Year
2020(mar.-Nov)
Workgroup
naFila | Tech4Covid19
Role
Design Team Lead inside an awesome naFila Team
naFila was a queue management web app created at the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic.
Under the umbrella team of TECH4COVID19 volunteers, naFila team, spreading across Design, Dev, Communication, Q&A and Support, built a queue management system to be implemented on services that had big affluence and needed to control the access because of the COVID -19 virus.
Identifying the services that would benefit from this kind of solution, we then identified different audiences, which generated different user case studies.
We had to work with two distinct types of Users: the consumers and the shop owners.
Supported by printed communication on the services or store, the user-consumer would need to register on the web app for a queue ticket and wait for their turn, without the need to stand in line – naFila comes from this semantic association -, entering the service or store when they get a notification.
What is it + Users
What is naFila webapp?
naFila was a free and temporary queue management web app created at the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic.
Under the umbrella team of TECH4COVID19 volunteers, naFila team, spreading across Design, Dev, Communication, Q&A and Support, built a queue management system to be implemented on services that had big affluence and needed to control the access because of the COVID -19 virus.
naFila (meaning, “on the queue”) is a free virtual password solution that allows you to safely wait to enter essential services such as supermarkets or pharmacies.
Design Problem
Problems to solve
We had a real problem to solve – queue management in a time when everybody was fearful and afraid of contact. And naFila wanted to solve the queue gathering that normally occurs when you wait for your turn to enter a service facility or store.
The design problem was defined as making the process of using the webapp as seamless as possible.
This offered several problems:
- We had different users – tech-savvy and not – that would benefit from this solution, and tech being a barrier was not a solution.
- Older people had more resistance than young people to use a web app.
- Store owners were interested but resistant to this new approach.
- Scalability of the solution for user overload.
naFila WebApp
Design Approach
01 Easy to use
To avoid resistance from the users, we had to make it easy to use. This was achieved by pivoting the initial user flow.
02 Free of Charge
Being a volunteer project, it still had costs involved.
The only way the web app would be implemented would be if it was free of charge for all parts.
We managed to get partners, with the support from Tech4COVID19 main team, to operate the web costs and the SMS operation.
On the design side, we decided to use free illustrations, from Humaaans to convey the look and feel of naFila app.
All the other design work was made by an incredible team of +15 volunteer talented designer.
03 Store Adoption= Sucess
The success of the app would rely heavily on store adoption, and all efforts, design, dev, communication, Q&A and support included, were made to pave the way easier for store owners to adopt the solution.
Store Owner User Flow
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- naFila user flow with Internet and/or cellphone
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- naFila user flow without Internet and/or cellphone
Consumer User Flow
naFila
Ideation & Testing
Along the process, we understood and pivoted on several problems:
- We would need a solution for users that hadn’t smartphones, which converted into a SMS solution to register on the queue. We started testing in a few places and eventually implemented it with both solutions.
- After the MVP was ready, with a major effort from the whole team, we started pitching the solution to potential stores.
- We ended up optimizing the Store user flow that could be operated by anyone on the front end of the store: store manager or security guard, either on a smartphone or on a tablet. This was meant to diminish resistance from the shop owners to adopt the solution.
- On reducing every unnecessary step or action, the resistance of the use of the web app reduced in some audiences.
naFila
Conclusions
The project was a great team effort, with fantastic 9 months of remotely working together with a diverse team divided into 5 teams – Design, Dev, Communication, Q&A and Support -, under the coordination of Nuno Góis.
We partnered with companies that enabled the process and the structure, tested and implemented the solution in some stores.
With last year’s government restrictions lifting and more and more awareness from the Portuguese people, a solution like naFila is now a not-so-urgent solution.
The process was so fulfilling, with a 100% volunteer team, eager and willing to put on the work needed to make the solution work.
The domain we used to host the solution has been acquired and is NOW something totally DIFFERENT.
Beware.
Some naFila on the news
naFila
The Team
Available soon.