Focused on turning complex systems into clear, intuitive digital experiences.
Focused on turning complex systems into clear, intuitive digital experiences.
Collaboration: Bezalel Academy (Design) + Hebrew University (CS Devs) + HIAS (NGO)
UX/UI Designer
Figma
after effects
UX/UI Designer
Figma
after effects
Project Overview
As part of the “Jam” course, which brings together design students from Bezalel and developers from the Hebrew University, we partnered with HIAS — an international organization that supports and protects refugees.
The goal was to address an urgent community challenge: the gap between bureaucratic requirements and refugees’ ability to navigate them.
The Challenge (Problem)
Approximately 60,000 asylum seekers are currently living in Israel, about half of them from Sudan and Eritrea. Based on our work with HIAS social workers and the research we conducted, we identified three main barriers:
Language barrier: Most government forms and digital interfaces are available only in Hebrew, a language many refugees cannot read.
Bureaucratic complexity: The need to renew visas, register children, and obtain medical rights involves complicated forms that even many Israelis struggle to understand.
Fear and lack of trust: Concern about direct interaction with state authorities causes many people to avoid exercising their rights.
The Solution
Re-fuge: A digital wallet and voice-based personal assistant.
We developed a mobile-first application that acts as a mediator between the refugee and the bureaucracy. The app allows users to manage their affairs in their own language (Arabic), while the system translates and generates official forms in Hebrew for government authorities.
Key Feature: The Intake Process
One of the biggest challenges was entering the initial information. Instead of asking the refugee to fill out an endless form alone, we created a smart hybrid process:
Guided intake: The process takes place during the first meeting with a HIAS social worker, who helps complete the information together with the user.
Smart OCR: Instead of typing data manually, the system scans the passport or visa and automatically extracts details such as name, ID number, date of birth, and visa validity.
One-time entry: All information (children, address, legal status, etc.) is stored in a secure database. From that point on, every future form in the app automatically pulls this data (auto-fill), so the user never needs to enter it again.
In collaboration with the development team (Computer Science), we designed a smart engine that bridges the language gap:
The user: Speaks or selects answers in Arabic within the app.
The system: Uses an LLM (Large Language Model) to translate the information into formal Hebrew.
The output: The system generates an official Israeli government PDF document (for example, “Child Registration Request”), fully completed and ready for signature.
Flexibility: The user can review, edit, and change details at any time before final submission.