When designing the app and its contents, my team first came up with the exact functions of the app and the tools it would provide. While that is a fairly normal approach, we knew the app had to be very simple and direct with its services. This was because we understood that our projected userbase was the Peoria area’s homeless population which had an unpredictable level of experience using mobile apps.
A key part of maintaining the simplicity of the app was heavily utilizing the potential of the nav bar. We wanted users to click on an icon within the nav bar and jump directly to items such as finding food/shelter and schedule an appointment.