My Role
Design For Social Good: Progressive Enhancement
Timeline
October 2022-January 2023
UX Designer
Digital products can now serve society in ways that are being increasingly realized. In the 30 years since the commercialization of the internet mobile device makers have focused on bringing mobility into every aspect of our daily life. No area is now more important than the ability to serve the public for greater good and communities in need.
The Problem
After major natural disasters, locals and other volunteers find it challenging to know how they can help in their area, particularly with clean-up and rebuilding efforts.
One Solution
Pro.Community gives local governments and city services a means to coordinate relief projects in the most efficient way possible and allows citizens the opportunity to aid leaders in recovery for their area.
Primary Research
Interviews
Primary research consisted of interviews with 5 locals who were affected by a catastrophic natural disaster in Mayfield, Ky on November 11, 2021. One participant was a local government employee and four were local residents.
"The next day people were reaching out, calling us at the courthouse, people were calling from out of state saying they wanted to help. We were just taking a lot of phone numbers in an attempt to organize and use them later in some way."
Vicki -Interview Participant
Current Landscape
Lo-fidelity wireframes are important early in the design process to help understand user flows and how to present them effectively. Profiles, donations and project details are three important features that users would look for when coming to the Pro.Community website before deciding to contribute in some way.
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A user flow map serves to further initial lo-fidelity designs and guide the process of functional goals. Volunteers will go through a process similar to the one above. Users make their way along the volunteer sign-up path so I ask questions that help translate the internal conversation into a visual journey which can later be used to map out design choices.
Usability
In order to test users concerns I needed to give them a hands on experience of how the product would operate. With a fundamental working prototype they are better able to provide feedback on things like user flow, UI features and more. My goal was to create a usability study with interactions and features participants should focus on while testing the product. Users generally have ideas on things like color palettes, font choices and layouts, but as a designer these things only become important in the later stages of product design.
Sign Up Process
Straight forward
"Sign-up was easy but visually seemed basic."
Edit Profile
Functionally Incomplete
"Okay just forget this part, it doesn't make sense."
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Donation User Flow
Familiar and streamlined
"Decimal points would make this more intuitive."
Project Details
Frustrated
"There needs to be a back button for these pages."
Explore Current Projects
Confused by navigation
"How can I get back to project locations on the map?"
Overall Navigation
Mixed results
Navigation on 2 out of the 5 user flows tested confused at least half of participants
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With user testing complete I was able to review the results and address paint points before introducing those changes as well as a more polished interface that included high resolution photos, consistent typeface, and brand color palettes. By bringing a design system into focus and combining those aspects with functional features such as back buttons, easy to locate menus, and realistic profile settings the basis of a working product began to take shape.
With mockups in place the connections between individual frames simulate a genuine user experience. A landing page conveys the idea of an entryway guiding the user to a sign up process and with that sense of accomplishment they go on to explore the homepage and understand more about the product.
Users can then learn more about how the organization serves, donate to communities in need or have the motivation to see ways they can volunteer their knowledge and skills. In these ways people can help even their own community rebuild after devastating weather events.
When users are engaged by the product they see how their desire to help in some way and Pro.Community's logistics interface can bring positive changes for those affected by extremely negative events.
