Search Party

In the few months before the Search Party’s design, five people had died from suspected overdoses at festivals in Australia, and twenty-five people had been hospitalized on Australia Day weekend.

The idea of the application is to stay connected with friends and find each other easily in case of getting lost, or in a possible emergency, quickly look for help to improve safety at a festival.

Bearing in mind internet limitations/cellular data in locations often out of town and full of people, we had to develop an interface that would be quick, simple, and easy to use. The UI allowed the user to find friends on a map and ask for help with a minimum number of taps.

Search Party is as low-latency as possible, which allows it to be used under limited circumstances without a problem. It’s possible to locate someone with an accuracy of 2 meters and a 10-millisecond live update.

The first thing the users see when they start the app is a short swipeable onboarding, which presents the users with the benefits of using the app.

To get faster access to the app, they can choose to continue with Facebook or Snapchat, the target group’s two most-used apps.

After onboarding, the first step is to join an already existing group/party or create a new one. When creating a new group, we have come up with an option for a public or a private party that the users can choose from depending on their needs.

In case you want to create a group, you need to enter a name, choose whether the group is private or public, and get a QR code available for your friends to scan. In case they aren’t with you, you can easily share the party ID with them.

We have focused on quick access and simplicity. The users will mostly be using one group created for that particular festival.

Therefore, a simple tap on the app icon instantly opens the last used group as the main screen, and you can see your friends right away.

We have focused on quick access and simplicity. The users will mostly be using one group created for that particular festival.

Therefore, a simple tap on the app icon instantly opens the last used group as the main screen, and you can see your friends right away.

In only two clicks, it’s possible to ask for help, and this way, alert the entire group that you’re in trouble and need their assistance.

To avoid accidentally pressing the help button, it’s necessary to keep the button pressed for three seconds, and everybody gets notifications immediately.

We have prepared the dark mode for the app, and it automatically adjusts to the user’s phone settings.

The users can also change the app mode (dark or light) in the settings at any moment.