Overview
Acts of service can enrich one's life. Volunteering is one of them. But like every experience, volunteering can be a source of either some of the most memorable experiences or the worst nightmares.
I want to explore whether users would gain more positive experiences if introduced to effective search and scheduling systems.
PROBLEM SPACE
"I'd like to be more involved in my community - what are my volunteer options in my city?"
My Role
UX designer, User Researcher, UI Designer
Project Type
BrainStation UX Design Project
Duration
Approximately 3 weeks
Introducing HelpU
HelpU is designed to resemble the interface of industry-leading apps for the purpose of familiarity. This makes the often cumbersome process of finding and scheduling volunteering activities quick and easy for users.
HelpU will...
Assist users in finding what they need through search filters
Keep users connected with their team through the chat room
Let users cancel schedules with just 2 clicks
Let users apply for a volunteering opportunity with just 1 click
Let users copy their destination address with 1 click
Calculate volunteer hours automatically
Discovery
Understanding Volunteer Struggle
In order to build a better understanding of the problem, I wanted to know about my user's perspectives and previous volunteer experiences.
What makes a good volunteering experience and what motivates people to do more volunteering? To do so, I need two groups of people: people who are frequently volunteering and people who haven’t volunteered in the past 5 years. I interviewed 5 people who fit into these categories.
Few other insights from users are ...
- Users are more likely to volunteer if they can relate to the cause or are passionate about it
- Users are more likely to volunteer if they can relate to the cause or are passionate about it
- Users like to see reviews of the volunteers and the organization to ensure the best experience.
- Users tend to choose volunteer opportunities located closest to their homes.
Define
Big Ideas
- Having a safety policy for both company and individual can prevent either side from exploiting each other.
- Schedule mapping can allow users and organizations to organize event schedules
- Allowing filters with features like flexibility and experience level can help users easily find their preferred volunteers.
Ideate
First Assumption
With Good understanding of Volunteer struggle and big ideas for solution, Information architecture was the best way to test my early assumptions.
But, one question arose. How could I tell if my assumption met my user's needs?
I decided to validate my solutions by requesting my target users to perform open card sorting over video calls.
Ideate
Validating Assumption
I prepared four rectangular box representing pages with page title tags and content tags. I then asked my testers to select page titles and content they think each page should contain. During the card sorting activities, testers are asked to think out loud.
Insights from this activity ...
- Saving folders and scheduling mattered most to both of them.
- Saving folders and scheduling mattered most to both of them.
- Both testers express notification was important so they know when their application is accepted and when people reply to their comment.
- Both Testers want the search bar, filter, and recommendation to remain on the explore page.
Ideate
First Iteration
According to users’ feedback on the importance of notifications from card sorting activities, I decided to add one extra page called Notification.
My testers were also expressing the importance of saving folders, scheduling, and exploring volunteer opportunities. To respond to their needs, I moved the resume section from the application page and merged it with the profile page.
The home page was kept simple for easy scheduling, as users would be spending the most time figuring out their volunteering schedules.
Ideate
Visualizing Information
Wireframes is the first step towards refining HelpU's visuals. My goal was to experiment with how I could lay out my ideas on the 5 main pages of this concept app. To understand mental mapping of users with similar goal as finding volunteer, I analyzed how other volunteer, event planning, and career apps present their information.
Ideate
Validating Second Assumption
I had class feedback at Brainstation. Classmates and instructors who played as my user tester for HelpU pointed out a few things to change.
My Key Insights are ...
- Buttons to choose whether to attend were unnecessary since the user applied to volunteer in order to attend.
- The Explore page was confusing, as it simultaneously presented recommendations with everything else.
- Users preferred for information to be laid out in a more familiar manner.
So I made Iteration based on Mental Mapping from popular apps
- Upcoming Activities are replaced with Volunteer Stories like Instagram
- Explore Page is changed to map strucrture like Google Map
- Notification Is organized like Meta based on most recent to oldest
Test
Testing Mid-Fidality Prototype on Users
I asked three target users to test my mid-fidelity prototype. Two of them were the same ones who helped define my Informational Architecture.
The testing was done via Zoom call, where I asked testers to share their screens after sending them a link to access my prototype.
To test HelpU, the following scenario and tasks were given to all user testers:
To test HelpU, the following scenario and tasks were given to all user testers:
Test
User Insights from Usability Test
- All three testers struggled with finding the "Rate Us” page. They kept clicking the company logo from “my team” on the homepage, thinking it was the organization's profile.
- Few participants could not find volunteer opportunities after selecting their filters
- Few participants struggled to find the buttons that saved volunteer opportunities.
Test
Solution to User's Feedback
What I Learned
Throughout this case study, I've learned many things, which can be summarized to these three key points:
1. Neutrality must be strived for when interviewing users to minimize the risk of bias affecting the results
2. Early testing can save time and effort
3. Editing users’ responses during interviews or tests must be avoided. What can be added should be only what is said multiple times by others, or what is necessarily judged by prior research.
Next Step
Reach a Larger Pool of Users
Finding more users who are interested in volunteering through social media groups (eg: Facebook, Reddit, and Discord). Asking what points of difficulty they have in finding volunteer work online, and what is their go-to.
Organizing Notification
The Notifications feature is borrowed from some of the most popular social media apps for its familiarity. However, in practice, they do not indicate that the information the user is notified with is either current or upcoming. My next step is to find solutions to categorize notifications without visually complicating them.
Users with Disabilities
Finally, I aim to eliminate all barriers to those with disabilities seeking volunteer work. As disabilities come in numerous forms, for the next step, I will reach groups of different disability groups to interview and test the prototype.
