Spher: creating safer cities for women
Designed location-sharing and chat features to boost real-time connection for women when walking alone at night. Elevated the app’s UI to showcase value and attract new investor funding.
Project overview
About Spher
A Swedish start-up Spher which has been slowly evolving since 2019 is on a mission to make safer cities for women a reality.
The Spher app will launch in 2022.
Spher starter with a problem
According to the statistics, 81% of women feel unsafe while walking alone, often due to having experienced harassment.
I am not surprised. Nearly every woman I spoke to shared the same behaviour—keys between fingers, removing earphones and being hyper-aware after dark.
Business impact
My role
Led end-to-end UX/UI design of location-sharing and chat features, leading co-creation workshops and user interviews, and adapting the design with Material and iOS libraries for a native feel.
Team
Product designer (1): Myself, Developers (2), CEO/PM (2)
Project type
Mobile application, Flutter, Material design
Duration
January – October, 2022
Elevated the app’s UI to showcase product value, strengthening investor confidence and contributing to successful funding efforts.
Initial problem validation
Individuals aged 16-34 who have experienced harrassment in the past
Individuals aged 16-34 who have felt very or fairly unsafe when walking alone after dark
Business goals
New users
Win 1000 new users per week since app launch in September, 2022.
Returning users
Empowering women through togetherness - more motivation to keep using the app.
New partners
Acquire 10 new partners (bars/clubs/taxis) that would collaborate with Spher
Challenges
Limited time
Having attracted the first investor it was important to deliver the project by the agreed date.
Limited budget
Due to limited budget not all features can be implemented in version 1.0
Data privacy
Compliance to data privacy standards and security of users should be ensured.
Solution & future strategy
Spher’s long-term goal is to tackle public safety more holistically. But given current constraints, Version 1.0 focuses on empowering women through togetherness — offering quick access to help from trusted contacts when walking alone.
Location sharing
Map - Home Screen
Destination input option
Visibility of who is tracking you
Automated check-ins
Push notifications when friends get home
Location/Destination visibility
Chats
Quick message for better accessibility
Main chats window
My Spher contact selection
Quick actions within a chat
Accepting location within chat
Sharing location status visibility
What UX methods I used and why?
Method #1: competitive analysis to see where Spher will be heading
The competition has little to NO empowerment aspect
“Safety is your responsibility”
GPS with your circle/Chat
Emergency button
Premium required, evasive
Focus on community resilience
Calling nearby guardians
Guardians training
Patronising content to keep safe
Tackles public safety issue
Mark and report unsafe area
GPS with your Guardian
Path bound, limited features
Method #2: conducted user interviews to cater the final product towards their needs
I lacked understanding in future user pains and needs and I wanted to know:
What is the experience of women when walking alone after dark? Does it differ by country?
What is women’s experience regarding safety in bars, clubs and taxis?
Are there any specific measures that they take to feel safer?
Analyzing findings to inform decisions
5
Women (Europe-based)
70+
Data points
14
Insights
2
Main types of pains
Narrowing down the problems
According to research, women's pains and needs can be categorized into two types:
Related to public safety in the society
Often not taken seriously when telling others about being harassed in public places - it happens too often.
Related to staying safe
Always ask female friends to inform when they arrive back home but sometimes they forget to do so.
When I’m going somewhere new, I would make sure to send the address to my friends or my boyfriend.
- Anonymous woman, NL
Balancing user needs, business goals, and feasibility
Method #3: feature discovery and prioritization workshops
I initiated three workshops with a cross-functional team including developers and the founders.
Workshop 1: Brainstorming features & Voting
Workshop 2: Impact x Effort matrix
Workshop 3: Prioritizing features by importance for users
Finally, we used MOSCOW method to classify all of the features including the ones identified in market analysis.
In the MUST HAVE section we have put the features that enables users to achieve their goals.
Prioritization sessions led us to the conclusion
APP v 1.0
Focus on personal safety problem
How might we give women access to assistance and increase their confidence while walking alone at night?
NEXT VERSION GOAL
Tackling the root problem
How might we enhance public safety while rejecting the practice of excluding women?
Low-fi sketches
Catering towards prioritized features and flows
Validating design decisions
I continuously iterated on the design and made 3 major improvements.
1. Developer's feedback
Developers noted that rendering a live-updating pathway was technically infeasible. That's why I decided to deprioritize this feature and not include it in MVP. This simplified interface and reduced technical complexity.
Saved places instead of path
Path line removed
Destination visible when clicking on a user
One button to share instead of two
Before
Iteration 1
Iteration 1.1
Final
2. Usability testing (Maze)
The goal was evaluate if users can share destinations so contacts are notified upon arrival.
Findings & Iterations:
-
Iteration 1: Destination field was overlooked.
-
Iteration 2: Two main buttons caused confusion.
-
Final: Split the flow into three clear screens–users completed the task faster despite added steps.
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Final
3. Layout simplification
The location sharing screen was cluttered and required scrolling so I introduced a two-tab layout to separate information.
Outcome: Improved clarity and reduced cognitive load.
Location sharing screen
Final location sharing screens
Learnings
Overall this project has taught me the importance of thinking how each element of design would tie together and contribute to the end result benefiting both for the users and business. Also, I was reminded that prioritization of UX methods and constant iterations are crucial for quicker progress.
If I had more time I would...
Explore alternative cases
To increase safety i.e. low battery, limited-time to react, having no guardians to add etc.
Refine chat
Conduct more usability tests to match user needs for quick actions better.
Tackle the root problem
I'd have focused on more empowering features like community building and public safety rating.
What's next?
Of course, this isn't where it all ends. There is still a lot of work for us to improve the product in terms of usability, the visuals and most importantly - the features that would help tackling the root problem regarding safety.
I'm excited to see how Spher develops further!