Going in to this 3-week sprint our first task was to simply understand what MovementBase was and what their team needed from us. While my team and I were learning more about them, they scheduled 7 initial interviews with admins and users and also scheduled 5 "feedback/usability sessions" for later in the sprint. We really had our work cut out for us so our team split up, half of us conducting interviews and half of us looking into competition

After talking with so many people, both leaders of non-profits and members that would be using the platform to learn, we learned a lot about the nuance of what a software like this needs and what it doesn't. From the admin side of things, users really showed a need for detailed analytics. Information such as demographics of members, member engagement, member attendance, and overall progress towards grants. All of this info was needed to not only track success within the organization, but also to present to grant writers who are giving them the funds. The other users we talked to (2 groups of high school students) showed interest in gamification of the learning portal, things like achievements and points to keep them motivated through learning modules.

COMPETITION

While half of our team focused on the interviews, the other half worked on a competitive and comparative analysis for potential inspiration. The main two software we looked into were Duolingo, for its gamification and unique member engagement, and Salesforce, for its intricate CRM functionality.

We ended up with 2 personas, Maria and Tyrique, one for the admin side of the web app and one for the member/learning side. We found that having both perspectives was crucial for meeting not only user needs, but also the needs of MovementBase.

We ended up starting the ideation portion of the project later than we had hoped due to the huge amount of research and synthesis in the first week and a half, so our team focused up and got to work sketching and completing some design studio.

We all split up, some of us sketching the member portal screens and some of us sketching the admin screens. We all came together the next day to show-and-tell and pick what ideas we liked the best. After we were all satisfied, we were able to move on to wireframing.

For the member/learning portal, it was important to keep the interface fun and easy to understand. While a lot of the members of these non-profits can be tech-savvy young people, there is still a large mix of tech literacy and types of people using the app, so we aimed to keep it accessible for anyone.

Similar to the member portal, the admin portal needed to be easy to understand but with less gamification. Information needed to be easy to find, modules needed to be easy to upload, and analytics needed to be easy to show to stakeholders and grant writers.

After showing the wires to the remaining 5 interviewees, we received a lot of feedback. On the member/learning portal side, users liked the gamification and the overall look of the screens but wanted the learning modules to be easier to understand. On the admin side, users liked how simple it was to look up members and find data, but needed some more information displayed to show grant writers. When moving into design, we took this feedback and implemented it with our Hi-Fi. We liked the MovementBase llama logo and colors, so we kept a similar color palette and design kit to their previous iteration. We updated the font to Nunito for its readability and soft edges.

On the member portal side, we have our profile page and home dashboard where you can see your progress in the modules and access all parts of the web app including learning modules, community events, and progress metrics. You can RSVP and sign in to the community events through that section of the app. Signing in looks like scanning a QR code at the event (in person), and this sends your sign-in/attendance info to the admin.

Depending on what the admin uploads, the learning modules consist of either a video or text reading, followed by knowledge check questions. After completing a module, you get your badge/achievement that can later be seen in your profile.

The admin side of the web app needed to be a little more data driven, so the dashboard greets you with access to all sections of the platform. You can create and upload learning modules, add community events, look at all your analytics, and also see your progress towards your grant.

We received a lot of feedback from organization leaders about the need to look up members both on the individual level and also the household level in the case there are many members part of the same household. You can create households with existing members and also add new members in this section.

This project ended up being a huge challenge for our team. We were given a ton of work to do within a super short amount of time, and I think we succeeded in both sides of the web app. MovementBase went from having a bare-bones action portal with no built in CRM or database for admins, to a fully interactive platforms for both members and admins. It was an absolute pleasure working with the MovementBase team on this and I think we designed something that both looks and feels good to use, but also something that is important to a lot of non-profits and that is designed to help non-profits stay organized and help people learn and grow withing their communities.