Considering people’s context
Steps and checklists
The stress and lack of sleep from going through a disaster situation can limit cognitive abilities. This consideration should be reflected in the way we design tools. Organizing content through clear steps or checklists makes it more accessible.
Examples
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Four steps
Using steps as the main structure of the UI made the content more digestible and easy to navigate. It created a progress dashboard to make evacuation more manageable.
Checklists
People we researched were making mental checklists and relying on their memory, which was often failing them. Checklists act as an active tool to track progress and ensure everything is covered.
Supporting research
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People need checklists, particularly in times of stress
“The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely, or reliably.”
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right Atul Gawande
People forget things and make mistakes
"Since there was already a fire burning in another part of the county, I made a mental note about what I would take if we needed to leave in a hurry. So, when the time came to go, I had a plan. We did find ourselves rather unprepared for the 5 days we were under mandatory evacuation and could not return to our home.
The most glaring omissions from our evacuation were clothes, personal care products and kid food. After our middle-of-the-night evacuation, we made up ‘GO BAGS’ which could easily be grabbed on the way out."
Lori C. on July 6, 2016 in Health and Fitness, Mom life, Parenting, Parenting
