The Brief

Located in Chicago’s south side, Urban Array is an NPO startup that uses innovative technologies such as blockchain and proprietary cryptocurrency, the Array Coin, to help members of underserved communities rebuild their community in a sustainable, transparent, and collaborative way.  My four-person team aimed to recreate an informative and engaging onboarding experience for prospective and newly approved members.

Methods

Stakeholder, SME and End User Interviews + Market Research + Concept Testing + A/B Testing

Timeline

3 weeks

Background

Marquis Davis, founded Urban Array from the framework of asset-based development—the intention is to leverage what assets a community already has, rather than what they need. With the organization is in its infancy and starting to establish a presence in a new community, our client wanted to add to and improve the current MVP. Doing so would allow Marquis to step back from the role of recruiting and onboarding members and focus on breaking ground on up-and-coming projects.

In the span of three weeks, Marquis asked our team to:

1. STREAMLINE AN ONBOARDING FLOW- Create an intuitive and comprehensive onboarding process that enables all members to begin contributing to projects immediately.

2. GATHER AND RETAIN DATA- Incorporate skills and resources entry to inventory and aid in creating community templates for future projects.

3. HELP BUILD TRUST- Marquis expressed that building trust is essential as a new nonprofit in underserved communities as a nonprofit. Establishing a sense of trust and ownership can help recruit and retain a bigger user base.

Challenges & Assumptions

As we started becoming familiar with the organization and what we had in store for the next 3 weeks, we used the client kickoff meeting to learn more about our client, stakeholders, and general expectations. From conversations and a problem statement exercise, we had a better understanding of the challenges ahead that would later be opportunities to gain alignment and provide a voice for users. From the first meeting we uncovered:

Research

We used various research methodologies such as domain research, competitive analysis, and user interviews with the intent of understanding the market, our users, and additional improvements we can make.

Domain

We leveraged desk research to disprove or validate assumptions by educating ourselves on blockchain technology, simplifying complex topics, motivating through onboarding, and creating continuous engagement to retain volunteers. A few key takeaways included:

• The best way to motivate potential members is to offer a clear value proposition and offer a low-barrier sign-up to lower onboarding abandonment

• Focusing on a volunteer’s full potential helps achieve the organizations mission more effectively and use resources more efficiently.

• In order for people to understand how blockchain technology can be used for social good, it should be concisely explained and compared to something they already know.

User Interviews

We conducted 8 in-person interviews with individuals who are either community members or affiliated with Marquis from the Blockchain community in Chicago. From talking with users we discovered:

After speaking with users, I mapped out what their current experience was like from the first introduction of Urban Array to conversion and post-onboarding. Journey mapping gave us insight into the potential opportunities and features to incorporate in our design. This would also help us understand how to bridge online and in-person experiences—whether that’d be meeting for that first informational interview to become a member or jumping in on future projects. It was imperative that users felt engaged and informed with any interaction with Urban Array.

Key Opportunity

The Problem

After initial desk and user research, we were able to figure out the root of the problem. We established common ground with our client by creating problem statements that focus on both the big picture and the current issue. Doing so ensured that we were addressing the needs of future members from underserved communities, while designing a platform backed by our current user research.

Big Picture

Opportunity seekers need volunteer experiences that empower them to build their skills, gain experience, and expand their network so they can develop themselves and their community.

Current Problem

Opportunity seekers need a digital orientation that sets clear expectations, shows the value of participation, and provides social proof so they can trust Urban Array’s presence in their community.

Design Principles

Design

One of the biggest hurdles in this project was matching the expectations of our client to a good user experience. We wanted to educate, onboard, and vet users simultaneously. In the process we temporarily lost sight of advocating for the users.

After rounds of rapid iteration from concept and usability testing results, we landed on a solution that offers the value proposition of Urban Array, a low barrier sign-up and onboarding experience, and a redesigned volunteer dashboard for its members.

I was able to contribute by redesigning the marketing page and its copy and creating multiple variations of a 3-step onboarding process used in A/B testing. Additionally, I created a sitemap to extend past onboarding and dashboard entry to reimagine the design and information architecture of the internal platform as the company grows.

Results

Overall, Marquis and the stakeholders were very pleased with the product and excited to begin making changes to the current MVP. They valued the research and thought that went into our proposed solution. We were able to effectively communicate the importance of lower barriers of entry to increase trust and membership, a defined value proposition, and good copy. It was also meaningful to see changes being made to the marketing page almost immediately after the project ended!

On a personal note, this project had many firsts for me where I had to learn and fail very quickly in a three week span to contribute to a successful product. Here’s a couple of lessons I learned:

• Asking the right questions. From the start we could have asked more thoughtful questions to gain alignment and create buy-in from stakeholders and the client earlier on. Working one-on-one with Marquis provided the perspective on how much design interacts with an organizations processes and overall vision, and the importance of getting everyone on the same page.

• Understanding my responsibility as a designer. One of my responsibilities as a UX designer is to always advocate for the users—whether that’s backed by user or research. It wasn’t until concept testing where I realized that I was creating an unnecessarily complicated onboarding flow that users disagreed with. As a team, we had to pivot and recreate two prototypes in a 36 hour period before usability testing. Yikes!

• Working with developers. We were fortunate that the stakeholders were also the developers building out our designs. Throughout the process, we were able to hear their perspective, which allowed for more awareness on assessing feasibility of products and creating more useful annotated wireframes.