Falastini
A social justice and learning platform
Overview
Falastini is a social justice platform promoting learning and awareness for Palestine and Palestinians in their ongoing fight to secure their fundamental human rights
Roles
Product Designer
User Research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing
May 2022 - August 2022
Who are they?
Falastin, or Palestine, was once the beautiful home to millions of Palestinians. Palestine was located on the Mediterranean Sea and home to beautiful culture, outstanding cuisine, tenderhearted residents, and miles upon miles of olive trees. Today, Palestinians make up the largest refugee group in the world. 7.2 million Palestinians are displaced and seeking refuge across the globe with almost no option of ever returning. In addition, 4.8 million Palestinians still live in their native land. However, they are subject to military rule instead of civilian law. As a result, they are constantly being oppressed, attacked, and evicted from their homes, leaving them nowhere to go.
Since 1947, Palestinians have been fighting for their rights, yet not much is known about Palestine by the public. Now and then, Palestine is mentioned in the news, however, before people can take the time to learn more about Palestine, global reporting quickly turns to something else, and the public turns their attention to the newest trending topic. Yet, despite the lack of predominance in global reporting, Palestinians continue to struggle.
Why should we care?
The negative representation and lack of proper and unbiased reporting of Middle Eastern people in popular media distort the lived experiences of these communities. This makes it harder for the public to relate and form a connection with Middle Eastern people and their day-to-day struggles.
When the war broke out in Ukraine, several news outlets mentioned the Middle East as a comparison rather than focusing on Ukraine specifically. They said that Ukraine is “different” than the Middle East, Ukraine is “relatively civilized,” “relatively European,” not a “developing third-world nation” like other countries, and for it to happen in Europe is “unthinkable.” This type of biased reporting creates an unfair and inaccurate portrayal that war and death are to be expected in the Middle East and, therefore, not a big deal.
Popular social media platforms such as Instagram, which has approximately 1.21 billion active monthly users, have been accused on multiple occasions of their algorithm censoring pro-Palestinian content. The algorithm either hides the user’s stories to make them receive fewer views or removes the stories entirely and labels them as “harassment.”
This censorship is not only a violation of the user’s freedom of speech, but it also insinuates that it is wrong to support Palestinians.
The strong bias against Palestinians makes it difficult for the public to empathize with their struggle and find accurate information to educate themselves on the current situation.
Problem Statement
Falastini seeks to improve accessibility to accurate and unbiased information about Palestine, charitable organizations, and upcoming events and rallies supporting Palestinians. In doing so, the platform will promote learning and awareness of the culture, heritage, history, and present-day experiences of those directly affected by Palestine's current situation. In addition, the overall platform is digital, easily accessible globally, and fosters a sense of community amongst Palestinians and non-Palestinians.
How?
Falastini’s all-in-one platform promotes four main components to educate and encourage advocacy for Palestinians to secure their fundamental human rights.
Research
By analyzing the competition to understand the market better, I could identify opportunities and critical product solutions that make this platform more competitive.
World Economic Forum
International non-government organization intent on improving the state of the world by shaping global agendas
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHR)
Global refugee agency that raises awareness and money for forcibly displaced communities
Global Giving
Non-profit organization that helps donors connect to vetted charities and organizations
Social Networking Platform
The next step was to identify my target audience. Based on the research on activism on social media, over half of users (54%) that used platforms looking for information about rallies or protests happening in the area were between the ages of 19 and 29. Users under the age of 30 were also more likely to have used a hashtag related to a political or social issue and encouraged others to take action.
However, social activism is only half of Falastini's mission. The other half is education; therefore, the platform is open to users of all ages, religions, and ethnic backgrounds.
I then conducted 12 user interviews. They consisted of 8 women and 4 men between the ages of 19 to 29. The interviewees were split, with half being from the Middle East or Arabic-speaking countries, where Palestine is located, and the other half from non-Arab countries.
Most interviewees had little to no knowledge of Palestine or what is currently happening in Palestine, and not everyone actively kept up with what is happening around the world. However, everyone shared that they were interested in learning. These results show that the interest in learning about Palestine is not solely from those of Middle Eastern origin. On the contrary, it has piqued the curiosity of people from various ethnicities.
Personas
Based on the interviews' results, Falastini comprises two types of users: those who know about Palestine and those who do not. From there, I constructed two personas. First is the Activist. This user type is interested in social justice and takes the time to educate themselves and the others around them. The second is the Learner. While this user is not as active with social justice, they are still open and willing to learn more.
Journey Maps
Next, I took Maryam, the activist persona, and created a journey map highlighting her current journey to find accurate and unbiased information on Palestine. I then created a future journey map highlighting how Falastini would resolve the hardships Maryam currently faces and how much easier her process to find information becomes.
Designing
After completing the research, it was time to begin designing the app. For Falastini to achieve its four core components, I divided the app into four sections: a home/news page, a donations page, an events page, and a chatboard.
After finalizing the flow, the next step was deciding on the interface design. The most important thing to remember is that learning and involvement should be as easy as possible. With that in mind, the UI needed to be simple, straightforward, and have a sense of familiarity so users could quickly get accustomed with little downtime.
Scenario I – Education
As a user, I want easy access to accurate information so I can educate myself and keep up with current information
Task I: Go to the homepage and find the articles recommended for you
Task II: Select an article to read more about it
Task III: Share the article with someone through text message
Scenario II – Support
As a user, I want to donate to vetted charity organizations so I know that my contributions are being used properly
Task I: go to the donations tab and search for Gaza
Task II: Find a project you’re interested in
Task III: Donate $50 to that project
Scenario III – Information
As a user, I want to know when and where upcoming events in my area will be so I can plan ahead and attend
Task I: go to the events tab and search for an upcoming event in Washington D.C.
Task II: Find an event you’re interested in
Task III: Click that you will be attending the event
Scenario IV – Community
As a user, I want be able to connect with other users so I can feel like part of a community
Task I: Go to the chatboard and find search for posts about Gaza
Task II: Find a post that discusses algorithm censoring
Task III: Like the post and leave a comment
As sharing and awareness are two of the main foundations of the app, article links, donation links, and event links take non-users to a web app version of Falastini so they can still learn and participate even without an account.
We have the four components that satisfy the needs of the activist, but the Learner is still missing something. Now the Learner has all the information but doesn't know where to start with it all. Users who create a new account are presented with a series of onboarding questions. These questions will allow the app to learn more about the user and curate articles to help give the user a starting point for their learning journey.
Prototype Walkthrough
Usability Research
I created a usability test using Maze and had 21 testers. The test consisted of 5 tasks to complete along with questions to gauge their experience. Everyone completed all the tasks, with an average success rate of 94% and 100% of users saying they would use the app in real life.
Final Thoughts
Overall I believe the users received the app concept well, which I found through user interviews and usability testing. People are interested and willing to learn about Palestine and not just Arabs. A common misconception is that only Arabs care about what is happening in the Middle East, and my research proved that wrong and showed that the app idea is popular, which was very encouraging.
My next steps would include creating a web app version of Falastini for the non users, a saved section for articles, and a direct messaging feature.
