Together with our Interaction design partner User Intelligence, we were commissioned by GeoIQ to design a mobile app for Search and Rescue (SAR) personnel. The app overlays mission-critical information onto shared maps and allows first responders to share new information. One crucial requirement was the integration of social media.

The idea is that people can broadcast their whereabouts through social media, and they would appear on the responders’ mission map. Such broadcasting could be done with e.g. geo-tagged Tweets or Facebook status messages.

The visual design of the app was kept as basic as possible. During SAR operations, the app needs to be used quick, fast and provide insight. The visual design should be an aid to the personnel and not form a distraction. With this in mind, we designed interactive elements such as button and icons, larger than commonly used in mobile apps. Also we kept high contrast levels throughout the app design in case of bad lighting conditions.