Bloom and Learn - HCI Project

Project Overview

Scenario and Context

Our project, Bloom and Learn, is inspired by Sarah, a determined 13-year-old who, like many other girls in her community, faces challenges attending school due to the lack of menstrual hygiene resources. The issue not only disrupts her education but also creates stigma and barriers to her personal growth. Recognizing these struggles, our project aims to connect compassionate donors with school administrators and community leaders to address this pressing need.

Through this platform, we aim to:

• Provide Access to Sanitary Products: Ensuring girls have access to sanitary towels.
• Promote Girls’ Education: Empowering young girls to pursue their education without interruption.
• Foster Community Support: Uniting donors and administrators to facilitate impactful, dignity-driven assistance.

Proposed Solution

Our application bridges the gap between donors, school administrators, and marginalized girls. By leveraging technology, it enables efficient donation management and ensures that girls like Sarah have the resources to remain in school and pursue their dreams.

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Intended Users and Their Goals

1. Donors

   • Goals: Register, manage profiles, and provide donations.
   • Features: Access a dashboard to view and fulfill donation requests.

2. School Administrators and Chiefs

   • Goals: Register marginalized communities, submit donation requests, and manage donation distribution.
   • Features: A management interface to coordinate the distribution of donations to the intended beneficiaries.

3. Young Girls (Beneficiaries)

   • Needs: Regular access to sanitary towels to manage menstrual hygiene.
   • Features: Receive and manage donated resources to support consistent school attendance.

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Prototype Demonstration

Prototype Link

Figma Link: [Bloom and Learn]

Design Considerations

Usability Enhancements

To make our application accessible for a diverse user base, including donors, administrators, and young beneficiaries, we incorporated the following usability principles:

• Color Mode Options: Light and dark modes to support visual comfort.
• Interactive Modules: Large, colorful buttons for easier navigation.
• Language Options: English and Swahili to cater to local communities.

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Evaluation Process and Goals

Evaluation Goals

The primary evaluation goals for our prototype include:

1. Usability Testing: Ensuring ease of use for various user roles, from donors to administrators.
2. Requirement Fulfillment: Verifying that all functional requirements have been implemented.
3. Responsiveness: Guaranteeing smooth performance across devices.
4. Accessibility: Enabling diverse language and regional accessibility to support a broader audience.

Evaluation Techniques

To ensure we achieved our evaluation goals, we conducted the following tests:

• Functional Testing: Validating that all functional elements meet the system’s requirements.
• Usability Testing: Simulating real-world scenarios to confirm that users can effectively accomplish their goals within the system, supporting user satisfaction.

Our prototype, Bloom and Learn, demonstrates the feasibility of our solution, showing that it can achieve our project goals of enhancing education access for marginalized girls.

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Accessibility Considerations

To make our application more inclusive, we designed it with accessibility in mind:

1. Visual Accessibility

   • Color Modes: Implementing light and dark modes for users with light sensitivity.
   • Keyboard Navigation: Supporting users who rely on keyboard-based navigation.

2. Motor Accessibility

   • Keyboard Input Support: Enabling keyboard navigation to aid users with physical disabilities.

3. Cognitive Accessibility

   • Clear Navigation and Layout: Simplifying interfaces to reduce cognitive load, ensuring ease of use for all.

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