How To Dutch
Project details
March - June 2022
Type of project: Group design challenge Hogeschool Rotterdam
Proces: DIscover / Define / Design / Deliver
Final Product: How To Dutch App
Research question:
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“How can we encourage migrants from a non-Western country/culture between the ages of 30 and 50 to make social contacts outside their culture so that they can integrate better?”
As a target group, we chose non-Western migrants between the ages of 30 and 50. Their problems are the difficulty of making contacts outside their culture, learning/understanding the language, lack of motivation, and there is also shame in going out of their comfort-zone.
Target group
Research & Proces
I worked together with my team on a project for ICTU (a company that works from the belief that ICT advances governments on societal issues). We got the opportunity to choose a social problem to work on taking into account digital accessibility. My team and I chose the topic; integration process in the Netherlands. The first half consisted of the discover and define phase. Hereby we chose our topic. We also did a lot of research and finally came up with three different concepts at the end of the define phase. The second half consisted of the design- and deliver phase, where we first selected a concept and then tested and designed the final product. A few times we also applied the MoSCoW method (to define what is the most important for your concept, and what is less important)
Our research showed that the immigrants are not always motivated or have no social connections to get in touch with. This makes it harder to come in contact with the Dutch language and culture and they remain in their own circle. As a result, they do not feel integrated in Dutch society. There is also shame about speaking Dutch, because they are unfamiliar with the Dutch language and therefore do not understand other people's jokes, for example. Because of this, they may also feel that their family or other people they are close to feel disappointed in them.
Concept description
Story behind How To Dutch
When we shared our ideas with the target group they particularly enjoyed sharing experiences and finding people with the same interests. This was very important in developing our concept, and we came up with challenges for the immigrants. We also wanted two perspectives in the app so that the Dutch can also contribute. To keep the challenges relevant for each person’s integration process, we added some questions. As research pointed out we had to add a report option to avoid racism. We also wanted to keep logging in low-key and not make a profile app, as our client ICTU told us.
Here you can see an impression of the app we made. First you see the log in/sign in screen. The second screen shows the questions to keep your level up to date. The screen in the middle is an example of a challenge for the immigrants. The next screen is your logbook and the last screen shows the community where people can help the immigrants integrate and do challenges together.
Result
We finally tested this prototype with Mohammed (a refugee). He had only been in the Netherlands for a short time and said: "This app must be released I want to use it!" And we also became the shared class winner of our year!
Each team member had their own ‘’feature’’ to work on. I mostly did the logbook, account/settings page and the Dutch part. Finally I also made a video of our concept. Working on this project my team and I focussed on accessibility, and personalization. With the filters we had to take into account allergies or preferences due to religion. In the account overview I added rewards to stimulate the motivation.
My role in the project
Project gallery
How To Dutch video
