Foster Cooperative
Foster Cooperative supports youth overcoming adversity with community and resources for success
Timeline:
3 Weeks
Role:
Ux Designer
UX Researcher
Project overview
Foster Cooperative is an online community that supports individuals helping at-risk youth overcome adversity by providing community and resources for success.
Problem
How can we create a digital platform to provide a community and resources for people who support at-risk youth facing adversity?
Challenges
A significant challenge nonprofits face is funding. Due to grant funding loss, we faced a reduced budget and a 3-week timeline for UX research and design.
User Research
Foster Cooperative requires a platform that engages organizations involved in foster care.
I interviewed potential stakeholders to identify user types and understand how they interact with their organization and each other.
I identified two different user groups: organization owners and organization members.
An affinity map capturing notes, pain points, and opportunities from user interviews.Personas
Using the information gathered from the user interviews, I developed personas to gain a better understanding of the two user types and their interaction with their organization.
A persona for an organization owner with a biography, quote, demographic information, goals, frustrations, and tools.A persona for an organization member with a biography, quote, demographic Information, goals, frustrations, and tools.Feature Prioritization
Using the findings from discovery research, I created a feature prioritization matrix.
I determined that the essential features for the minimum viable product (MVP) are groups, messaging, feed, photos & videos, and files.
Non-essential features include forms, calendar, events, and automatic check-ins.
A feature prioritization matrix based on impact and effort to determine which features should be included in the minimum viable product (MVP).UX Design
Due to the shortened timeline, we skipped the low-fidelity wireframe phase and jumped straight into high-fidelity mockups.
Activity Widget
I designed an organizations widget on the activity feed, which functions as the landing page, so users could easily access their organization and teams.
Teams function as subgroups within the organization. An organization can have multiple subgroups or teams, and members can be a part of multiple teams.
The organization feed page which includes a menu for discussions, teams, communities, resources, messaging, photos and videos, and managing members.Claim Resource
Because organizations can own resources, I added the ability for organization owners to claim resources. There are two options for those who are in an organization and those who are not. For users who are not in an organization, they will be redirected to register an organization.
The Claim Resource Form for a user who is a part of an organization.An activity widget that allows users to access their organizations and teams.Organization Menu
Using the feature prioritization matrix, I determined which features Organizations needed the most.
The menu for organizations was based on which features were most vital: feed, discussions, teams, messaging, photos and videos, and inviting members.
Organizations can also own communities and resources, so I included those in the menu to allow organization owners to view and manage those features.
The Claim Resource Form for a user who is Noy a part of an organization.Register An Organization
Before using Foster Cooperative, ssers need to register an organization with the platform. Upon registration, Foster Cooperative’s administrators can approve the organization on the platform.
A prototype of the registration form to create a new team.Create New Team
Organizations can have subgroups called teams. I created a flow to allow organization owners to create a new team from the organization’s page. The form is based off an existing form to create resources.
A prototype to create a new team within an organization.Redesign
After consulting with engineering, I discovered that the organization registration design would be too complex to complete on schedule. So, I redesigned the registration process to align with other forms on the platform.
A prototype of the revised form to register an organization.Conclusion
Lessons Learned
Adaptability
While working under tight constraints, I learned to prioritize essential features, optimize the design process, and make data-driven decisions to deliver impactful features.
advocacy
If I could make one change, I would prioritize more user research and testing after the prototype phase to ensure that features align with user needs.