LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness
Resource Locator

Overview
My team and I worked together to leverage True Colors United’s established reputation as a resource for homeless LGBTQIA+ youth to create a tool for affected folks to find accessible resources.
‍
‍Problem
In the United States, 4.2 million youth experience homelessness each year, with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ peers.

‍Hypothesis
Create a system to help locate safe services and resources for homeless queer youth in the community
ROLE
UX Designer
User Research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing
TIMELINE
6 Weeks
PROJECT TYPE
Team
OBJECTIVE
Create a tool for LGBTQ+ youth to find accessible resources

The Process

01
Discover
02
Define
03
Develop
04
Deliver

Discover

The starting point was conducting exploratory research in order to develop insights into the causes of LGBTQ+ youth homelessness and better understand why this has become such a major problem.

Our Findings:

LGBTQ+ youth experience homelessness at higher rates than non-LGBTQ+ youth for a range of reasons. A study of more than 350 runaway and homeless providers throughout the United States identified four top causes of homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth: 
1. Family rejection resulting from sexual orientation or gender identity
2. Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
3. Aging out of the foster care system
4. Financial and emotional neglect
Another study that interviewed LGBTQ+ youth who experienced homelessness found that the path to homelessness was “described as a gradual escalation of the parent-child conflict over time, or a growing sense of rejection in the home...”

User Interviews

Focusing on the #1 reason, family rejection resulting from sexual orientation or gender identity, the next method my team and I used was a series of interviews that were conducted to gain further qualitative data.

This was our interview script:
1. Have you come out to your parents about your sexuality? 
2. How old were you when you first came out to your parents?
3. What was their reaction?
4. How did you feel before coming out to your parents?
5. How did you feel after?
6. Did you have a plan before coming out to your parents? If so, can you briefly explain it? 
7. What would you have done if you had been kicked out as a reaction to coming out?
9. Would you feel comfortable at a shelter? Why or why not?
10. Do you know of any centers/institutions that assist homeless youth? Would you seek help from them?

Results

75%

of parents rejected the participants nervous about coming out

50%

of participants stated they had plans in case of rejection/negative outcome

Zero

None of the participants felt comfortable seeking assistance from a shelter

Zero

None of the participants had any knowledge of available resources but would have sought help from them had they known.

Define

Personas

Using the data collected in the discovery phase, further analysis was conducted to produce valuable insights and understanding of the problem, users, and their needs. We then used insights gathered from our interviews to start developing personas. 

Our first is a young man who has been displaced after being rejected by his family. The next persona is a young individual who aged out of the foster care system. Finally, we wanted to account for the community members who may want to get involved and assist LGBTQ+ youths. The last persona is a social worker who manages a shelter. For these personas we also designed journey maps as they face displacement or interact with those who have become displaced.

Empathy & Journey Mapping

Empathy maps help us better understand the user’s mindset. My team and I utilized this method to articulate what we know about each of our 3 personas. It externalizes user knowledge in order to 1) create a shared understanding, and 2) aid in decision making.

My team and I then used journey maps to understand and address user needs and pain points. We used the visualization of the process that each person goes through in their experience with homelessness. 

Story Boarding

Storytelling is one of my favorite parts of being a ux designer. When done effectively a story captures attention, provides clarity, and inspires teams and stakeholders to take action. My team and I workshopped to create a story for each of our personas and then one of my teammates, who is a WAY better illustrator than me, brought it to life. Shoutout to the very talented designer, Taylor Loredo.

Develop

Storytelling is one of my favorite parts of being a ux designer. When done effectively a story captures attention, provides clarity, and inspires teams and stakeholders to take action. My team and I workshopped to create a story for each of our personas and then one of my teammates, who is a WAY better illustrator than me, brought it to life.

Sketching and Ideation

Due to true colors reputation, they have connections with many different LGBTQ+ organizations. Most of these organizations are willing to help, but accessing their resources can be difficult. Factoring in these connections in addition to our prior research talking to young queer people who have experienced homelessness, my team decided that the most beneficial solution would be a database of resources easily accessible to the public.

Low/Mid Fidelity

True Colors United doesn't have a bad website, but my team and I wanted to bring out it's full potential. We decided to keep most of the information architecture as is. The only thing we changes was adding a resource locator under the resources tab of their existing navigation. All three of our personas followed the same user flow: Home > Resources > Resource locator

User testing

We conducted 2 rounds of user testing with 4 users as we moved our designs from low to mid to high fidelity. Through multiple rounds of testing, we were able to see exactly which parts of our design people found frustrating and/or confusing. Here's what we found:

Insights

1. Users were unsure what things they could search for in resources.
2. Some testers noted that they might feel uncomfortable in a shelter setting.
3. There was no option to filter by type of resource in database.
4. One of our previously houseless testers noted he did not have access to a computer during his time without housing.

Changes made

1. Users were prompted with tags to select from above the resources search as an example.
2. The option to receive help from a pre approved individual was added.
3. A filter was added to select between shelter, individuals, and safe spaces.

Style Guide

True colors United has a very bright and bold color palette. In our redesign, we wanted the brand to still be recognizeable, but we wanted to tone the colors down a little and make and make the color palette more discrete for closeted individuals. We kept the same typography, Montserrat with the addition of Libre Baskerville to pull out important statistics.

Deliver

Deliver

We’ve created a system where nobody is left behind and anyone can help. Want to assist a young LGBTQ+ person dealing with homelessness? Sign up for the Lavender network to become a resource to someone in need. 

The final solution my team and I created is a responsive and dynamic database of resources that meets the user where they are. Users can filter through resources such as a place to stay, someone to help, and safe spaces to meet their individual needs.