This is HAC in Uganda
Mission + Executive Summary
Working with Health Access Connect provides the opportunity for hands-on involvement in a cause in which we all believe. As students, it’s exciting to collaborate with real-world partners and make an impact beyond the classroom. Our broad ranges of majors and academic interests – from computer science to environment and sustainability – facilitate interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration on our team.
The Challenge
Following the path of hear, design, and deliver outlined in lecture and the course readings, our team has been working to collect, translate, and realize the goals of HAC. Keeping the three main goals of HCI mentioned in Human Centered Design Toolkit in mind (desirability, feasibility, and viability), we set out to define our boundaries and limitations before expanding on our ideas (IDEO, 2011). HAC has two very different audiences that must be engaged in tandem. International as well as American partners and/or donors operate under different paradigms than communities in Uganda and other African nations. Kevin Gibbons explains how US media and donors being more interested in the individual rather than the group. By listening to Kevin’s interest in highlighting the work the non-profit does over his own success and being aware of this societal boundary present in US donors, we can adjust our storytelling lens more productively. We can use this desirability for individuality but twist it so that we’re highlighting a community member in Uganda who has been empowered by HAC to increase medical accessibility.
Meet the Team
Studio Lab
rachel vanderven
Rachel is a sophomore in CALS studying Environment & Sustainability with a concentration in Policy & Governance, as well as Information Science with a concentration in UX Design.
She is interested in how access to media interrelates with self expression and connection to climate change issues; how marginalized groups can utilize media to increase access to resources.
In HAC, Rachel worked as a multi-media member of the class guild, helping to create cohesive deliverables that combined art, tech, and narrative ideation.
lane fitzsimmons
Lane is a senior graduating with majors in Biological Sciences and Information Science.
As the writer for our team, she effectively verbalized HAC’s mission for a diverse audience of donors and interested parties.
basim hussain
Basim is a sophomore College Scholar focusing on Community Organizing Against Colonialism and minoring in American Studies and Music.
He is interested in how groups impacted by colonialism can heal from trauma and win their autonomy through community based programs.
Basim worked as a producer for our group, organizing our skills and helping us work as a team effectively.
natalie kalitsi
Natalie is a senior majoring in Information Science and French with a minor in Computer Science. She is interested in applying design concepts to explore creative ways to tell important stories.
Natalie brought a lot of fundraising experience to our group. Her work on the donor packet for HAC was exceptional, as well as her leadership through many legs of the semester.
bringing perspectives together
What biases do we have as college students in America?
How are donors/audiences different in Western countries vs in Uganda?
i.e., individualistic vs community-driven storytelling
Project Deliverables
Transmedia Project Cascade
General explanation of design thinking mechanisms
Deliverable Thinking Breakdown: Applications of CAT, UX, DT, Strategic Storytelling, and Thought Action Figures on each of deliverables
UX
Impact on user
- Are communities in Uganda engaged by this material?what about donors or interested people in the US?Information architecture
Structure of our storytelling, scripts, etc.Information design
What template should we use to communicate this information?
CAT
Conceptual
What are the contents of our deliverables?
What are the narratives we want to convey to stakeholders?
Aesthetic
How can we make the “look” of the donor packet persuasive? or the video informative?
Technical
What tools/skills do we need to create our deliverables?
Storyboarding
A matter of reframing
Using the feedback we received from Kevin and Mercy, we were able to settle on a clearer story and message for the video, reframing the project from a more information-focused video to one that still told the story of HAC but also employed some pathos through the narrative of a pregnant woman receiving prenatal care. The vague idea of an “informational video” that began our media cascade had now become a visualized storyboard through the prototyping process.
“Progress isn’t always linear, we are CONSTANTLY reframing & checking in with ourselves and our partners”
HAC INFO 4940 Team
This second iteration of the storyboard shows a more patient-centric narrative. We were able to move more in this direction after meeting with Kevin and gaining a better understanding of HAC’s goals.
Refocusing the Video
Whose story are we telling?
Initially, we wanted to focus primarily on the importance of medicycles, but then by reframing, we were able to step back and write a narrative around this topic. Kevin reminded us to emphasize the people that HAC benefits most.
- START with the user journey – trying to improve service for a person is more compelling. The motorcycle is just a means to an end.
- Be more patient-centric. For example, transportation to a child check up costs $8. So, a child doesn’t get immunized.
- Make a wire frame on a design frame (like this in canva), then put one or two people in comic life.
Narrative Storytelling
[Mother]
I’m so excited to be a mother – I want to do everything I can to make sure my baby is healthy
[Narrator]
She knows how important prenatal care is, but like most Ugandans, lives in a rural, medically underserved community. The three miles to the nearest health center stand in the way of her child dying of preventable causes during childbirth.
[Driver]
Health services are provided at health facilities that are far from where people live, so HAC connects remote communities to healthcare.
HAC microfinanced my motorcycle taxi – the loan provided an opportunity for me to increase my income while providing a service to the community.
[Narrator]
HAC collaborates with communities to set up a small contribution so that they can lead and sustain the outreaches for a fraction of the cost of what each patient would pay to travel to the nearest health facility. All services and medicines are provided for free by government health workers.
[Mother]
Beyond prenatal care, I can continue to use HAC to obtain access to check-ups, immunizations, family planning, and antiretroviral treatments.
[Narrator]
HAC has served over 43,000 patients at over 1,000 access clinics. With your help, we can continue to expand and organize community support for accessible healthcare in Uganda.
**Donate now button**
Donor Packet
“Why Medicycles? Because motorcycles are charismatic!”
Kevin
Closing Reflection
How were our initial goals met/adapted during this process?
Health Access Connect has worked previously with students in Dr. McKenzie’s Design Thinking, Media, and Community class. As a result, Kevin and Mercy had ideas about the types of projects that they were interested in us pursuing. Some of our very first conversations involved material goals for what might be produced. Though it would have been easy to hit the ground running with these ideas, doing so without first fully understanding the structure and mission of the organization would have neglected a crucial part of Transmedia design. This hesitation is consistent with Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle Theory, emphasizing the importance of establishing the “why” before jumping into the “what.” (Sinek, 2019)
Consistently, our goal setting for the semester relied substantially on our detailed understanding of the Health Access Connect organization, their previous efforts and design challenges. Additionally, our goals were further shaped by UX and CAT analyses. Included in these discussions were prioritizing which potential projects would most effectively address design challenges, and which forms of media would best convey the intended messages.
Thank you
Being able to work with Kevin, Mercy, and other key individuals at HAC was a privilege that none of us take for granted. This class offered us an invaluable opportunity to learn about real-world applications of UX and CAT thinking through a meaningful lens. Perhaps the most important aspect of our team dynamic was the fact that we were all so interested in HAC and believed in their mission. The work that HAC does in Uganda is nothing short of extraordinary and we are so appreciative for the chance to participate even a small amount in this project.
Additionally, we would like to extend our gratitude to our amazing professor, Jon McKenzie, for his guidance and enthusiasm this semester. His energy and expertise on the different ways media can be approached and utilized has expanded our horizons in ways we couldn’t have foreseen. Moving forward, this course will be a highlight of our undergraduate time here at Cornell.
Finally, none of what we accomplished this semester would have been possible without the constructive comments and support from our peers. The environment in class was extremely kind, fostering creativity and risk-taking that enabled us to put our best foot forward. Every group in this class has been pursuing really impressive goals and that has pushed us to do the same.
Looking to the Future
We wholeheartedly hope that the work we’ve done this semester helps to propel the storytelling power of HAC forward. The deliverables we’ve prepared have been set up so that other projects can use them as a foundation in the future.