Setting

I joined the Design for San Diego (D4SD) Design Jam in order to collaborate and design solutions for the biggest problems facing the San Diego Community. With the COVID-19 Pandemic occurring in the world, my team (Mona Powell, Lillian Nguyen) and I decided to try and tackle the isolation that has occurred due to social distancing measures. We wanted to build something that would help people connect during this time and beyond.

My teammate Mona had experience in expertise in organizing volunteering events. During COVID-19 she organized a virtual tutoring program where college students could offer tutoring services to children at Title 1 schools. This served as our inspiration to design a virtual microvolunteering platform that could be used to let people volunteer and connect to each other from the comfort and safety of their homes. We called this platform Helpr.

Problem

During the pandemic everything was shut down and all forms of physical social contact were discouraged. Social distancing became the norm and upended a lot of people’s routines and ways of life. One aspect of life that is so important for both volunteers and those receiving help is the many volunteer programs throughout the city. With social distancing people were prevented from giving help in the way that had previously done so, and those in need could not receive help. There were easy ways to donate money online, but the personal connection of helping someone in need was not a reality.

Solution

Our solution is a virtual microvolunteering platform that connects those in need to those who want to volunteer their time.

• It makes it easy for anyone to find areas to volunteer and to request help.

• Control is in the hands of individuals who want to volunteer, and individuals who sign up to receive services.

• Sign up and required forms/training can be streamlined for both volunteers, volunteer organizers, and recipients.

Wireframes

In order to demonstrate what our app could do, we developed and shared some wireframes of what the app might look like. These were made to illustrate the sign up process for a virtual volunteering event. These can be seen below.

Presentation

D4SD 2020 Summit_ Helpr_Slide deck

Conclusion

The D4SD Summit was an amazing opportunity to connect with brilliant designers, experts, and people who want to make a difference. I had a lot of fun and think we came up with a really cool solution in the few weeks that I participated. I am happy to say that our idea attracted a lot of attention and I am continuing my work on this to make it a reality!

All credit for the amazing poster and slide designs goes to my wonderful teammate Lillian Nguyen!