Philly Truce - Phase 4

Project Overview & Background:

Philly Truce is a non-profit organization with a focus on community safety and violence intervention. Philly Truce operates multi-faceted violence reducing programs like Peace Patrol and Safe Path Monitors through which volunteers actively patrol community streets and neighborhoods to observe and mitigate incidents of violence. As Philly Truce expands its initiatives, the incidents encountered have become increasingly difficult.

Philly Truce aims to develop a digital platform that allows Safe Path Monitors and Peace Patrol to better document and manage incidents they encounter. The creation of this platform would allow Philly Truce to more effectively manage incidents, improve the deployment of Safe Path personnel, and better engage community members in helping curb violence in and around Philadelphia neighborhoods, improving the overall effectiveness of its violence reduction programs.

Time: December 2024- February 2025

Role: UX Writer & Content Designer (on team of 4)

Tools: Figma, FigJam, Google Meet, Notion

Project Summary

In this phase, the content team created the first version of a writing style guide, worked with Development to implement the chatbot, and worked with the mobile and desktop design teams to iterate on current designs.

Project Objective

Create cohesive language across the desktop admin app and the mobile Peace Patrol Officer app. Ensure consistency in language across mobile screens.

Sprint 1- Updating the Phase 3 Chatbot

Implementing Phase 3 Research Findings

Based on the research findings from Phase 3 testing, the following changes were made to the Chatbot:

  • Added messaging about calling 911 if the user feels the situation is an emergency

  • Added empathetic messaging and wording throughout the chat conversation

  • Changed reply options from 1’s and 2’s to YES, NO, and UNSURE/IDK

  • Added an option to connect to Peace Patrol at the end of conversation flow

  • Moved location question to earlier in the conversation flow

Changes Before & After

Below are some examples of the changes then team made to the Chatbot this sprint. The image on the left is the old Chatbot, and the one on the right is the newest version.

Changing reply options from “1” or “2” to a more simplified YES, NO, or UNSURE response.

Added messaging about dialing 911 if the user feels the situation is an emergency, as well as adding touches of empathy to put the user at ease.

Before we had very little empathetic messaging. The left shows going straight into asking questions after a user tells the chatbot they just witnessed a fight. Whereas the screenshot on the right has a message saying “sorry you had to see that” before continuing onto questions.

Sprint 2- UX Writing Style Guide

Research

Each member of the team researched content style guides. This included looking at what notable companies included in their style guides, as well as researching other key information.

Team Brainstorm

The team then brain stormed on what style guidelines to include in the Philly Truce Style Guide. Each member of the team put down their individual ideas and and discussed and voted on ideas to include.

Sprint 3- Style Guide V1

Creating Version 1 of the Style Guide

After researching and brainstorming elements, the team worked together to create the first ever version of a UX writing style guide to be used across the Philly Truce project. Each member worked on a different section of the style guide.

The UX style guide aims to create consistent, cohesive language across Philly Truce’s desktop admin app and mobile Peace Patrol Officer app. This document is also a work in progress and is to be continuously updated.

Key sections included: Tone, Grammar, UI Microcopy, Punctuation

View Style Guide Here

Sprint 4- Review Content & Prep for Handoff

Content Review

The start of Sprint 4 saw the team reviewing screens and prototypes from the Desktop and Mobile Design Teams. This included making sure key design frames adhered to the newly placed style guide.

Revisions mostly included:

  • Grammar

  • Punctuation

  • Tone & Voice

  • Formatting 

  • Dialog language

In-App Content

The team also interviewed a veteran Peace Patrol member to help write up content to be included in the app Peace Patrol members use. The team wrote and reformatted the guidelines into an order that made sense.

This will be placed in the app for users to access while on their routes or when needed.

Guidelines Here

Reflection

  • It was quite exciting to get to create a writing style guide. With my marketing background, I have worked quite extensively with style guides but I have never made one myself. It was very informational to get to research and then create one with the team..

  • As always clear communication is key! the UXW team is one of the smallest teams so it is easy to connect as needed. I think our contact communication was the key to the success of the team this Phase.

Next Steps in Phase 5

  • Continue to review and update the style guide as necessary.

  • Share the style guide with all teams.

  • Create an onboarding plan and content for new Philly Truce team members. This is to aid new members as they join new phases for the project.

  • Review the heuristic evaluation of the chatbot from the Mobile Research Team and make necessary updates.