Re-Inventing Gardy:
The Guardian in Your Pocket

Gardy, an SOS app designed to increase public safety, was struggling with low engagement despite a clear market demand. Stepping in as an independent product designer, I partnered with the program manager and developer to uncover the gaps, reimagine the user experience, and transform it into a tool users could truly rely on.

Year
2023 - 2024

Client
Gardy SOS App

Problem Context

In Moldova, where 1 in 5 people report being victims of crime, safety is a pressing concern. Yet, despite this familiar and deeply felt fear, Gardy - an SOS app designed to combat public stranger violence, received surprisingly low reception.

What could explain this disconnect between this very real fear and the underwhelming adoption of a tool specifically designed to address it?

Gardy at Present

Gardy is an SOS app designed to provide immediate assistance and enhance personal safety across the city. Supported by a team of dedicated in-house security personnel, Gardy ensures response times that are faster than traditional emergency services like 911.

  • Key Features:

    • SOS Help Button: Instantly alerts the security team to the user’s exact location during emergencies, ensuring timely intervention.

    • Chaperone Services: Offers users a virtual or physical escort, providing peace of mind and safety during potentially vulnerable situations.

    • Focus on Perceived Safety: Beyond responding to real threats, Gardy is designed to alleviate feelings of vulnerability and enhance the overall sense of security for its users.

However, since Gardy’s launch, it’s seen an incredibly low retention & attrition rate

Plausible reasons:

  • Expectation discrepancy: users’ expectation was not met by the app

  • Low value perception: users didn’t see a need for it apart from rare occurrences

In-depth interviews revealed social factors and low relevance as primary causes

Problem Scope:

How might we redesign Gardy to align with the needs and preferences of its users?

Objective:

  • Enhance the overarching goal of psychological safety for users

  • Enhance the app's relevance, tracked through improved engagement

  • Reduce stigma associated with seeking help, measured by increased usage

  • Enhance the user flow of app to reduce perceived friction

Exploring Gardy’s relevance by identifying what’s unavoidable, under-served, unsolvable & urgent for users

Based on findings from user interviews, competitor analysis and market research

Feature Ideas from Competitor Analysis & Social Listening

Reviewed Quora and Reddit, and 11 safety apps to identify unique feature list

Ways to increase relevance:

  1. Integrating Gardy with cab services & dating apps

  2. Sharing plan schedule before hand to trusted circle

  3. Live updates about possible dangers in the area

  4. Community for people who are new or don’t have family

  5. Target segment could include tourists

Platform Audit

Audit of the current Gardy app to identify user pain-points and frictions in the flow

Insight Summary

Make it Discrete

Enable users to seek safety discreetly, protecting their self-image and social reputation.

Using non-uniformed personnel and positioning the service as a private cab or chauffeur option.

Normalise Safety

Break the stigma that safety is for the weak by normalising seeking help.

By integrating Gardy with popular cab services and dating apps, seeking help becomes a natural part of everyday life.

Find Funding

Secure sponsorships and government funds to subsidize Gardy’s services while ensuring fair pay for gardy team.

Instead of monthly plan, frame it as an annual plan to reduce pain of paying.

After identifying key features and positioning Gardy the right way for users, the next step was to clearly communicate its value proposition. We achieved this through an engaging onboarding tutorial, using animated screens to demonstrate Gardy’s features and functionality effectively

Finalised Value Propositions based on Prioritization Workshop

 Design Intervention

Circle of Safety to
determine Safe Routes

Receive real-time data on the safest routes, including those protected by Gardy personnel.

Discrete assistance through SOS Button

Through a pre-filled comprehensive user profile and live location tracking, the Gardy team will discreetly assist you in any situation

Live Tracking & Updates

Going on a date? Send your plan to your close circle so that someone is always aware of your whereabouts. Track others’ locations without the hassle of worrying about getting a reply.

Other features

  • Making the SOS button discrete

  • Reframing ‘Security’ as ‘Get Escorted’

  • Reframing pricing as ‘insurance plan’

Snippet of Screens

Onboarding Screens

Design Rationale:

  • Used goal gradiency to depict number of steps left to scroll through

  • Each section focuses on explaining product features to increase relevance

  • Use of bold colors, with round shapes and friendly tone to enhance trust and friendliness of the app

  • We also animated the screen to demonstrate how the features works

Other Key Screens

Design Rationale

  • Simplified the screen to show only what’s important to the user

  • Placed SOS button closer to the thumb for accessibility

  • Use of color to demonstrate different states (active or safe)

  • Pop-up only used for additional information

Learning:

Opportunity to work in an in-house product design team: Unlike consultancy work, which typically involves focusing on one project at a time, being part of an in-house design team required managing multiple aspects of the app simultaneously. This setup sometimes made it challenging to isolate the specific impact of individual feature developments.

Cross-collaborating with developers and project managers: This role exposed me to the intricacies of project management tools, the meticulous planning required to approve changes, and the systematic approach to formulating and testing hypotheses before implementation.

Emphasis on testing: Unlike in third-party consultancy settings, where testing opportunities are often limited, I had the privilege of conducting usability tests and analyzing captured data. This experience deepened my understanding of the importance of testing and honed my ability to identify the right metrics to capture user preferences effectively.