Case Study: Water Heros - Mobile App Design
Role: Product & UX Designer
Timeline: April 2025 – Present
Tools: Figma, Miro (for IA), Google Fonts, Unsplash
Problem
Millions of children in developing regions walk miles daily just to find water often unsafe. The lack of accessible, clean water is not just a health crisis, it’s a barrier to education and safety.
Moodboard
I focused on health, safety, and child-centered empathy. The visual tone was inspired by health-focused and mission-driven products with a clean, warm, and hopeful feel. The themes included, Empowerment, accessibility, trust, simplicity, and playfulness.
Early Concepts: Hand-Drawn Sketches & User Flow
Before jumping into Figma, I started with quick hand-drawn sketches to explore layout ideas, key screens, and overall flow. This low-tech approach helped me focus on structure and logic without getting distracted by colors or UI details.
The sketches captured:
Home screen options like “Find Water” and “Report Issue”
Map interface with water pin markers
Source detail screen with distance, safety info, and directions
I also mapped the user flow from start to finish to ensure the app was intuitive, fast, and safe to use—especially for young users. The primary flow looked like this:
Home → Choose Action → Map View → Select Source → Directions → Confirmation
This step helped me validate screen-to-screen logic and make key decisions early, like minimizing taps and avoiding unnecessary complexity.
By the end of this stage, I had a solid foundation to build digital wireframes with purpose and clarity.
Goal
Design a mobile app that helps children and their caretakers easily locate nearby clean water sources using safe, user-friendly navigation.
Insights
Navigation must be visual and intuitive for young users
Key actions (like finding the nearest clean water source) must be 1–2 taps max
Positive reinforcement and rewards (like badges) can motivate usage
Offline capability is crucial in remote regions
Final Designs
Outcome
The final app concept was presented during my bootcamp’s demo day and received praise for its clarity, empathy, and potential social impact.
Reflections
Designing for children in crisis zones challenged me to strip away fluff and focus on function, trust, and empathy. This project taught me the real-world power of UX when applied to meaningful, human problems.
