Giiive

Initial Ideation Mind Map
Interview Responses & Synthesis
User Personas
"The Leap" Focus Points
User Flow
Branding Processes

Problem

As students living in a densely-populated city, we coexist with people from many walks of life, including those experiencing homelessness. This issue is especially prevalent near the University of Washington campus, and we pass by many homeless individuals in our daily routines. As we come from backgrounds with little exposure to such experiences, we had to educate ourselves on the housing crisis as we assimilated into the culture here. We, and many of our friends, would help them if we could, but we lack the means to do so without risking personal safety. And, without hearing their stories, it is hard to break free from our biases and cultural stereotypes.

Giiive tackles the problem of stigma surrounding homelessness in the city. According to user research survey responses from 12 participants, stigma is the primary barrier that prevents them from diving beyond a surface-level interest and understanding of the situation.

Solution

Giiive aims to solve the problem by encouraging passersby to connect and empathize with their local homeless population by hearing their individual stories. By presenting the community through a human-centered approach rather than statistics, we aim to reduce stigma and encourage the user to engage with an accessible solution. Though we acknowledge that donations are short-term solutions, we hope that, by providing small starting steps, we can pique the user’s interest in contributing to long-term, systemic change. To aid them in their journey, we provide links to additional educational resources. We hope users will walk away from the experience feeling educated, compassionate, open-minded, and philanthropic.