CASE STUDY - 2023

ResQ

A Family-Centered Media Literacy Tool

Overview

My Role

I contributed to the overall design process as the design lead and mainly oversaw aspects related to product scoping, wireframes, and hi-fidelity mockups and prototyping.

In addition, I contributed to our secondary research and synthesizing these findings to produce our eventual proposed solution.

Deliverables

Pitch Deck. Pitch Video. One Pager.

Project Scope

4 Designers. 48 hours. Figma

Context & Problem Space:

People are losing their loved ones to misinformation and conspiracy theories.

In our brainstorm session, we opted to tackle educational inequality in the form of media literacy or lack thereof. A lack of media literacy in our American education system has left us ill-equipped with many falling down a treacherous rabbit hole.

One political movement and organization at the forefront of this is QAnon, found mostly within the alt-right sphere of the political spectrum. The problem here lies not with the conspiracy theorists themselves but their family members, distressed and concerned seeing their loved ones almost unrecognizable. Such theories have resulted in families being torn apart, others even resulting in violence and suicide.

How might we...

Support our users and give them the tools and resources needed to talk to their loved ones?

Jump to Solution

Researching the Problem

Confrontations around conspiracy theories only led to more division and discord.

With only a weekend to see this project to completion, we had no time for surveys or interviews, resorting to secondary research.

An illustration of fake news.

Political Distrust

Exposure to fake news and misinformation on social media can undermine democracy by creating a polarized and fragmented public discourse (U of Cambridge)
Illustration of girl sitting on the floor, looking sad.

Poor Mental Health

Exposure to conspiracy theories can lead to feelings of anger and anxiety, negatively impacting mental health (Center for Media Engagement)
A debate between two sides.

Polarized Discourse

Exposure to fake news and misinformation during the 2016 U.S. presidential election led to lower trust in news media and government institutions (UPenn)

Those who had familial ties to those misinformed indirectly suffer; their loved ones continue to fall down the rabbit hole and they lose themselves. Confrontations around the subject matter often led nowhere and only bred more resentment and animosity.

Clarifying Our Users

Media Literacy through a Middleman

While we were ultimately trying to promote media literacy, the nature of the problem was an interesting one.

It would be a tall order to convince conspiracy theorists themselves of their misinformed path. It’s a fair assumption to say most people do not actively seek misinformation intentionally but instead believe what they are told under the guise that it is the truth.

We felt competitors acting in this space were either preaching to the choir or their voices were falling on deaf ears. With confirmation bias in play, we wanted to make sure our users were instead the friends and family members affected indirectly by such misinformation.

Empathy Mapping

Our users were feeling helpless and frustrated.

Competitive Analysis

Our competitors gave us a framework of how we wanted to scale our solution.

Competitors such as Checkology presented themselves as free e-learning platforms, providing educational material and activities to help identify credible information.

However, with our users in mind, we felt compelled to also treat QAnonCasualties as a direct competitor and study how they operated in this space as a support group. There was room for opportunity here; to take QAnonCasualties and scale it into something that could stand on its own.

Why Our Solution Is Better

Family members are the intermediary.

Comparing this to other media literacy organizations like Checkology, we felt like we had a different approach in promoting media literacy. We wanted to equip our users with the knowledge and resources to have more productive conversations with their loved ones. Asking conspiracy theorists to be the ones to engage with and learn this material themselves may put them on the defensive.

Through our users, they act as the intermediary for more healthy dialogue. In comparison to QAnonCasualties, we wanted a resource that was more than just a subreddit community, as helpful as that may be. Something to stand alone on its own and grow into something more.

Proposed Solution

Providing an online resource dedicated to equipping users with the tools necessary to combat against misinformation.

1. A home page segueing into our educational material.

Screenshot of ResQ's Home Page

2. Regularly updated additional resources.

Screenshot of ResQ's Resources page.

3. A curated playbook for productive conversations.

Screenshot of ResQ's Handbook Page.

Addendum

Community Forum

Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the Community page feature we had in mind with the time we were given. But after the event had concluded, I did revisit and put together my interpretation of how I envisioned such a page to function and present itself.

Project Takeaways

What I've learned or could have done better...

This was my first design hackathon and I'm grateful for this short but rewarding 48-hour experience. Having much less time to work with, this blitz was great in learning how to prioritize. Some parts of the process were going to be left out and that's okay.

  1. Learning how to articulate design decisions. Working in teams can be fruitful and synergistic. But sometimes there can be hiccups. This is where a designer earns their salt though. I had a lot of ideas but I had trouble communicating them to my team effectively. What I thought was easy to understand wasn't always the case and I had to learn how to break it down and articulate it in a comprehendible fashion. It taught me a lot about the disconnect between my own vision and what I ended up articulating and the struggle of bridging the two.
  2. Knowing when to lead and when to take a backseat. I think this all comes down to effective teamwork and knowing what the best next step is together. Coming into the team project as strangers, it was fun but also challenging in determining how your teammates like to operate. Playing to their strengths and seeing how I can best make an impact. I think this is something I have to be in touch with for the rest of my career but having a grasp on it early is only going to help.
  3. The next step is the most important step. I think something I struggle with is getting ahead of myself and focusing on problems or solutions that don't need to be handled just yet. Laying down a strong foundation will make those issues easier to deal with in the future. But for now, focus on the present and what's in front of you.