problem
People feel unsafe and a lack of community in their neighborhoods
opportunity
People trust street food vendors and are curious about their backstories. Vendors need more community support.
goal
Design a community crowdfunding tool
Make people feel safer, reward vendors for their role in our city's micro-economies, and help them pay down unfair fines. The high-level goal is to improve social cohesion by leveraging feelings of trust toward food vendors.
research
User interviews
I conducted intercept interviews with over 15 users. Most said that street food vendors made them feel safe, while public safety personnel, CCTV's, and defensive infrastructure made them feel unsafe and suspicious of those around them.
Sandra Clarkson
Public Relations Manager
overview
3 days a week she stops by Marguerite's cart for a tamale on her way home from work.
Hidden Value
She can advocate for vendors on her desired paths through the city, so that others may trust them.
challenges
- She feels vulnerable around strangers who don't look like her friends.
- She feels vulnerable in open public spaces.
- Armed authority figures make her nervous.
App features
Street vendors near you
Vendor story
secondary user
Aggregate persona
Marguerite Mackenson
Street Food Vendor
overview
Marguerite is one of 3,000 food vendors in NYC. She immigrated 20 years ago from Haiti where she studied to be a doctor. She's raised her kids in Brooklyn where she makes and sells tamales.
Hidden Value
She is a predictable presence in public spaces during Sandra's commute to and from work.
challenges
- New York City restricts vending licenses and spaces for her to park her cart.
- She's often at risk committing minor violations, which incur fines that could easily bankrupt her.
- Fines worsen her credit and ability to receive loans to fight fines.
User task
Get monetary help
Get legal help
App features
Share personal story
Share challenges
psychographic segmentation
Mapping
Before thinking about features, I mapped Sandra's experience through the service to better understand her tasks and motivations, which the app would need to accommodate.
user flow
Product discovery
I mapped out a high-level user flow to flesh out key moments from product discovery to the achievement of a goal. This helped me better understand how each user would use the app and why.
