Yazidi Legal Network

Yazidi Legal Network

Yazidi Legal Network

Designing for Justice

Designing for Justice

Designing for Justice

A mockup for a Macbook placed on a table with the Health Canada website open

PROJECT SUMMARY

Justice for the Êzîdî : Targeted by ISIS in 2014
Justice for the Êzîdî : Targeted by ISIS in 2014
Justice for the Êzîdî : Targeted by ISIS in 2014

Bringing about justic requires evidence. Evidence requires sources. And for years, the people at Yazidi Legal Network doing this work couldn't effectively find what they needed. Not because the information didn't exist. Because it was locked in a single Google spreadsheet, accessible to a handful of insiders, impossible to search in any meaningful way. The Yazidi Legal Network had built something important. They just had no way to open it to the world. They needed a proof-of-concept compelling enough to walk into a boardroom with and say: this is what it could be, and here's who it serves. That's where I came in.

Client:

Yazidi Legal Network

Timeline:

7 months · 2 phases · 2022

My Role:

UX Designer & Researcher

SCALE OF THE PROJECT

2014

ISIS genocide against the Êzîdî people, recognized by the UN

3

Very different user types in focus

22+

Categories of information locked in a Google Sheet

15

Participants: users and SMEs

METHODOLOGY

Three users. Three definitions of the same word.
Three users. Three definitions of the same word.
Three users. Three definitions of the same word.
We interviewed 15 participants across user groups and subject-matter expert categories. Each came to the bibliography for different reasons, with different urgencies, and completely different expectations of what a search should return.

We interviewed 15 participants across user groups and subject-matter expert categories. Each came to the bibliography for different reasons, with different urgencies, and completely different expectations of what a search should return.

01. Lawyer

Search means reconstructing an event — linking location, date, perpetrator, and crime type into a chain of evidence. Irrelevant results aren't friction. They're a liability to the case.

"It is not important to know where the information is, but to know where and how to find it."

02. Academic Researcher

Search means following a thread — tracing how understanding of an event has evolved across sources over time. She needs depth, credibility, and the ability to organise what she finds into her research.

"I'm frustrated if I'm not able to find the right information."

03. Humanitarian

Search means getting the gist, fast. She needs high-level summaries she can walk into a funding meeting with. She doesn't have time to evaluate sources — she needs that work done for her.

"I want to be able to sell impact. Research is the fuel."

KEY FINDINGS

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WHAT WE REDESIGNED

One interface. Multiple entry points.
One interface. Multiple entry points.
One interface. Multiple entry points.
The solution was progressive disclosure... an interface that presents as simply as possible on the surface, but reveals exactly the right depth depending on who's using it. Three users could use this tool and each feel it was built for them specifically.

The solution was progressive disclosure... an interface that presents as simply as possible on the surface, but reveals exactly the right depth depending on who's using it. Three users could use this tool and each feel it was built for them specifically.

THE RESULTS

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS