Lumi Analysis
.png)
Overview
The Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) is the New Zealand government research agency dedicated to the health, wellbeing and safety of Kiwi communities. One of their tasks is to improve policing, and an offshoot of theirs – Lumi – has certainly done so.
Their patented 'Lumi' or 'Tactiscan' device allows police officers to identify the presence of three different drugs (cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA) on the spot. This has drastically improved the ability of our frontline police to take suitable next steps, especially in its main use case: when an unidentified substance is found during a search warrant.
The Lumi Nano device has to be connected to a mobile app called Lumi Analysis in order to be utilised, which is operated by the officer on their mobile device. I was tasked with designing a new and improved Lumi Analysis app, doing my best to improve both the UX and UI along the way.
This new app design will soon be rolled out to the New Zealand Police and other police forces globally.
Their patented 'Lumi' or 'Tactiscan' device allows police officers to identify the presence of three different drugs (cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA) on the spot. This has drastically improved the ability of our frontline police to take suitable next steps, especially in its main use case: when an unidentified substance is found during a search warrant.
The Lumi Nano device has to be connected to a mobile app called Lumi Analysis in order to be utilised, which is operated by the officer on their mobile device. I was tasked with designing a new and improved Lumi Analysis app, doing my best to improve both the UX and UI along the way.
This new app design will soon be rolled out to the New Zealand Police and other police forces globally.
Responsibilities
Foundational user research
Personas
User journeys
Sketches & wireframes
Interactive prototypes
User testing
Personas
User journeys
Sketches & wireframes
Interactive prototypes
User testing
Timeline
Feb - June 2024
Team
Dion Sheppard (Project Manager) and Tony Ellis (Lead Developer) from ESR
Deliverables
1x native mobile app design
Defining our users
In the perfect world, I would have loved to begin this journey with 1-1 interviews with frontline police users about how they find the current app. However, this wasn't as simple as it sounds, with our police people hot in demand on the ground. If it was possible, it was going to take time to organise.
Instead, I did my best to utilise a recent user survey and the current knowledge of the stakeholders to formulate key personas to base my decision making on and identify any problems and opportunities. In the meantime, the Project Manager approached the Police Service Design Team to discuss the possibility of interviews.
Instead, I did my best to utilise a recent user survey and the current knowledge of the stakeholders to formulate key personas to base my decision making on and identify any problems and opportunities. In the meantime, the Project Manager approached the Police Service Design Team to discuss the possibility of interviews.
Encouraging empathy
I followed up these personas with empathy maps and user stories in order to dig deeper into our users' psyche. This foundational research hadn't been performed before when the original app was designed, so the workshop I led with the PM and Senior Engineer proved very helpful for setting the foundation and bringing stakeholders into alignment.
Field Research
I referenced plant identification app for inspiration around workflows, in the absence of a competitor in the field. I reported my findings and takeaways back to the stakeholders.
User flows
Next I researched common workflows of apps with slightly similar functionalities (though this kind of app is, to my knowledge, the first of its kind) before mapping out the a user flow that I was confident in. The response from stakeholders was positive, but as always it sparked a series of important discussions that led to tweaks until we landed on a complete and final flow.
.png)
Sketches and wireframes
Next I set about transforming the user flow into sketches and then basic wireframes. Again, important discussions were had a tweaks were made. The stakeholders appreciated the close collaboration between us and the highly iterative process.
.png)
User interviews
Luckily, the PM at this point managed to wrangle some interviews with key users on the frontline. I wrote a question guide that supported the conversation, and the results helped us tweak and add to the foundational documents and wireframes that were underway. In many ways, it was confirmation of us being on the right track.
Hifi design
Brought the findings to life in the form of a high-fidelity app design, the components of which were sourced from a perfectly organised and editable Figma-based design system. I would have loved to test the design with users but unfortunately this wasn't in scope or budget at the time.
Ease of connection
Our users wanted to be able to connect to the Lumi Nano device in two different ways: first and foremost by scanning the QR code located on the back of the device, and secondly by selecting the device from a list of available devices.
User interviews identified that QR code scanning was by far the most popular connection method, hence the more primary focus. However, with a simple swipe up, users can easily select a device from the list.
User interviews identified that QR code scanning was by far the most popular connection method, hence the more primary focus. However, with a simple swipe up, users can easily select a device from the list.
Two workflows
The app has two main workflows: analysing a sample, and calibrating the device. Calibration has to occur weekly at most and if it is not performed, analysis can't be performed. We landed on a workflow that made this clear and importantly, communicated when calibration is due. Calibration itself is a step-by-step process made as clear and concise as possible to hopefully offset the high-stress environment our user is often facing.
Searchable scan history
Thanks to user interviews we learned exactly how users interact with the scan history tab in order to identify and resend past scan results. This new knowledge led to an overhaul of how the app communicated scan results, and a search bar was added to make the identification process faster.
There's more where that came from.
Check out my other projects today.