Combating Housing Discrimination With Guerrilla Usability
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (HUD FHEO) wanted to expand their mobile reach and improve digital interactions with citizens. FHEO, HP, and Idea (now Astadia) identified a starting place in one of FHEO’s most important forms: the housing discrimination complaint form. I led the effort to create a native iOS app for the form.
Approach
I began by interviewing client stakeholders to get a better idea of how citizens report housing discrimination. I also learned how the housing discrimination process works and where the new app would fit in the process.
Next, I created a low-fidelity wireframe to illustrate the translation of the form from desktop web form to mobile app. Even though making significant changes to the form was out of scope for this initial release, I was still able to break the form up into easier-to-consume sections for the mobile experience. Working from the wireframes, I collaborated with a visual designer to improve the look and feel of the app and apply the HUD FHEO branding.
My guerrilla mobile usability testing setup in action at Starbucks.
With the app designed, I created a tappable prototype using Axure. The prototype worked in full screen on the iPhone, simulating the experience a user would have with the final software. I tested this prototype using a guerrilla mobile usability approach, intercepting participants at a local Starbucks. Testing went well and I made several key findings that influenced the final design.
Finally, I collaborated with a developer to build the actual app for iOS.
Impact
The HUD Fair Housing Complaint Assistant launched in early 2013 to acclaim throughout the Department of Housing and Urban Development and HP. As Marilyn Crouther, senior vice president and general manager, U.S. Public Sector, HP Enterprise Services noted in the launch press release, the app, "achieves operational goals of HUD - from concept to deployment – while more effectively addressing discrimination complaints. The mobile app simplifies and increases access to government services for people.”
