Flare!
1st Place | 2025 IBM Service Design Challenge | UX Researcher & Digital Content
Flare! is a 4-month service design project for IBM’s 2025 Student Service Design Challenge, reimagining how campuses communicate, train, and respond during emergencies. I led user research, stakeholder interviews, brand development, and full video production to craft a safety solution that combats student disengagement and strengthens campus-wide preparedness.
Problem
After a real on-campus incident where alerts failed or arrived 90+ minutes late, students lost trust in the safety system. Our research uncovered optimism bias as the core barrier, where students underestimate risk, resulting in a poor preparedness culture across campuses.
Solution
A simple, 3-part safety system that improves alerts, boosts engagement, and supports admins. It combines a clearer mobile/web experience with consistent campus touchpoints and a streamlined backend for faster, more trusted communication.
Results
Through surveys, interviews, and 5-second tests, we saw clear improvements in recall, trust, and willingness to engage with safety tools. Our team ultimately placed 1st overall in the IBM Service Design Challenge.
RESEARCH QUESTION
To bridge the gap between perception and preparedness, a research question was proposed:
How can we improve existing campus response systems to mitigate optimism bias and encourage proactive emergency preparedness, promoting a safer campus environment?
PRODUCT DEMO
In comes Flare, our full-circle 3-pillar safety solution for campuses, combining mobile, web, branded physical outreach, and a managed business backend to make preparedness visible, actionable, and scalable. To showcase our solution in the most depth, here I utilized Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro to visually story tell the experience of Flare! through the user journey of Anaya.
To view the whole 10-minute video including real footage from our stakeholder interviews which I fully edited, you can watch the full thing here.
AWARENESS & BRAND CAMPAIGNS
After countless iterations in both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, I established the wordmark as well as icon logo to Flare!'s brand. Physical mockups were also executed, such as branded keychains and event mockups.
