The document outlines four design principles for empowering survivors seeking compensation: 1. The Interpreter - Translates complex legal language into everyday conversational terms to make survivors feel confident. 2. The Guide - Directs the experience through discrete chunks that users personally identify with, while leaving decisions up to them. 3. The Coach - Allows users to change and evolve over time by creating archetypes that represent different mindsets at stages of the process. 4. The Mirror - Shows users all their responses assembled to allow them to make fully informed decisions by reflecting back the necessary information.

1. Designing for
Empowerment
Amy Findeiss, Product Designer
Fernanda Alcocer, Product Designer

2. INTROS
Amy
FINDEISS
Fernanda
ALCOCER

4. “Shame cannot survive being spoken.
It cannot tolerate having words wrapped around
it. What it craves is secrecy, silence and
judgement.
If you stay quiet you stay in a lot of self-judging…
It cannot survive empathy.”
- Brené Brown

5. A TOOL FOR SURVIVORS SEEKING COMPENSATION

6. THE DESIGN PRINCIPLES
THE
INTERPRETER
DESIGN FOR TRANSLATION
THE
GUIDE
DESIGN FOR DIRECTION
THE
COACH
DESIGN FOR GROWTH
THE
MIRROR
DESIGN FOR REFLECTION

7. THE INTERPRETER
DESIGN FOR TRANSLATION
Translate language to an approachable, everyday
conversational tone that presents the
information in a relatable way that makes a
survivor feel confident in what they were
pursuing.
THE PRINCIPLE

8. THE INTERPRETER
DESIGN FOR TRANSLATION
We moved from a legal POV and the language
of law, to the POV of the survivor. Starting
with the ‘Welcome’ page and throughout the
whole experience, We focused on using
everyday language that is direct and casual.
For example, instead of using a word like
‘defendant’ which is confusing given in this
context it is referring to the abuser, we used
the word ‘abuser’.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE APPLIED

9. THE GUIDE
DESIGN FOR DIRECTION
Direct the experience through bigger
discrete chunks that users identify
personally with. Create handrails for the
experience with contained freedom but
leave the decisions up to them.
THE PRINCIPLE

10. THE GUIDE
DESIGN FOR DIRECTION
We took the criteria needed to qualify for any
given compensation avenue and turned them
into categories that survivors look for when
seeking compensation for example:
‘Likelihood of getting the Award’ and ‘Safety.
Instead of one question with one answer, we
present a statement with multiple options
guiding the experience while leaving enough
room for them to make the decision
themselves.
For example: ‘I am willing to confront my
abuser in court.’ which best represented their
current position with issue like ‘Safety’.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE APPLIED

11. THE COACH
DESIGN FOR GROWTH
Give a user a place to start in the system, but allow
for the opportunity to change and evolve.
THE PRINCIPLE

12. THE COACH
DESIGN FOR GROWTH
We focused on creating a series of mindsets or
archetypes as a result of the collected
statements. Though related to a specific
compensation avenue, the mindsets focus
more on the user’s state of mind, personified.
These are not a fixed state of being. We
quickly recognized that survivors may find
themselves exhibiting different mindsets at
different stages of their process. They will
continually discover new things about their
circumstances and we had to allow for their
identity to shift too.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE APPLIED

13. THE MIRROR
DESIGN FOR REFLECTION
Show the user all of their responses
assembled in the same place. Allow them
make their own decisions by acting as a
mirror and reflecting back the necessary
information.
THE PRINCIPLE

14. THE MIRROR
DESIGN FOR REFLECTION
We found that it was resonant with users to
see the selections they made across
categories as a list compiled in the outcome.
Under details for ‘VOCA’ we list the categories
such as ‘Time’, ‘Cost’, ‘Award’, ‘Likelihood’,
and ‘Safety’ with specifications. We matched
their answers with the compensation avenue
in a way that made sense to their personal
histories. On top of that, we list benefits,
challenges and steps for each avenue so they
have enough information to make a decision
in how to move forward.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE APPLIED

15. THE DESIGN PRINCIPLES
THE
INTERPRETER
DESIGN FOR TRANSLATION
THE
GUIDE
DESIGN FOR DIRECTION
THE
COACH
DESIGN FOR GROWTH
THE
MIRROR
DESIGN FOR REFLECTION

16. “Survivor connotes resilience and strength.
It also moves the individual outside of
the immediate context of the violence
endured and into the future.”

17. THANK YOU!!
freefrom.org/
compensation-quiz.freefrom.org