Founded by Marcus Bullock, Flikshop aims to empower incarcerated individuals by facilitating connections with their families and providing educational opportunities for successful post-release lives. The long-term vision of Flikshop is to create a comprehensive in-platform learning, messaging, and album experience that fosters a sense of connection with loved ones. Additionally, Flikshop seeks to enhance its Learning Management System (LMS) by gamifying the learning process through Flikshop bucks and badges, promoting positive learning outcomes and reducing recidivism. FlikshopMe, an application designed for residents, operates on a 7-inch Android tablet. Furthermore, Flikshop Home, an application for residents’ personal mobile phones post-release, is also part of the project.

Under the guidance of Dr. Bill Kules, the project manager, our team engaged in regular check-ins and utilized process checks to ensure effective communication and collaboration. Jake Knapp’s Sprint Book served as a reference throughout the project, guiding our sprint-based approach. Due to time constraints, the typical 5-day sprint was expanded to a 5-week format. We conducted thorough research to address logistics related to receiving, saving, and responding to digital postcards within facility regulations. Additionally, we studied competitors in the market to understand similarities, differences, and areas where Flikshop needed to prepare for competition. While limitations prevented direct interviews with current residents, insights were provided by the client’s team and a few ex-residents. User and expert interviews were conducted to gain valuable perspectives on the challenges and opportunities associated with incarceration and post-release life.

Our design process commenced with Lightning Demos, where we presented diverse ideas inspired by our kickoff meeting with the client. We followed this with three phases of sketching: Crazy 8s, which generated spontaneous solutions; Screen Sketches, refining select ideas from Crazy 8s; and Final Screen sketches that represented our envisioned design.

Achievements in 5 sprints:

Postcards & Messages: We enhanced the experience of receiving digital postcards (Flikshops), enabling residents to react within regulatory boundaries.

Gallery (Photo Folders): Proposed photo galleries allowed residents to save and categorize favorite postcards, providing opportunities for the Flikshop Team to reward them with printed or compiled versions, as well as birthday gifts.

Bucks & Badges: We implemented a reward system utilizing Flikshop bucks for positive behavior and badges for milestones achieved in the LMS, ensuring residents were aware of, received, and utilized these incentives.

FlikshopHome Application: We designed a separate application for residents to use post-release, addressing challenges they often face, such as finding housing, employment, and integrating with technology and social networks.

Challenges in the design stage:

Navigating facility security regulations posed a challenge, as each design element had to be tailored to accommodate various restrictions and minimize customization requirements. Additionally, designing for a diverse user segment in terms of age, duration of incarceration, and familiarity with technology proved challenging, necessitating iterative modifications to ensure inclusivity. Regular communication with an ex-resident who had spent over two decades incarcerated provided valuable insights into understanding their challenges with technology and current systems.

Handoff:

Key research findings, including the transition from resident life to post-release, were shared with the client. These findings were based on expert interviews, user inputs, online studies, and observations of previously incarcerated individuals across different states and conditions. Additionally, competitor analysis, market studies, and user feedback on the designed features were included in the handoff. Steps for a returning citizen to keep in mind for FlikshopHome based on 3 interviews:

A demonstration of how the LMS system merged with the concept of Bucks & Badges functions.

The Flikshop team is currently focused on developing and deploying the FlikshopMe application with essential features such as LMS, digital postcards, gallery, and bucks & badges. Simultaneously, they are working on the Flikshop Neighborhood app, which assists the loved ones of residents in arranging re-entry support and making purchases on their behalf, while also fostering connections with others in similar situations.

After Sprint 5, the team has shifted focus to the FlikshopHome app for mobile interfaces, prioritizing services such as career exploration, community learning, skill development, resume building, interview preparation, sharing personal experiences, and accessing guidebooks. Another team of students will continue the mobile application work, with our team volunteering to mentor them and contribute to the realization of the envisioned app.