Have you ever been uncertain of your rights in a situation where you were confronted by a police officer? It can be difficult to navigate legal circumstances when you are unaware of what an authority is legally allowed to ask of you. Legalswipe recognizes this challenge and believes that quick access to accurate knowledge can serve as a preventative tool that empowers its users to make informed decisions. In collaboration with Humber students and faculty Robert Blain, Legalswipe has created a newly redesigned mobile app that educates its users on their legal rights. With future content featured from the well-respected information firm, Thomas Reuters, Legalswipe has committed to releasing an app that provides the ultimate user experience.
When Legalswipe first launched its app design in 2015, the company received a lot of attention from the legal and social justice communities. However, not uncommon to the beginning stages of most new technologies, the success that they experienced was accompanied by growing pains. User feedback indicated that due to difficulties in navigation, people were not fully enticed to use the app when faced with police. Christien Levien, Co-Founder of Legalswipe, did not hesitate to seek out fresh ideas and perspectives from Robert Blain’s second year Web Design and Interactive Media class to tackle this issue head on.
These Humber students were able to effectively redesign a more dynamic, aesthetically remarkable mobile application. With 11 groups working on unique solutions as part of Humber’s Usability Project, they actually exceeded expectations. While Legalswipe was able to gain brand new insight into the user experience, Humber students were given a great opportunity to enhance their portfolio by competing to have their design selected as the layout for a real, working app.
“The students really assisted us in not only making the app more intuitive, but also a lot more fun to use,” said Christien Levien, Co-Founder of Legalswipe Inc.
Project lead, Robert Blain, was grateful for all the work done by the Applied Research & Innovation department for getting the project up and running. He also commends the owners of Legalswipe for their dedication. Blain acknowledged that they showed up every single week to discover what creative ideas the students had devised.
In addition, the work and expertise of Robert Blain was well recognized. The owners of Legalswipe explained that having Blain as a facilitator was highly productive. His practical knowledge as a designer in the field in combination with his experience as an academic instructor was absolutely crucial to the success of this project. “Coming here working every week with Humber, I was able to see people’s different perspectives and how they could sort of put that on paper and apply it to the mobile application we’re using,” stated Jason Lee, Co-Founder of Legalswipe.
Research team:
Partner: Legalswipe Inc.
Project lead: Robert Blain
Students: Second year Web Design and Interactive Media