Case Study
Responsive Donation Dashboard
Responsive design for sankofa.org to manage and view their donations.
Timeline: 2 Weeks
Type: Responsive Design
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Otter.ai, Maze
The Problem
Roles: UX Designer, UI Designer, UX Researcher
Sankofa employees are having a hard time viewing, managing, and organizing their donor and donation data.
Sankofa.org is a distinguished non-profit organization operating under the fiscal sponsorship of dedicated social and environmental entrepreneurs. Committed to addressing issues of injustice, they employ a dynamic approach by hosting events and fostering meaningful collaborations within the arts community. They have a large pool of donors that they need to manage on a daily basis.
Allow Sankofa employees to have a company-specific place to go and interact with their donors and donation data.
The Solution
With this in mind, I set out to create a responsive dashboard to aid with the organization, visualization, and management of Sankofa’s donor network.
What I Learned…
Information Architecture
User Feedback Gathering: Regularly consulted with target users and business stakeholders to gather feedback on dashboard content and layout preferences.
Iterative Optimization: Maintained a priority list and iterated on it to optimize the dashboard effectively.
Clear User Journey: Created detailed sitemaps and task flows to establish a clear and intuitive user journey, enhancing the overall usability of the dashboard.
Accessibility
Accessibility Priority: Prioritized accessibility from the beginning, not as an afterthought.
Color Contrast Enhancement: Utilized color contrast checkers to enhance the design process.
Level AAA Compliance: Achieved Level AAA compliance, ensuring inclusivity for all users.
Dashboard Preview
These screens showcase the homepage and the donation analytics page. The design was aimed at providing users with a top-level overview of donations, along with the convenience of reaching out to specific donors directly from the dashboard.
The Process
Research
Non-profit organizations must maintain vigilant oversight of their donations and possess an effective database system for connecting with potential donors. I started my research by analyzing existing systems that non-profits use to manage and track their donations.
Objectives
Identify and address the specific needs and pain points of Sankofa employees.
Learn and understand how other non-profits might manage their donations.
Explore potential solutions tailored to meet Sankofa's specific requirements.
Interviewing Sankofa’s Own
Conducted user interviews with Sankofa employees.
Utilized a semi-structured format to allow for open-ended questions and in-depth discussion.
In order to gather diverse insights, I interviewed the creative director, co-founder, and intern.
Competitors
I conducted a comprehensive analysis of four companies that provide support to non-profits in the areas of donations, events, and overall organization. This analysis yielded valuable insights into key features and revealed both strengths and weaknesses.
Valuable Insights from Competitors
Automated data entry and tracking
Direct communication with donors via the platform
Wide variety of features (event management, employee profiles, reports, donation history, etc.)
All require third-party payments
Not personalized to non-profits
Limited responsiveness
Defining & Ideating
To kickstart this phase of the project, I synthesized my research findings into "How Might We" statements, creating a conducive environment for generating innovative ideas and empathy.
Priorities & Needs Straight From The Source
Top priority: Implement quick search and sorting functionality for donors.
Develop an exclusive, in-house dashboard instead of relying on a third-party solution.
Create a user-friendly messaging system allowing communication through the platform, email, or phone for seamless interaction with donors.
These wireframes incorporate numerous UI cards, with a focus on maintaining responsiveness. My objective was to explore a variety of layout possibilities. Additionally, I integrated donor profiles and real-time donation updates into the designs.
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
The process of creating these wireframes provided me with a clearer understanding of the potential layout options.
How might we streamline the process of searching and sorting donors to provide a seamless donor management experience?
How might we integrate a messaging system within the dashboard to enable easy communication with donors?
How might we develop a comprehensive donor management solution that caters to the diverse needs of Sankofa employees?
I then crafted a sitemap to illustrate the potential flow of the dashboard’s layout.
These three task flows offer a visual representation of the specific daily tasks that a Sankofa employee might undertake.
Conclusions & Next Steps
Tasks
Search for donor profiles
View current analytics
Message a donor
Improvements
Users would like a direct message option on donor profiles
Search bar does not need to be on every page
Users were unclear on the differences between analytics and live donations
Prototyping & Testing
In line with my research and Sankofa's requirements, I conducted a usability test involving five participants ranging in age from 22 to 62, all of whom are employed at Sankofa.
Usability Test Objectives
Evaluate ease of use by directly consulting Sankofa staff
Identify any issues or confusion related to navigation
Observe instances of confusion among participants while they attempt to complete tasks
After gaining a solid understanding of the information architecture, I advanced to sketching out prospective solutions that harmonized with the desires of Sankofa's stakeholders, all while keeping research findings in mind.
More Important Screens
Below, you'll find the remaining dashboard screens that empower all Sankofa team members to efficiently carry out donation-related tasks.
I would have loved to interview more employees at Sankofa to gain even more valuable perspectives.
Keeping accessibility as a top priority was challenging but essential, as clearly demonstrated in the usability tests.
Maze.com provided a platform for unmoderated usability tests, which were crucial for this project's scope. However, it did lead to higher user errors compared to moderated testing, which is something I'll consider in the future.
For upcoming projects, I plan to maintain a record of each iteration to better track progress and showcase it to stakeholders.
Excited for the next step: a meeting with Sankofa's stakeholders and their developer!
Successes
Clean and straightforward design
100% said tasks were easy for them to finish
Easy to navigate and perform tasks