Oasis | Redesigning social security services for students
by Lin Wang, Tom van Wijland and Siqi Zhang
Overview
Oasis is a housing allowance (Bostadsbidrag in Swedish) service design developed in collaboration with one of the main intended user groups of this service, which are students, that improves the relationship between students and Försäkringskassan (FK).
Why
For many Swedish students housing allowance is their first encounter with the social security system on a personal level. Their experience with this service will therefore lay the foundation for their further relationship with the government. Currently this service (and therefore the first encounter) is confusing and opaque. Despite their generally high level of trust in the government, students are still often apprehensive and anxious about engaging with their government when it is on a personal level. The experiences here can make or break the relationship.
How
We redesigned the service journey citizens go through when applying for and receiving housing allowance by developing three new touchpoints that make the service more approachable, increase its transparency and put the user in control of their application and the funds they receive.
Into the field
Our collaborator FK posed the question:
What should the relationship between governments and citizens look like in 10 years?
We were given the opportunity to provide a new perspective on how governments can give form to their presence in people’s daily lives. Being part of a school with strong roots in participatory design, much of our activities, especially in the early stages of the project, involved engaging people around us into our design domain.
In-depth, semi-structured interviews with Swedish students uncovered many different experiences. We were curious about their experience of trust, taboos, and attitudes towards social security. Although the focus of the research was housing allowance, we made sure to keep our eyes open to the bigger picture.
Our participatory design research process is divided into four stages: active interview, guerrilla interview, sacrificial prototype test, and co-creation workshops. Each stage of testing is based on the results obtained from the previous stage. As designers utilizing participatory design methods, we aim to ensure that all sources of design inspiration are well-founded.
Active Interview
In the first stage of our participatory design research, we successfully connected with and recruited five university students. These students had either previously encountered or were familiar with the housing allowance services. We invited them to our studio for in-depth individual interviews to understand their stories and experiences, their comprehension and evaluation of the housing allowance application process, and their opinions on public service providers such as FK.
From the active interviews, we learned that:
- Most people learned about the housing allowance service through word of mouth.
‘I learnt about the Bostadsbidrag from my brother. I actually just told someone I was going to do this interview, and they never knew about the bostadsbidrag and realised they might be eligible for it.’
- The friendliness of the application process varies based on individual needs and attitudes.
‘I call FK a lot, asking any question I have about my Bostadsbidrag.’
‘Their letters are so complicated. I just want to see how much money I get, and when I get it.’
- Students have concerns about potential risks in the application process (such as long processing times, complex procedures, and the possibility of having to return the money).
‘It’s more so the fear of entering the wrong details.’
- Students have a positive attitude towards the government and are willing to trust and cooperate with its work.
Guerrilla interviews
After conducting individual in-depth interviews averaging forty minutes each with the students, we identified the pain points in the housing allowance application process and became more curious about their attitudes towards government departments like FK.
To explore this further, we prepared some simple materials and conducted guerrilla interviews over two days at Umeå University’s main campus and art campus.
The materials had two parts. The first part was a user journey map based on a timeline, showing the housing allowance application process. We used this map to understand the duration and specifics of the application, helping participants recall their experiences and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the process.
The second part included open-ended forms to gather insights into the respondents’ views and trust levels regarding FK and related public institutions. We used the AESEO design method from the “This is Service Design Doing” website to ask four questions about FK: whether it provides effective change, is open and honest, leads to a better future, and treats every citizen fairly. Respondents rated these questions using a simple slider. We also provided an ethical-unethical, competent-less competent coordinate axis. Participants placed logos of other departments or stakeholders mentioned in previous interviews, like CSN (Swedish Board of Student Finance), BankID (an electronic identification system in Sweden), and Bostaden (a housing supply company), on the axis according to their views.
Through these guerrilla interviews, we gained more insights into the housing allowance application process and confirmed the students’ positive attitudes towards government public service departments. This showed us the potential for design to strengthen trust and connection between citizens and the government.
‘You have people acting not like actual people.’
‘Overall, life saving, I would say. More relaxed and no stress.’
Sacrifcial prototype test
We used sacrificial prototypes to find out more about how students would respond to certain interventions.
During our guerrilla interviews, we found that once students understood the housing allowance service process, they were very willing to learn more and apply. However, the biggest issue so far is that many students do not know they are eligible for the FK service.
Therefore, our sacrificial prototype focused on how to help students encounter the housing allowance service. We created posters combining real-life stories and relevant data about the housing allowance application to capture students’ interest. We also explored integrating social media with the housing allowance service, displaying basic student information through tags.
Through testing, we found that many students quickly understood the housing allowance and became interested. Many expressed that they would apply for the housing allowance once they knew they were eligible.
Co-creation workshop
Next, we recruited participants for the co-creation workshop. The workshop included students who had previously participated in the interviews, students with some knowledge of the housing allowance, and some fellow student designers. As a stroke of luck we found one of our neighbours willing to cooperate, who actually had been employee at FK, meaning we could integrate even more viewmpoints.
We referred to the creative design methods ‘Your Creative Idol’ and ‘The Dream Trip’ from the book “The Design Agent.”
The intention of the workshop was to involve people in thinking about how to reshape the relationship between state and citizen on a somewhat abstract level. Therefore we set up a workshop that introduced people to a designerly way of engaging with the subject, step by step. The workshop evolved every time we ran it, because we adjusted it based on what worked and what didn’t. The central question of the workshop was: “What if getting money from Försäkringskassan is like getting … from …?”.
Find the workshop pdf here:
During the workshop, we received many interesting and creative answers. For example:
What if getting money from Försäkringskassan is like getting a mushroom from nature?
What if getting money from Försäkringskassan is like getting candy from a vending machine?
These questions sparked numerous design ideas, which ultimately inspired us to develop the Oasis service.
Research Synthesis
Our research phase introduced us to a diversity of lived experiences related to applying for and receiving housing allowance. Not only did it give us a good understanding of the system and its practical aspects, we also learned how the way that the system is set up influences people’s decision-making, life planning, and attitude towards the government. By carefully documenting all stories and reading and discussing them thoroughly, we were able to gain a real understanding and empathy for the students.
Through our in-depth active interviews with people who were already receiving the housing allowance, we got a close look at the struggles that people experience when applying for it. How its bureaucratic language might lead people to be confused and enter wrong details, or worse, be very anxious about making mistakes. We learnt that people love to call FK, because it assures them they are doing it right. We also saw that people often sought for help from friends and family, asking them about how to enter specific details.
However, through our guerilla interviewing, we discovered something even more pressing. Many many students do not even know about the housing allowance service or are unaware of who it is for. They either assume that they are not eligible, or never hear about it, because it is not a common conversation topic. Many of them are actually eligible, but are not receiving any amount. All the while they are oftentimes borrowing up to 9000 SEK from CSN, the student benefits fund of Sweden. This is a loan that will bit them later in life. Multiple students we sat down with to calculate their housing allowance amount were shocked by the results. Many more students that we spoke for a few minutes on campus were also intrigued by the notion that they might be eligible.
‘I thought it was only for a small group of people’ was a very common notion among the students we spoke to.
In conclusion, we found that many students fail to apply for housing allowance, even though they have a right to it, due to several hurdles that are in place. They are not aware of their rights and are therefore disadvantaging themselves, building up more debt, and living more insecurely. These findings were confirmed by this article, that found that 2 in 3 students who are eligible miss out on the money.
We set out to attain a rather straightforward objective:
How might we redesign the housing allowance service to ensure that all students who are eligible apply for it?
If we succeed in this goal, it will not only increase fairness in the system but also establish a positive relationship between young people and the government. Students will feel supported and develop trust in the government.
Concept
Based on the synthesis of our research, we developed and finalized our concept — Oasis — a service that features several touchpoints with a focus on the enhancement of approachability and understandability.
The Oasis Journey
We divided the touchpoints into three different phases: encounter, apply, and manage.
Encounter Phase
In this phase, the service is provided through the Oasis Booth. By having a physical presence, we ensure equal opportunities for encounters and help students understand FK services collectively.
Apply Phase
Here, we assist students in applying for housing allowance through the Oasis Phone. This service utilizes an AI phone service, humanized with a vintage look, making the sign-up process easy after students learn about the service.
Manage Phase
In this phase, the service is provided through the Oasis App. Using a tree metaphor to represent funds, the app employs an apple picking mechanism, allowing users to control the money they receive. Additionally, we use the flower mechanism and seed sharing mechanism to reward reduced dependence on social benefits and encourage students to share their experiences.
In the service process provided by Oasis, we aim to give students the freedom to make their own choices. Therefore, at different touchpoints, students can choose to complete the service at the booth or apply from home. Additionally, after receiving the housing allowance, students can freely choose the amount of money they want to withdraw.
The user flow marked in green indicates the primary user flow that we will introduce next.
Encounter
Building up physical booths
Throughout our research, we’ve received inputs from people suggesting their interests in interacting with physical infrastructures, including ideas such as having housing allowance calculators around the campus or having atms that can physically give this money. These all inspired us to advertise the housing allowance service by making its presence more visible, and thus raise students’ awareness of its existence and accessibility. Meanwhile, having physical presence also enhances the approachability of the service, for that students will always have places to turn to.
Iterated from the initial idea of having “housing allowance photobooths”, we finalized these physical touchpoints to be phone booths placed around campuses that allows people to learn about the service and conduct the application.
The outside of the booth is designed to be informatic and inviting, featuring the shape of a house with two open sides and physical interfaces presenting necessary information. Based on the insights we got after testing out our sacrificial prototypes, we focused on presenting real statistics and life stories when designing the infographic on the physical interfaces.
The inside of the booth creates a private environment for students to conduct their applications. We placed a telephone inside each of the booths through which students can submit necessary information by talking to a conversational AI assistant. And by doing so, we encourage students to conduct the application right after they get to know it, addressing the problem of procrastination mentioned by some of our interviewees.
Apply
Designing conversational AI
Conversational AI has been on an extreme innovation curve over the past year. It was during this project that OpenAI rolled out chatGPT-4o, a version of the chatbot that paves the way for conversational AIs that are indistinguishable from people, when it comes to straightforward topics. Widespread implementation seems inevitable. This opened up the possibility to consider this technology in this project. Our research showed us that students love to call FK and have immediate answers. Therefore we implemented an AI that helps people provide the information that is necessary to make an application for the housing allowance . This is because it is this step, the applying step, that became a bottleneck for many students. It takes a long time to figure out what information exactly has to be provided, and often mistakes are made.
To us as interaction designers, the part that is interesting about this, is how it enables us to shape the experiential aspects of the AI in order to serve our goals and intended interaction qualities. This led us to give a certain form to the dialogue, interface that supports the conversation, and the physical device that houses both these aspects.
The urge of students to feel supported, and to be treated with empathy calls for a casual, caring and confident character that helps you. We wrote dialogue and recorded a snippet of it that exemplifies these characteristics. Short sentences, colloquial language, and help when things are unclear. The proof is in the pudding — the conversation immediately sounds relatable and positive.
We designed the phone such that the conversation is not recorded as a whole; just the things that appear on the screen, are included, and constitute the package of information that is sent to FK. The user is kept fully in the loop.
We continued the theme of a humanisation of the AI by making people ‘call’ the AI with a vintage rotary phone. It was partly inspired by this artistic video-serie of people telling their life story through a rotary phone, in the middle of a busy bridge in London. (@aview.fromabridge on Instagram)
This has another advantage: The lo-tech horn makes the conversation feel private, intimate, and human. Because the user is sure that only they and the AI are part of the conversation.
Lastly the user is in control; when they want to cancel the conversation for any reason, they can just put the phone down and walk away.
Manage
Using the metaphor of a tree
The management of housing allowance can be stressful, as students sometimes have unexpected income which may result in them having to pay back some of the allowance they’ve received. We want this part of the service to be more calming, with students being in better control of the money they receive.
Inspired by a quote from our workshop — What if getting money from Försäkringskassan is like getting a mushroom from nature? — we came up with the idea of introducing a natural figure — a tree — as a metaphor into our service. We relate the relationship between students and the government to the relationship between human and nature by emphasizing the reliability and flexibility of housing allowance as a resource, and thus give the students a sense of control during the managing phase.
After submitting their application, the students have the seeds of their trees planted. And by checking out the status of their trees via the Oasis app, they get to know the progress of their applications. For instance, a sapling growing into a tree means the application being confirmed, and the tree getting fruits means the money being allocated.
Just as picking fruits from a real tree, the students now have freedom to take certain sums of allowance according to their changing needs, by clicking certain amounts of apple on their trees which symbolize the money they received. This apple-picking mechanism creates the possibility of leaving extra money that a student may not need when having a growing income, and ultimately reduces the risk of having to pay back.
Reward & share
Through flower and seed
Built upon the apple-picking mechanism, a flower-picking mechanism is developed as a rewarding system. The apple left on the tree till the end of each month will drop to the ground and turn into a flower, which no longer represents valid money a student can take but serves as a reward that celebrates the student’s growing financial independence.
Meanwhile, we encourage students to share their experiences by bringing in a seed-sharing mechanism, through which they can give out seeds via social media and invite more people to Oasis service.
