stephchung.


vollie.



A SAAS MARKETPLACE FOR REMOTE VOLUNTEERING





THE BASICS



COMPANY: Vollie, social enterprise startup ROLE: UX/UI designer & product owner WEBSITE: vollie.com.au PROTOTYPE: Figma Desktop TIME: 1 year+





THE CHALLENGE



As a core member of the startup team, I collaborated with the founders to sense check the value and market fit for the platform's user base. The original flows and design system were not updated since 2015 so I took on the challenge of validating the user flows while giving a much need design refresh to the interface and looking after the migration of the technology to a more robust code base.


Defining the problem:

  1. Volunteers, who want to give back to the world using their professional skills, feel disconnected about where they can find opportunities to contribute to social good when looking for projects to dedicate time to and want to genuinely lend a hand to charities in need while keeping up with their already busy schedules.
  2. Non-for-profits, who are highly resource constrained and aren't able to cover all organisational needs internally, feel frustrated there isn't an easy way to source help within a small budget and are unsure on how to make the most out of volunteer skillsets beyond physical volunteering sessions.


The main challenges were:

1 Reassess market fit and value for user groups

2 Validate and update the user flows as need

3 Update the existing design system & interfaces


Here's how I took on these challenges.





Project Browse & Profile Page - before



PROJECT BROWSE & PROFILE PAGE - after





CHALLENGE #1: REASSESS MARKET FIT & VALUE FOR USER GROUPS



Being in a small team of less than 10 people, it was crucial to get buyin from the founders during this process. I worked with the founders to devise a team wide strategy to conduct the research to gather much useful information as possible within an initial 2 month period.


SOLUTION

  1. Appoint a lead to interview and collect insights for each user group ​
    I split up the work between myself and the two founders, each concentrating on a specific user group (volunteers, NFP, & HR managers) to get a pulse check on mindsets from current and fresh users.
  2. Drill into the data from quantitative and qualitative research
    Using the research that was gathered through interviews and diving into Google Analytics, the founders and I had extensive brainstorm sessions to understand the behaviors behind the patterns that were emerging.
  3. Update personas with information gained from research
    I checked the insights against the personas that previously existed, updating where needed and creating new ones that weren't represented before.




CHALLENGE #2: VALIDATE THE USER FLOWS & UPDATE AS NEEDED



Features had been added at the request of corporate clients through the years without much through to the overall flow of the user experience. I decided to draw out the current user journey within the platform then make adjustments based on the research that was collected.


SOLUTION

  1. Map out the current flow ​
    The current state of the user experience had several plugged in features that were added as requests by corporate clients without much thought as how it would effect the overall flow. Drawing this out was a crucial step to understanding what areas needed to be fixed.
  2. Check current flow against findings from user research
    With the current flow drawn and user research in hand, I worked with the founders to rethink and simplify the user experience, taking in considerations on how to also make the system more scalable.
  3. Make adjustments to the flows where needed
    After several collaborative sessions with the founders, I could refresh the user flow to create a more centralised and simpler user journey through the platform.




CHALLENGE #3: UPDATING THE EXISTING DESIGN SYSTEM & INTERFACES



Now armed with the knowledge of what value the main user groups want and see, I felt informed enough to start on the task of reskinning the entire platform. During this time the tech stack was also undergoing major refactoring so I would work closely with the development team to marry the designs and the tech.


SOLUTION

  1. Work with marketing on updating the look & feel of the brand ​
    The original landing page and style of the dashboards felt very dated so I worked with marketing to bring out the voice of the brand through visual design and introducing new color schemes to the existing style guide. Through the research a major user group that came to light was younger professionals so much of the branding was changed to better attract a younger audience (brighter colours, gifs and movement, fun copy).
  2. Updating design system & interface components
    Working off feedback from marketing and the founders, I settled on component styles based off Bootstrap with inspiration from various UI patterns from Dribbble.com and best practices outlined by the Neilson Norman Group.
  3. Collaborate with developers to bring the prototypes to life
    As the entire tech stack was also being changed at the same time the designs of the interfaces were being updated, I worked closely with the development team to find the best medium between the designs and what was technologically possible with the time restraints we had. I often would iterate on designs based on this feedback as well.


Homepage - before



homepage - after





conclusion



This project was a massive rehaul and update of the design system and user interfaces. None of that would've been possible without the collaborative dynamics the founders and I had in undertaking user research, the genuine want to create value for the main user groups and an understanding of how to deliver this in as Agile of a way as possible.

Next steps: Take learnings from volunteer and corporate admin user journey to further improve the corporate volunteer user experience.



steph chung - UX/UI DESIGNER | XR&3D ENTHUSIAST


MELBOURNE, AU | WHATSUP@STEPHCHUNG.COM