At a glance
During my 4th year of Bachelor's of Design, I worked on a classroom project related to women's safety issues in India. This 2-month-long project involved proposing a design concept that acts as a security system for women. I delivered a mobile application accompanied by a wearable band that assists and accompanies them in situations such as sexual harassment. The proposed solution was well-received and has the potential to make a significant impact in addressing women's safety concerns in India.
For this project I authored a research paper titled “A Technology-based Safety Travel Companion for Women” which was accepted for presentation at the prestigious 2023 IEEE International Conference on Contemporary Computing and Communications and recently indexed in the SCOPUS database.
India is arising among the most developing country in the world. It is a dwelling of 662.90 million females from different areas, honouring the country by creating their own identity in society. But unfortunately, India still lacks measures related to women’s safety and is considered the most dangerous country for women. In case of urgency, due to multiple reasons, they are unable to approach government officials and their relatives, thus encounter problems like bullying, misbehaviour and sexual assault.
Design brief
This project studies women’s safety issues and focuses on delivering a security system, which is a mobile application accompanied with a wearable band that assist and accompany them to rescue from situations like sexual harassment. It uses technologies like AI, and NPL to provide immediate help and response. The project primarily emphasises on women aged between 15 to 60 years.
Design methodology
Defining user
Scenario storyboard depicting the problem
Ideation
SWOT Analysis
This describes the strategic planning method that includes evaluating the internal strengths, weaknesses, external opportunities and threats of the proposed product and design decision. It is used to recognize potential competitive recompences, detect the gaps and quickly uncover potential problems that need to be addressed.
Working process of the wearable band
The application accompanied by a watch has a unique feature of releasing a taser, injuring the attacker. The highest maximum voltage release is 90 million volts with a full range of 800m. It is essential to know that the taser is normally not deadly, but it can cause significant danger by distracting and temporarily incapacitating the muscle, preventing attacker from moving. This makes the feature an applicable self-defence tool in spots where physical activity is needed. The image below depicts the working process of the taser (e- shock) feature.
Sketches
The process below begins with my initial ideas wireframes. There were 3 concept sketches created and a formative testing method was conducted with the primary users. The 2nd concept got the maximum rates as it fulfilled the parameters set (Clarity, placement, features, reliability, reachability and aesthetics). Then moving ahead to mockups, and finally to the high-fidelity prototype. In this simple version, you can see how the I approach solves the user needs.
Wireframes & Prototypes
I then brought my idea to an interactive digital medium-fidelity prototype and brought it to five potential users to collect feedback.
Usability Testing
Initially, the concept sketches underwent formative testing, and the final interface was tested using the System Usability Scale (SUS) summative testing method. Lastly, every user (U) was asked to rank each question from 1 to 5 based on how much they agreed with the statement. The questionnaire covers different aspects of design. The SUS score for each participant was calculated and lastly the final SUS score was calculated along with the category it falls under.
The final SUS score was 82.1 which falls under”A” category with “Excellent” adjective rating.
They found the interface to be user-friendly, and a few recommendations provided by them were noted and are being worked on.
Business Canvas Model (BCM)
Based on all the study and research showcased, a Business Canvas Model was created which covers different aspects of proposed design. It identifies the key partner s, resources and activities necessary to deliver the service. It also covers the Value proposition for the primary audience, channels included, customer relationship and financial facets of the business. It enabled to recognize requirements and make planned decisions to effectively deliver the product service.
Conclusion
The increased sex crime rates against women in India are frightening. Women don’t feel safe and secure while travelling alone, especially at night. In case of emergency, due to various reasons, they cannot reach out to their relatives or government officials, thus landing on issues such as sexual assault, misbehaviour, and bullying. This project considers all these challenges to propose a design concept that uses the latest technologies, such as AI, Speech recognition, and NPL for auto-detection, and IoT-based sensors, which can be executed before the problem arises. In a case, where a woman travels in a cab, then cab and driver details will already be shared through the mobile app before the journey starts. It will also track the safest route. It also incorporates a self-defensive tool imbibed in the wearable band to injure the attacker using a ‘Taser’ ( e-shock) and a community platform to address these issues for other women to be aware of. The proposed design was later tested with women from different age ranges.
Future scope
When the application and product go live, it can collaborate with other government and private organisations to get the helpline numbers for easy reach and eventually save the victims at the earliest.
Validation and proper usage of the proposed e- shock feature.