TIMELINE
Feb 2023 – Dec 2024
TEAM
1 Manager/Engineer
5 Designers
SKILLS
User Flow
Information Architecture
UX/UI Design
TYPE
Contract→Part-Time
Making earthquake warnings accessible by streamlining setup flows and booster user completion rates by 40%.
I worked on the end-to-end conceptualization of a feature called Pinned Locations, which simplified and merged two existing features to make earthquake warnings more accessible to users.
I also iteratively improved the set-up flow of Pinned Locations through usability testing, ultimately achieving a 50% decrease in time-on-task and 30%+ improvement in completion rate for the set-up of Pinned Locations.
What are Early Earthquake Warnings?
Early Earthquake Warnings (EEW) are government-issued alerts sent out seconds before shaking begins, based on rapid detection of initial seismic activity.
Even a few seconds' notice can help save lives and minimize damage by allowing people and systems to take protective actions.
MyShake is the ONLY app that can issue these warnings.
Because of this, MyShake is uniquely able to alert and inform people on earthquakes in a way that actually matters. However, many users are unaware of this feature and struggle to set it up.
Users struggled to correctly set-up alerts due to complex nuances and its lack of visibility.
Despite MyShake's alerts and notifications features being its main selling point, many users didn't have them set up.
An initial audit of the existing app shows that these features were tucked away in the settings page and failed to explain its complexities.
Boosting citizen safety to make MyShake accessible to everyone.
Despite MyShake's alerts and notifications features being its main selling point, many users didn't have them set up. This meant that MyShake wasn't promoting this crucial feature well, and that users weren't using the app as intended.
Developer Goals
Remain competitive within the market
Differentiate MyShake to maintain a strong presence
User Goals
Receive timely earthquake alerts
Stay updated on personally relevant seismic activity
Fundamentally, MyShake can issue alerts and notifications.
A crucial feature of MyShake is the ability to receive Early Earthquake Warnings and notifications for a location of the users' interest. I've outlined the distinction below:
Alerts / EEWs
A loud alert before an earthquake hits
Purpose is to warn users
Limited to earthquakes of mag 4.5+
Only available in California (CA), Oregon (OR), or Washington (WA)
Notifications
Notification of earthquake after it hits
Purpose is to inform users
No minimum magnitude
No limitations for location. Available anywhere in the world.
CONTEXT
MyShake separated these into Homebase and Custom Notifications.
Recognizing the distinction between alerts and notifications, MyShake distinguished them into two separate features, Homebase and Custom Earthquake Notifications.
Homebase
Users are able to set ONE location within California, Oregon, or Washington to receive alerts for. The magnitude and radius are fixed.
Custom Notifications
Users are able to receive notifications for any location of their interest. They can customize the radius and magnitude for which they receive notifications for.
But… don't they both ultimately allow users to stay updated on their locations of interest?
Even working on the product, I struggled to understand the differences between Homebase and Custom Earthquake notifications. Users shared the same sentiment.
The confusion stemmed from the fact that they both ultimately allow users to stay updated on earthquakes affecting their locations of interest.
Merging Homebase and Custom Notifications into Pinned Locations for viability and simplicity.
We decided to merge the two features together into an umbrella term and feature: Pinned Locations. Here's why:
Homebase is pointless for most
Because EEWs are only limited to 3 states, it is an obsolete feature for most.
Homebase is limited to 1 location
There is a demand for more than one Homebase to check up on your loved ones.
Viability of Pinned Locations
The concept of Pinned Locations is much easier to understand and can be better integrated throughout the app.
Pinned Locations allow users to receive either alerts or notifications.
When setting up a Pinned Location, given that the location is eligible to receive alerts (i.e. is located within CA, OR, or WA) users can choose to receive either alerts or notifications for that given location.
With personally relevant earthquakes being a top priority for users, Pinned Locations allowed for a seamless integration into the dashboard that prioritized this.
Lean more about this in my other case study ↗︎
Accommodating for their differences in the setup flow.
When considering the setup flow, we needed to accommodate for the differences between alerts and notifications.
In our initial version, we prioritized location selection because it determined the eligibility for receiving an alert, which dictated the rest of the flow.
✓ Why this worked
This flow alleviated the burden on users to understand the location eligibility of alerts, enhancing simplicity.
✗ Why this didn't work
On the back-end, users could only input an address for alerts, and a politically defined region for notifications.
Leaving users to understand the difference between alerts and notifications didn't work.
For version 2, users selected whether or not to receive an alert or notification first. We also removed the ability for users to select the range if they chose to receive notifications to optimize for simplicity.
✓ Why this worked
This solved the previous issue, as the initial choice between notification and alert narrowed down the location selection.
✗ Why this didn't work
Users may select alert, not realizing that their location of interest is not eligible to receive one, creating a sense of restriction.
Adding steps to decrease the complexity of the setup flow.
After numerous rounds of user testing and iterations, users still failed to acknowledge the restrictions of an alert, causing them to backtrack.
Previously, we were so focused on trying to simplify the flow by reducing the number of steps, which actually caused more confusion as users were overloaded with information. Once we realized that breaking down the flow into more steps would simplify the flow, we reached a flow that allowed users to successfully setup Pinned Locations.
✓ Why this worked
This version made the information more digestible to users compared to the previous versions which put the burden on users to understand the distinction between alerts and notifications.
Optimizing for clarity through effective copywriting to distinguish between alerts and notifications.
We iterated on the names for the alerts and notifications, balancing impact and simplicity.
We finally settled on the terms "Critical Alert" and "Informational Notice" as they both were concise while inherently communicating the purpose of each.
Evolution of Alert Name
Homebase (Early Earthquake Warning)
01
Pre-Shaking Alert
02
✓ Critical Alert
03
Evolution of Notification Name
Custom Earthquake Notifications
01
Post-Earthquake Report
02
✓ Informational Notice
03
Designing a fool-proof setup flow for Pinned Locations.
When a user is setting up a Pinned Location, the eligibility to receive an alert is determined by whether or not the location of interest is in California, Oregon, or Washington. Given that it is, users are given the choice to select between receiving a Critical Alert or a Informational Notice. For Critical Alerts, users must input an address, a name for the location (Eg. Home), and they are instructed that the minimum magnitude for which they will receive alerts is set.
Critical Alert Setup Flow
Informational Notice Setup Flow
Pinned Locations help transform MyShake into the best earthquake app in the world.
Pinned Locations was a feature we developed as part of a larger overhaul of MyShake, and our designs are set to launch in late 2025.
Usability testing of the final solution revealed substantial and positive data supporting Pinned Locations and its setup flow.
Reduction in time-on-task for setting up a Pinned Location
Improvement in users successfully setting up a Pinned Location
Understanding the power of design in critical situations.
MyShake has the potential to save lives. I feel so privileged that I was able to work on such an impactful project with such an amazing team. Thank you Suresh, for being a wonderful manager. Thank you to Hosea, Mary, Ian, Bobo, and Laney for being so much fun to work with.
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