Helping a community

Objective
To build an application that lists black-owned businesses.

Background
2020 was a shock to all of us, covid shut the world down. Weekly protests were happening all over North America for the lives of black people against police brutality. The news mentioned that 41% of black-owned businesses shut down due to covid. The number was staggering and I wondered what role could I play to help. Throughout my research process of searching for black-owned businesses, I discovered that that was an issue in itself. It was very difficult to find black businesses, which I knew I could help solve. 

Project Outline
After doing more research by conversing with business owners on social media & creating online polls, I was able to figure out the pain point. People wanted to shop at black owned businesses to support but had difficulty finding the stores.

Process
I interviewed people to find out what the root problem was and began brainstorming on potential solutions. The brainstorming sessions helped me move quickly from wireframes to medium-fidelity mock-ups. I created a logo to help users picture the brand and how this app could potentially help solve the problem at hand.

I would design medium-fidelity wireframes and share them with friends & family to get feedback on what features would benefit them as the users the most. I would gather feedback and reiterate the design to ensure that I kept designing with the users in mind. Once I was comfortable with the direction that the app was taking I moved on to high-fidelity designs where I designed all the screens and was able to create a prototype.

Target
-  Find black-owned businesses
-  Favourite, visit and shop at these businesses
-  Locate the businesses by distance

Sign up page

Discover Black Owned Businesses

Search page

Shop & Support

location page

Find black owned stores near you