AMERICAN RED CROSS

I was hired by the American Red Cross to rebrand and streamline communication for their new Disaster Relief program, RC Care.

In doing so, I planned and executed research with over 10 RC members, from volunteers to upper management. Ultimately, I was able to condense over 100-page documents into a single visual artifact, automate workflows for doctrine creation, and deliver a modern aesthetic to RC Care.

Impact:

Condensed +200 pages of doctrine documents into 1 visual artifact
Reduced volunteer onboarding time by 60%
Output documents are currently in use by +2000 volunteers nation-wide

Role - UX, UI
Year - 2020

Client - American Red Cross

BACKGROUND

In 2020, the Red Cross Disaster Relief program went through an exciting redesign, shifting from a disaster-centered flow to a case-centered approach.Very literally, they were shifting to a human-center model.

This new program was called RC Care.

"RC Care centralizes data into one seamless, user-friendly platform. This important new tool allows everyone who needs help after disasters and every military family who turns to us in a crisis, enabling the Red Cross to leverage the full resources of the organization to more quickly understand and meet the dynamic needs of our clients"

THE SOLUTION(S)

1. Branding Exercise

We Care - I came up with the word-play between the program name (RC care) and their ultima goal (to care).

Elipses - RC Care is a continuous recovery program. I introduced the elipses as a metaphor for the pathway to recovery.

Imagery - the Red Cross has an amazing image bank. I chose to leverage images that featured people and communicated hope.

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NEW POV

Transforming the doctrine documents into active tools for volunteers on-the-go

(further supported by a well-designed brand)

THE CHALLENGE

I was hired by the Red Cross only to perform a branding exercise for their new disaster relief program: RC Care

However, almost immediately I realized that the challenges in communication within the Red Cross spanned far beyond what a visual redesign could address. With that, I put my UX researcher hat on and worked towards identifying and addressing the bottlenecks in communication between the field and HQ.

For this project, I collaborated with RC volunteers and employees in all hierarchical levels -- from field to leadership -- in order to understand their needs, wants and limitations.

I designed this org chart to show where the new program fits in Red Cross and how communication goes from HQ to the field. Sufice to say that the process was flawed.

The Doctrine Documents as I found them. All the protocols fieldworkers would ever need were in these documents. In addition to the obvious lack of allure, fieldworkers often needed answers within these documents mid-disaster response, when stress was high and answers needed to come fast.

THE SOLUTION(S)

Automated Doctrine Documents

In all of my work, I strive to create deliverables that are sustainable. In this case, being sustainable meant designing all documents so that RC volunteers could update and edit using basic Microsoft tools.

With that, I created a Microsoft Word template with the new brand. I automated the template and added open fields in order to reduce input mistakes and track all updates done to the document.

Using an automated template, I managed to:

Simplify the doctrine editing process
Improve readability and (consequently) adoption of doctrinal content
Improve volunteer outcomes
Improve Client Outcomes

Transforming hundreds of pages into a visually compelling map

- Actionable

- Clear for all literacy levels

- Easy to edit on Word

THE SOLUTION(S)

2. Doctrine Documents as a Map

Hours of research ultimately culminated on the artifact below: the RC Care map.

This diagram 1. provides stakeholders with key information at-a-glance 2. reduces illiteracy barriers 3. makes explicit the value of this new tool for the best client outcomes

Research tidbits that inspired this deliverable:

"I never know who I need to refer the case to"

"It's hard to know where the client is in the process, and the types of assistance they have already received. In the end, clients often receive less assistance than they could."