Safety Shield
Designed an award-winning incident management mobile app and website for school emergencies.
Role: Lead UX Designer
Timeline: 2019 - Oct 2020
OVERVIEW
Safety Shield is a mobile incident management platform by Intrado, designed to help school administrators and staff prepare for and respond to emergencies with clear plans, checklists, and resources.
As the lead UX designer, I partnered with the PM and PO to drive the mobile experience by:
01 Mapping the information architecture to define key data needs
02 Designing and iterating on mobile flows based on stakeholder input
03 Running usability tests to gather early feedback and validate usability
🏆 App Awards
2021 Edtech Digest Awards: Best Security Solution
2020 Mobile Star Awards: Best Mobile App For Schools
2020 Mobile Star Awards: Innovative Mobile COVID-19 Prevention and Response
2020 Mobile Star Awards: Innovative Mobile Mass Notification Service
2020 American Security Today Awards: "Best COVID-19 Emergency Response Solution" Category - Gold Award Winner
2020 American Security Today Awards: "Best COVID-19 Communications Solution" Category - Gold Award Winner
01 PRIMARY NOUN ANALYSIS
Understanding the data with information architecture
To kick off design for this brand-new app, I conducted a Primary Noun Architecture exercise to map key objects the UI needed to represent. This helped structure the app’s information architecture and shape early wireframes. Sharing the data model with stakeholders and developers clarified MVP priorities and identified opportunities for future feature growth.
02 DESIGN ITERATION
Envisioning the mobile app experience thru low- to high-fi mocks and flows
Following the launch of our MVP web portal, the team prioritized a mobile panic button as part of the Safety Shield ecosystem. I began by researching existing panic button apps to understand intuitive design patterns for high-stress scenarios, and defined key design principles: keep it minimal, distraction-free, quick, and action-confirming.
I mapped key workflows between web and mobile to clarify their roles within the product ecosystem.
From there, I sketched low-fidelity concepts and evolved them through stakeholder feedback into high-fidelity mockups.
When the company underwent a brand refresh, I partnered with marketing to apply updated branding and approved splash screens to the final designs.
03 USER RESEARCH
Conducting usability testing to get early user feedback
As development began on the mobile prototype, I shifted focus back to the Web Portal to support internal users—our customer support team—who would be the first to onboard new customers and configure data.
To ensure a smooth experience, I led a round of usability testing. I created a detailed test plan, collaborated with product stakeholders to define and prioritize core tasks, and conducted remote sessions with three target users and two pilot runs. Findings were documented, shared with the team, and translated into actionable JIRA tickets for development prioritization.
