Design Research
Iterative Prototyping
Adobe Illustrator
Faculty Advisor
James Walker
This was an independent capstone project for the Digital Arts & Media Bridging Disciplines Program at The University of Texas at Austin.
August - December 2017
Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, Texas in August of 2017, forcing tens of thousands of residents to vacate their homes within minutes as the water level rose and destroyed their homes and belongings. Recovery is a hard and long process, and existing online resources around hurricanes focus on how to prepare for an evacuation instead of how to recover after. I created a system that allows an evacuee to quickly collect, organize, and carry essentials in an evacuation, easing their post-hurricane recovery.
Research & Empathy
I interviewed ten evacuees to learn about their experience with Hurricane Harvey. Their biggest pain point was how stressful, frustrating, and overwhelming the recovery process was. I saw that biggest hurdles in receiving aid stems from the pre-hurricane planning and evacuations phases. Residents struggled to find accurate and relevant evacuation & preparation information and document and simplify their belongings, especially in a quick evacuation.
Concept Generation, Prototyping, Testing, and Iteration
My research showed that a solution had to contain recovery necessities, be quick to pack & easy to carry, and be weather-proof.
My next step was to understand what items would be critical for recovery and which form would be the quickest to access in an emergency and easiest to store for evacuation.
I made a minimum viable prototype to test the interaction of the pack with users and learned about the quantity of documents and pocket sizes. I also validated the fold, roll, and carry mechanism used to close the pack.
Initial prototypes
Prototype for testing
Final concept layout
Solution & Next Steps
The final design is a pack that’s folded and rolled to carry with 3 main categories of documentation: home, personal, and financial.
The next step is to create a functional prototype and test to determine the best closure method for the pack. I also want to explore how to pair this product with a digital platform for accurate and relevant information on the evacuation and recovery process.
Final prototype