Overview
Human trafficking, often referred to as "modern slavery", is a major but often misunderstood and under-reported issue in both USA and Canada. In USA, there have been over 22,000 victims in 2024 alone. Majority of government and charity efforts have been focusing on prosecuting the perpetrators and providing little to no long-term support for victims. I have been approached by EVENforONE, an international charity organization to build BridgeONE, a trauma-informed platform that would effectively connect survivors of human trafficking to relevant after-care services.
The Problem
With vast majority of anti human trafficking charities and organizations focusing only on short-term support for the victims, the victims often get left with no ongoing assistance after overcoming extremely traumatic experiences and events. I had an opportunity to assist EVENforONE, international charity organization in building a trauma-informed, secure web-platform that connects survivors of human trafficking with trusted support services.
How might we assist survivors of human trafficking with connecting to safe and relevant support services so that they can rebuild their lives without unnecessary stress and re-traumatization?
The Solution
BridgeONE is a one of a kind, secure and responsive multi-environment platform that connects survivors of human trafficking with social service workers, vetted charity services and programs. All within a safe and trauma-informed environment which builds trust between the victims and organizations that assist them and avoids re-traumatization.
Application Requirements
Working closely with both the charity founder and head developer to learn more about their needs and current progress, I created a list of six main requirements for application design. The big challenge was to adapt the already-built web-app structure and functionality to the new visual design and UX. Notably, human factors and trauma-informed design approach was a huge focus in designing how the application looks and functions.
Multi-Environment Application Map
Unlike standard websites and web applications, BridgeONE is meant to serve multiple user groups and audiences. Thus, it is required to have multiple distinct user environments with different features and tools for each. For general public, the app should showcase what BridgeONE does as an organization. While the clients have a dashboard with tools to share documents, apply to services and interact with service providers.
While the user environment for clients is meant to be simple to make it as easy as possible to navigate and use, the environment for service providers is far more complex with many additional administrative features. Such as connections to other service providers, ability to see client records and specific private information, and ways to effectively communicate with clients and process their applications.
Human Factors & UX Considerations
Due to the sensitive nature of human trafficking as a subject, and the unease with which many survivors confront the subject, it was important to build the application in a way that it feels safe, trustworthy, and comfortable. This meant using specific "safer" vocabulary, avoiding certain imagery and intentionally simplifying certain user flows to avoid client frustration.
Final Solution
Through multiple design iterations, working closely with EVENforONE founder and head developer to align the design solutions with technical constraints and existing platform infrastructure, I was able to deliver a functional prototype by building it in Lovable.Dev AI development application. Delivering a live, functional prototype that was ready for integration into existing BridgeONE infrastructure. This prototype fulfills all requirements of acting as a multi-environment platform that safely connects human trafficking survivors to relevant support services.
Disclaimer: All personal info shown in the following demonstrations is fictional and is used for prototyping purposes only.
First Impression & Quick Registration
Client Dashboard & Service Browsing
One Application Form - No Busywork
Convenient Workspace for Case Workers
Responsive Design for Smartphone Users
Takeaways
While building digital products that deal with sensitive subject matter such as human trafficking, human factors and psychology play a huge role when it comes to both visual design and UX writing. To make sure that all users feel safe and at ease while using the product, even seemingly small things such as vocabulary choices play a role.
