The Importance of UI/UX Design in Public Safety

The public today expects the same level of service and speed from their government as they do from their experience with private sector companies like Apple, Google and Amazon. While governments do not have the resources of these for-profit companies, they must meet citizens’ needs.

Keeping up with citizen expectations, however, is far from being the only reason for a heightened push toward more intuitive UI/UX for the public sector. A core tenet of software design is to provide the best experience possible for end users.

Specifically in public safety software, strong UI/UX design is critical because end users operate in a fast-paced, high-stress environment where split-second decisions are common, and information changes in an instant. Officers and dispatchers don’t have the luxury of spending crucial seconds figuring out how to use their software or where to access critical information.  

As such, public safety UI/UX design needs to be intuitive, finely tuned and polished.

Designing Solutions That Meet the Real Needs

Historically, UI/UX designers would try to get as much information onto a screen as possible to try and solve for all possible scenarios. Rather than an efficient and easy-to-use tool, the result is a crowded screen that only serves as a distraction.

The key to combatting this major misstep is for designers to spend as much time as possible with officers to learn about the issues they face on a daily basis.

In one example, a design team from CentralSquare Technologies spent over 800 hours with law enforcement agencies, fire departments and dispatch centers, learning how first responders operate on a day-to-day basis and observing how they interact with their software products.

Our Mobile solutions are designed to function the way responders work, showing the most critical data necessary. Everything is one place to complete reports, access case information and handle calls. Our solution is user-friendly and intuitive, putting the power in the responder’s hands.

Learning from the end user’s perspective to understand what is actually needed enables designers to simplify the design overall and also address the needs of certain segments of end users who may need only a subset of items.

Highlight Mission-Critical Information 

Emphasizing safety and visual hierarchy are two of the most important aspects to keep in mind when designing public safety software. Law enforcement officers and firefighters often respond to dangerous and life-threatening situations, so they need to be alerted to any important information on a call for their safety and those around them.

For example, they should be alerted about chemical explosives in a basement or an individual who is armed with a weapon. Software designers must make these types of notifications prominently visible in the application they’re developing.

With this visual organization of information signifying what’s most important, the end user is quickly able to see priority alerts at a glance.

In addition, the technology landscape for public safety has very unique characteristics and requirements that must be carefully considered before any solutions are used in the real world, including:

• Public safety software UI/UX designers must consider variables such as daytime versus nighttime use.
• Is the officer wearing polarized glasses or gloves?
• Is the officer on scene with extraneous background noise or are they in a quiet location?
• How do designers create an experience that works for such a wide array of evolving variables that exist in a high-stress environment?

Mobile In the Field

Responders in the field need different resources than the team that works in an office setting. They’re making decisions on the go and need access to real-time information in a form that is simple and easy to process.

Mobile technology acts as a lifeline in the field, keeping dispatch and responders connected. One of the greatest benefits of mobile is real-time data sharing to increase responder situational awareness. Dispatchers are able to send updates and incident information without back and forth and phone calls.

Not only are first responders well-informed, but mobile also supports officer safety. Emergency situations can evolve in a matter of seconds where a responder might need backup. In such cases, dispatchers can track the responder’s location and send backup, as well as provide mapped data on which vehicles are coming and how far away they are.

This is where the importance of design comes to play. First responders need easy and accessible information in an instant. Design should support and not hinder their ability to do their job.

The Goal of Public Safety UI/UX Design

Public safety personnel’s main mission is to keep their communities safe. Technology must support the mission and help make day-to-day work easier and more efficient. Creating an intuitive software experience for law enforcement and public safety personnel will serve to help reduce distractions and increase productivity while on the job.

As public safety agencies look to modernize their technology footprint both for their own personnel and for the communities they serve, it’s important for UI/UX designers who work on public safety software to give the officers the information they need in an effective manner as fast as possible. By truly appreciating the end-users and their issues, designers can create better and simpler solutions.

See the Benefits of CentralSquare Mobile

UI and UX design play a critical role in CentralSquare solutions, providing you with saves time and provides situational awareness when you need it most.

Schedule a demo today to see how your organization can benefit by equipping your team to better serve your community.