Buoy
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Graphis Inc. New Talent Honorable Mention – Logo
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Constance Mui and John T. Sebastian Award for Outstanding Research in Honors
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Loyola SCD Design for Good Award
What I Did
Branding, App Design & Prototyping, Motion Design, Exhibition Design
Each year, hurricanes and floods overwhelm U.S. government emergency responders, forcing impacted communities to organize and carry out search, rescue, and emergency response themselves across disorganized networks during active disasters.
Buoy helps coordinate search-and-rescue efforts between ad hoc civilian responders and people in need of aid, increasing certainty and transparency that help is on the way.
Outcomes
“It feels like an app you’ve always known.”
–
Sean Cain, Director of Loyola New Orleans’ University Honors Program
Making waves
Upon its first presentation, Buoy drew significant interest from external academic assessors, university entrepreneurs, potential employers, and local agencies for development.
Awards & Recognition
Constance Mui and John T. Sebastian Award for Outstanding Research in Honors
Given to the graduating senior with the most outstanding senior thesis in Loyola New Orlean's Honors Program
New Talent 2025 – Logo Design, Honorable Mention
Graphis Inc.'s New Talent Awards highlight the visionary work of students and tomorrow's creative leaders, showcasing fresh perspectives and groundbreaking ideas.
Design for Good Award
Bestowed by Loyola New Orleans' SCD to the project that not only exemplifies innovation and aesthetic excellence but also embodies design's transformative power to create a better world.
The Need
Year after year, natural disasters overwhelm government first responders when they’re needed most.
Hurricanes and intense flood events inundate 911 dispatchers with intense surges in call volumes, and unsafe conditions delay emergency response even more. Calls go unanswered and help may never arrive.
Medical emergencies. Missing persons. Crime. They still happen while families cling to rooftops and blow-up mattresses as water surrounds them. Everything is compounded by extreme weather and damaged infrastructure.
So, if 911 struggles to send first responders, someone must come to the rescue. Right?
“Help is not coming from the government.”
– Jeff Masters, Ph.D., Meteorologist
99%
of search-and-rescue in the U.S. is volunteers.
But when 911 can't help, victims turn towards social media posts and isolated website rescue request forms
∙ Aug 30, 2017
Someone pls send help. My dads car is stranded on the side of 1910 H.O. Mills by the city barn in Port Arther/ El Vista Mom dad me and 2yo sis #HarveySOS
↑ Real tweet during Hurricane Harvey (Cat. 4, 2017)
Volunteer rescuers struggle to organize and respond these scattered requests that exist over separate channels
That's why there's
The Research
What is it like to experience these disasters?
Though I didn't put myself in any dangerous situations for that sake of this project, growing up on the Gulf Coast, I’ve had my fair share of storms.
My Storm Stats
🌀 7 Hurricanes
🌊 A "1,000-year flood"
⛈️ Many flash floods
Beyond my own experiences for research, I interviewed disaster victims, dug into firsthand accounts from news and social media, and built a guiding "rescuee" user persona.
Hurricane Harvey (Cat. 4, 2017). Where responders could only handle a fraction of the rescue calls.
New Orleans power grid after Hurricane Ida (Category 4, 2021), which I evacuated college for.
Things to keep in mind about hurricanes and floods
It’s a big waiting game
Up to 96 hours, with aftermath extending weeks.
Steady updates are crucial.
They help you stay safe and sane.
Retaining cell service and electricity is a gamble.
It all depends on the storm.
911 becomes unreliable.
Unanswered calls, signals drop, and overwhelmed responders.
Understanding the complexities of disaster search-and-rescue
Since search-and-rescue (SAR) standards are scattered, I researched on all fronts: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) advisories, news articles, social media, blog posts, academic papers, volunteer groups' websites (like the Cajun Navy), and conducted interviews with seasoned SAR professionals.
Main Goal of this Research
📍 Identify pain points of organizing both normal & social media rescue requests
"What are you going to do about power?"
– Mark, Rescuer with 50 years of experience
Collection of referenced sources
Takeaways
Insufficient rescuee information
Online rescue requests rarely include all details to efficiently coordinate a rescue: group size, medical info, etc.
Differentiating real intel from misinformation
Online platforms flood rescuers with info, making it hard to identify accurate information.
Isolated rescuer networks
Web rescue request forms lead to duplicate submissions and mutiple teams respond to the same rescuee.
Rescuers may become the rescued
If conditions deteriorate or teams lack adequate preparation, rescuers may need to be rescued themselves.
Competitor Audit
Existing emergency management tools don’t enable people to leave the unsafe conditions
Current emergency management apps on the market primarily hone in on pre- and post-disaster education, focus on one function, block critical actions behind paywalls, or have siloed communications.
Main Challenge 01
How do we collect rescuee information for rescuers without overburdening them?
Rescuees usually have a lot of time while waiting out these storms. But no one wants to be given homework to complete amidst a disaster. To maximize information for rescuers without overwhelming rescuees, I approached collection both directly and indirectly.
Rescuee Questionnaire – Direct
A short form before rescue request submission informs rescuers on the specifics of their unique situation.
Crowdsourced Alerts - Indirect
Alerts provided from across the rescue effort give responders situational awareness without overburdening anyone.
Pulling Phone Data - Indirect
Buoy pulls preferred language + medical IDs from the rescuee's phone, giving rescuers additional context automatically.
Main Challenge 02
No power. No cell service. What now?
It's pretty much a given that things won't go as planned during a disaster. While I can't stop cell towers from going down, Buoy needs to prepare users for it by giving them offline tools and alerting both sides when either party goes off the grid.
Physically signaling for rescue
Throughout the app, users can find instructions for signaling help if their phone dies or cell service fails.
Using native SOS features
When cell service fails, Buoy directs users to native SOS features already on their device, like Apple Emergency SOS.
← Apple Satellite SOS
Initial Iterations + Testing
Making decisions after user testing
Natural disasters can affect anyone. That’s why I tested with users aging 11–55 to reflect Buoy’s wide range of potential users.
Testing revealed rescuers overlooked rescue requests on the "landing" map, a simple fix solved by defaulting the Available Rescue Requests sheet to open.
The Final Product
With two primary modes, Buoy serves both sides of hurricane and flood emergencies, whether you need rescuing or on your way to help.
Need to be rescued?
Get rescued by tapping into your community’s entire responder network
Buoy collects emergency details from rescuees and dispatches rescue requests to a network of official and volunteer responders. Once a rescuer is on the way, rescuees can track them in real time and communicate via chat, so they always know help is coming.
Want to help rescue?
Conduct efficient rescues using with updates, rescuee navigation, and rescuer chat networks
Buoy gathers critical rescuee information upfront, coordinates local responders, and keeps rescuers and rescuees in direct contact from start to finish, freeing responders to focus on the people who need them most.
Additional Features
Watch Faces
Smartwatches give users a reliable way to access Buoy when wet screens fail them or driving demands both hands.
Live activities
Lock screen updates with live activities allow users to track rescuers, confirm rescues, and more without leaving their lock screen.
Branding
At the beginning of this project, I created Buoy’s brand identity (logo, type, and colors) around the idea of staying afloat upon the water.
Graphis Inc. recognized the app’s logo as a standout honorable mention in its 2025 New Talent Awards.
Reflection
I presented Buoy at my design class’s senior capstone exhibition, “Iterate,” and Loyola University’s Honors Program Thesis poster showcase, where professors, students, and local professionals got to experience the app!
Community is powerful
To be human is to be good. To help others when the world is crashing down around us. Disaster, as tragic as it is, has a way of revealing that in us. I’ve seen it with each flood, with every hurricane. Through designing Buoy, I was proud to explore how to give my community the tools to turn their desire to help into action.
Thank you to my advisors who helped guide me through this project: Lina Lee, Scott Gericke, Jingoog Kim, Daniela Marx
Still lookin'?
:)
© Ella Balhoff 2026