Design of an interactive system with a team of 6 to create a volunteering app for the City of York Council.
Research . Design . Usability Testing
Problem Statement
The ask was to create an app for residents of York with functionalities to discover a range of volunteering opportunities, select a time & date of the user's choosing and to allow users to keep a record of the opportunities they were involved in.
Users & Audience
We considered three categories of users.
👤 Organisers
Organisers who recruit people for volunteer activities
✋ Volunteers
participants with previous volunteering experience
⏩ Potential Users
People who were interested in volunteering
A single user persona was developed to represent the app's primary audience, which included both 'volunteers' and 'potential users.'
The User Journey Map is displayed below.
Develop a platform that consolidates all available volunteering opportunities in one place, similar to a job search platform. Include options for users to save and organise opportunities of interest.
Integrate a mapping feature to display the locations of opportunities.
Add search filters that allow users to sort opportunities by type, language (e.g., gardening, helping the elderly) and duration of commitment (e.g., a day, a week, a month).
Implement a system for real-time updates to reflect changes in opportunities, such as adjustments in roles, schedules, or group status.
Brainstorming
solutions
Based on the understanding of the user's actions and feelings in the 4 different phases, the team started a brainstorming session helping explore the possibilities of how to address those problems and enhance the user’s experience.
Wireframing and
Iterative Design
🔍 Wireframing
Data gathered through questionnaires gave us insights into our user categories, user needs and pain points. The research was used as a foundation over which the rest of the app was designed.
📋 Usability Testing
Data gathered through questionnaires gave us insights into our user categories, user needs and pain points. The research was used as a foundation over which the rest of the app was designed.
© Sharon Jacob 2024