Mission-critical product design for public safety
Designing a touchscreen experience that enables fast, error-resistant actions in high-pressure law-enforcement scenarios.
Brand: Motorola
Role: UX Designer
Timeline: 2023
My role
I designed the touchscreen experience for a body-worn camera used in active law enforcement scenarios. This was not just a usability challenge, it required designing for speed, clarity, and reliability in high-pressure environments where attention is limited and mistakes carry real consequences.
From requirements through high-fidelity design, I created interfaces that aligned with both physical controls and real-world usage constraints.
Objectives
Design a new user interface for the Motorola Si500 Body-Worn Camera, using a design-thinking approach
Ensure that the app caters to user groups of all technology knowledge levels
Innovate on existing features, including automated features to save officers time
Product description
Body-worn cameras are used in law enforcement for a variety of uses, including accountability, and build trust with the community members, as well as provide clear evidence of officers interactions with the public. The device allows the user to record and livestream video, as well as take photos and record audio files, which can be appended to existing files to create custom event files that can also be name tagged.
Body-worn cameras are normally worn on the chest, although some officers may put them near the waist or on their head. It’s important to understand where the device is worn, because that informs the design decisions in order to ensure the best user experience, and ease of use.
The challenge
Redesign the touchscreen for a body-worn camera for law enforcement officers that allows them to complete the main tasks (i.e., recording) as well as allow them to easily organize files that could later be used as evidence. Keeping in mind all stakeholders and people that are in contact with the officers, and ensure safety and accountability.
User groups
Police officers
First responders
Highway patrol
Specific needs:
Allow them to access main features as quickly and easily as possible
Allow organization of event files, as well as make it easy to find previous files
The solution
Reduce amount of buttons and items on the screen, and make it easier for user to navigate through the app to find the main tasks (recording, and organizing files).
Automate features such as recording, when user puts their gun, or comes into contact with a person, or even when the officer is down.
Features
Reduce amount of content on the screen to only show what they need (i.e., quick video/audio recording; quick broadcasting)
Ability to search files with name tags, as well as append items to existing case files in an organized manner for more concrete evidence
Research + definition
Concept map
Identify minimum requirements
Discover areas of innovation and potential new features
Lay out design plan to refer back to throughout design cycle
User flows
The device allowed user to do the following tasks:
• Turn device on/off
• Change volume up/down
• Send/Cancel Emergency Signal
• Receive emergency alert/view who is sending the alert
• Start/Stop/Review and Upload video and audio recording
• Take/View and Upload pictures
• Search for an event capture
• Append captures
• View/Dismiss System Notifications
• View device indicators
Iteration process
Design opportunities
Event folder flow
Create a clearer structure for grouping related captures and evidence.
Back navigation
Add consistent back actions across key screens.
New file creation
Move into a dedicated flow with a clearer return path.
Hi-fi wireframes
After making changes to improve the user experience and flow of the pages, we introduced a new color, dark blue, in certain areas such as the top bar, icons, and some text. The UI will still be primarily light and dark to create full contrast, while the blue helps solidify the law enforcement look and feel that we needed to comply with, as well as go well with the red that is used for REC status and emergency alerts.
Physical controls
The device has several buttons for the officers to perform key tasks such as recording, controlling volume, etc. Since most of the time, the officer is expected to wear the device on their chest, it was important to choose the most important tasks to map to the buttons.
Annotations & handoff
The final version of the prototype includes all interaction for the main tasks, and has been updated after stakeholder comments to address previous design issues. There are more details in the design, including color images representing recorded footage and captured images, as well as recording and default device indicators in specific colors.