidelity prototype that users found highly intuitive and reliable.

Key Takeaways:

  • Design for Urgency: The dynamic map and one-tap alert system successfully addressed the critical need for visual guidance and instantaneous action, which are vital when verbal instructions fail.

  • Iterative Validation: The most crucial element of the process was the willingness of community members (teachers, police) to provide feedback, ensuring the final design met real-world safety requirements and maximized accessibility for all groups.

Designing for emergencies reminded me that usability is only half the challenge — the other half is emotional design. People under stress don’t just need clarity; they need calm. This project helped me refine my approach to simplicity, trust-building, and designing for emotional safety.