Connect Local

In partnership with the University of Toronto, I investigated why low-income residents still fall offline in a remote-first city — even when public internet appears available on a map.

The real gaps were reachability, cost, and support. Connect Local was designed to surface trusted “third spaces” with verified connectivity and nearby help, not just a list of Wi-Fi pins.

Mobility: many users depend on transit. Proximity filters and transit-first wayfinding became core — recommended spaces had to be reachable, not just nearby on paper.

Cost: cafés often require a purchase to stay. I prioritized free libraries and community centers so access never depended on spending money.

Literacy: connectivity alone isn’t enough. The experience included pathways to local programs and tech support alongside Wi-Fi discovery.

Research combined community listening with literature on inequality in Toronto — treating digital literacy as equal to physical access.

Personas for students, newcomers, and low-income residents turned those barriers into concrete UX requirements: clearer trust signals, fewer dead ends, and flows that work under real-world limits.

I prototyped from low-fi journeys to high-fidelity UI with a low-bandwidth mindset — usable on older devices and limited data plans, not just modern phones on fast Wi-Fi.

Verified Wi-Fi status reduces wasted trips. Zero-cost filters remove the purchase-to-sit barrier. Transit-first design makes reachability a first-class feature.

Designing for the most constrained users produced a clearer experience for everyone — and a framework that can adapt to other cities facing the same access gaps.