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Caravela
RESEARCH – DESIGN FOR MOBILE & WEB – USER TESTING
MAY 2022 – DEC 2022
Despite their significant contributions to society, NGOs often struggle to engage volunteers and donors due to limited resources and visibility. Caravela was developed to help non-profit organizations with challenges that they face. It provides a virtual platform for NGOs to showcase their causes, connect with like-minded volunteers, and receive much-needed support to further their missions.
THE CHALLENGE
Create a platform that can help NGOs connect and engage with volunteers.
MY ROLE
I was fully responsible for the project’s experience, interactions, and interface, leading the research stages and ensuring the quality of the final deliverables.
THE TEAM
Sole designer on the team, worked with three developers and the guidance from a lead designer.
Research
NGOs Interviews
To truly comprehend the needs of NGOs semi-structured interviews were conducted with three institutions, two from Brazil and one from Spain.
This approach provided a broader perspective on the challenges NGOs face.
Volunteers Interviews
Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with individuals who volunteered or had volunteered before. The goal was to uncover the motivations and driving factors behind their engagement in this type of volunteer work.
Main Search Takeaways
👥 There is a dificulty to retain Volunteers and keep them engaged
🥱 Volunteers can find that its hard to be motivated while doing activities
💸 Money and reaching new people are problems that ware cited by all interviewed
Ideation
After conducting the research, the main issues faced by non-profit organizations were identified, refining the project’s problem to how to help them raise funds and attract volunteers.
Defining Users
There were two distinct audiences with different objectives
🏢
NGOs
They need a more effective way to find and reach more volunteers and donors
🤳
Volunteers
Volunteers may face challenges in staying engaged with ONG activities and can sometimes feel unmotivated.
Prioritization Matrix
Key features were defined through a brainstorming session with the development team, then the features were organized in a prioritization matrix to guide the creation of the MVP.
User Flow
Vollunters Apps
NGOs Site
Low Fidelity
While in ideation low-fidelity wireframes whare used o quickly validate how the features would behave on the screen and make any necessary adjustments. By using this approach, we were able to efficiently iterate on the design and ensure that the final product would meet the needs of our users, while also being feasible for the development time freme
Usability Testing
After creating the first high-fidelity prototypes, usability testing was conducted to identify any possible navigation difficulties. These test were made using design prototypes to catch possible difficulties on the usability before the final implementation, conducted in person, with users that fit in the public of volunteers in NGOs.
Results
Based on the test results and the expansion of NGOs partners, updates were made to the UI to improve the user experience. The goal was to ensure that the application remained user-friendly and intuitive as it grew and evolved.
With usability tests, it was possible to notice that the account settings were difficult to find.
As the app expanded, the home screen became outdated for the amount of information on it.
Final Implementation
Based on the test results and the expansion of NGOs partners, updates were made to the UI to improve the user experience. The goal was to ensure that the application remained user-friendly and intuitive as it grew and evolved.
Vollunters App
To help NGOs find new people to help, users can navigate through actions that are being held by the non profits, a filter was implemented to help volunteers find the best action to help wherever is the best to them
Users can also find various NGOs in different categories and get all the information needed to become a volunteer in that NGO
To help with the engagement from volunteers and help them keep motivation, users can earn medals by helping NGOs.
Ngos Website
Non-profits crate their account to be able to connect with volunteers .
Non-profits can create actions to engage users and raise awareness for their cause, empowering them to make a difference.
Components
To help maintain consistency in the design and aid in the development, components and tokens were created
Tokens
Components
Components were documented with tokens to help in the code creation
Results
The project received the participation of over 14 NGOs from different states in Brazil, and many of these relationships extended beyond the app. The app achieved over 200 downloads from volunteers looking to help non-governmental organizations. Also the recognition from various news outlets such as MacMagazine , Tecnopuc, Jornal NH was received.
Learnings
This project was developed in a short period of time, which really made me focus on the user’s needs and carefully select what to include in the MVP. This allowed me to ensure that every part of the app provided value to the user and could easily be developed and delivered by the team.
It was also the first project where I worked with a design system and component documentation. The documentation I created enabled seamless communication between the design and development team, facilitating necessary iterations during the development process. This experience taught me the importance of components and how they can support not just the design team but the entire development process.
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