DemocracyLab
My role: UX Design team lead
I started volunteering with DemocracyLab a tech-for-good non-profit in 2021 as a UX Designer. My first task was to help with the second phase of the homepage redesign and I worked alongside writers, designers, project managers and developers. I helped to finalize the corporate donors, footer and header navigation using FIGMA and adhering to the established Design System that DemocracyLab has in place. Not long after, I was asked to lead the homepage phase 2 efforts to help move the project along because it was stalled. It was a larger ticket with multiple aspects in various stages of development and a six person team. I helped guide and instruct our volunteers on everything from the event modality, to our call-to-action usability tests, to prepping our testimonial carousel for the dev team. We launched the homepage in September of 2022 and we have been quite pleased with the feedback. We are seeing a higher conversion rate with the Make-tech-Do-Good video for volunteers and project owners.
I was voted in as the UX Design Lead in April of 2022 and I employ servant leadership to support the team. I mentor, encourage and manage our designers while paying close attention to the needs of the business. It is with that in mind that I am also on the Investments & Partnership team. I also take a close look at our analytics to see what pages have a high or low conversion rate or a high bounce rate. As the UX Design Lead, I have expanded and organized our onboarding documentation to guarantee all volunteers felt supported. In addition to leading the weekly meetings, I had many 1:1 or team sessions for knowledge sharing and to help with the assigned project or task. I work hard to ensure all volunteers feel valued and appreciated for their contribution. DemocracyLab wouldn’t be anything without our hard working and enthusiastic volunteers!
Tools used: Trello Boards, FIGMA, Google Docs, Google Analytics, Excel
One of my contributions was the desktop and small screen updates to the Corporate donors and footer of the new homepage. The project was stalled for a variety of reasons and I was asked to lead the effort to get this launched. I oversaw the workflow for the entire homepage from the header navigation to the footer and everything in between. I also lead the effort in making sure the Call to Action was completed, and the testimonial carousel, events and active projects for both desktop and small screen where prepped and ready for dev. It is important to note that the feature specifications, research and ideations had already taken place by the time I arrived in 2021. To the right is an example of the corporate donors section and footer for desktop.
The DemocracyLab UX Design teams creates both small screen and desktop mock-ups. We usually start with the mobile designs because it is easier to go up on size than shrink it down. I am including the prepped for dev files and this is the agreed upon standard we use. One of the tasks I completed as UX Design Lead was to guarantee that our volunteers used the same system for the prepped for dev files. This made for seamless and easier communications with our development partners.
Mobile footer dropdown iterations with user profiles from a need to log in to a logged in state.
I am including examples the prepped for dev files I worked on because it is imperative that designers are organized and send files that are easy to understand. DemocracyLab now has a consistent standard on how we prep our files to send to the development team.