Design for Social Good

My challenge was to design a mobile app and responsive web site that was for social good. With ROI, stakeholder priorities, and profit driving most technology endeavors, using thought leadership and technical capabilities for social good brings a better balance to our world and our work.

PurposeNation is a match making service of sorts - it matches donated items with nonprofits in need. The result? Purposeful donations.

This design project was completed using Figma.

CASE STUDY #1 and CASE STUDY #2

PurposeNation

PurposeNation is a match making app and responsive website that matches donated items with nonprofits in need. The result? Donations with specific intent and purpose.

Overview

The problem and the goal

User research

Since many nonprofit organizations run lean, users tend to be directors or assistant directors. Donors come from all professions, backgrounds, and geographies - and many have specific types of donations to make. Both sets of users tend to be over 25, living in both urban and rural settings, are highly empathetic, and have a philanthropic mindset. They are the type of people who like to give back and pay it forward.

User personas

Competitive audit

I conducted a competitive audit to see if there is anything similar in today's marketplace.

Maintain a free platform; make it simple and straightforward (nonprofits are lean on staff and don’t have a lot of extra bandwidth); eliminate confusing layouts and jargon
No direct competitors exist - this is a new idea/product

Ideation process

I wanted to design the app just like a marketplace you’d find on PoshMark, eBay, or Mercato so that it would be intuitive to the user.

I wanted the desktop version to be more of an experience, since the highest volume users would be nonprofit staff in the office.

Ideation process and design

Digital wireframes and low-fidelity prototype

Affinity diagramming

A usability study was conducted with 5 participants to gain understanding of my two main user flows - donate an item and find an item.

Findings

The user flows worked well - findings were prioritized as 1s and 2s.

Redefining and iterating

From the study, users were given some additional leeway when listing an item for donation, including the ability to check an ‘other’ category and write a personal description.

Mockups

A clean, modern feel with a very straightforward user journey

Mockups - continued

Design best practices - sticker sheet

I used Google's Material Design Library to aid the use of iconography throughout all three device designs.

High-fidelity prototype

Link to high-fidelity prototype with connections.

Accessibility Considerations

Moving onto responsive web

This was a mobile-first project so I leveraged progressive enhancement (bottom up) design practices.

Site Map

I wanted the desktop to be just that - an experience! Most nonprofit users will be accessing PurposeNation from a desktop in their office, so it was important that I offered an inspiring and memorable experience on our platform!

Responsive designs

This project was a lot of fun. Tablet size made the app experience a little richer while desktop took it to a whole other level.

Responsive designs

Responsive designs

Going forward

Takeaways and next steps

Impact:

In the real world, number of downloads, items donated, and items accepted would give us a depth of understanding of PurposeNation’s impact.

What I learned:

There are many ways we can put our skills to use to help the world. This project left me wondering “what else can I do?!”

Let's connect

I have a genuine interest in supporting pathways to growth through the power of the written word. From impeccable communications to persuasive proposals and thoughtful creation, I deliver narrative and design that delights, immerses, and engages your audience.

The Write Direction, LLC is the culmination of a creative start, global B2B sales experience, and in-depth proposal writing for an array of industries, facilitating masterful development of meaningful content that achieves results.

Contact Lorri at The Write Direction