AirNow is an air pollen forecast app that helps people with various health conditions to plan their outdoor activities. It does this by giving a recommended duration and suggesting health precautions that are personalised to the user.

To begin, pick the location of your outdoor activity, then drag a circular slider to set your preferred duration. From there, AirNow checks the air quality of the selected location, displays the level of health risk and gives actionable advice. As an example, for people with respiratory problems such as asthma, the app will recommend a suitable duration for the activity, or alternatively to take a N95 mask and an inhaler.

For this brief, we were asked to design an app that addresses the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for Health. I chose to research the public health risks that stem from ambient air pollution and found that poor air quality is detrimental to our health, and especially harmful for children, the elderly and individuals with respiratory conditions. However, the numbers provided by air quality indexes (AQI) can be difficult to apply to daily life. AirNow helps to bridge that gap by connecting abstract AQI numbers to individuals’ specific needs.