Blue Beacon

Blue Beacon App Icon

Blue Beacon is an app I am currently designing for University of Michigan students who have personal emergencies while they study abroad. This app was inspired by my study abroad experience last year, where one of my friends had multiple personal emergencies while she was abroad, and did not know who to contact. While she did eventually find the information that she needed, I strongly believe having this information in a quick, easily accessible way is crucial in an emergency for students abroad unfamiliar with the procedures in their host country.

The first thing that users see after opening the app is this login page. Students then log in here with their University of Michigan Credentials (uniqname and password)

After they login, they get an option to select their study abroad program. If they do not see it here, they can search for it.

After selecting their school, students can see seven categories of problems, and select the category that matches their issue best. The number of the closest U.S embassy is on top, so it can be accessed without navigating a drop down.

After selecting a problem category, students can see their options of how to address it, and choose the option that best meets their needs.

My goal is to create flows like this for all of UMSI’s study abroad programs. It has been harder to collect information for the programs that I have not completed myself, but I have had good luck with web scraping the websites of the other schools. My next step is to get feedback from other students who have studied abroad.