Company
Team
Time
Role
Tools
Website
Everett Program
Universe of Technology
7 months
UX/UI Designer
Figma / Wordpress / Boba
Aren’t you overwhelmed or burdened by new emerging tech every year? You probably know what I’m talking about - Apple events every September releasing the latest and greatest Apple Watch, Macbook Pro, iPad, and iPhone, and the list goes on.
Very recently, I bought the latest (at the time of writing in Dec 2019) iPad Pro 12.9in 3rd Gen. Though, being not as familiar with the iPad lineup made it confusing for me since I did not know what generation or version of iPad to look for initially.
All iPads and their variations sold via Wikipedia
It makes sense though for such companies to keep releasing new tech as they need to keep their audience constantly engaged and have their income continuing to flow in. But as a result, their product lineup is more convoluted. It has been observed through our team’s research that technology project implementation processes and methodologies are inequitably developed specifically for the private sector on university campuses and other innovation power houses.
Nonprofits miss out on a myriad of support, public focus, and opportunity reserved only for economic contributors in the private sector. This creates systemic barriers for nonprofits that prevent technological access, literacy, and innovation. Many nonprofits also often lack resources critical to capacity like time, money, people, or technical skills which can create issues when implementing technology and inhibit organizational growth.
Introducing the UoT.
The Universe of Technology (UoT) web application focuses specifically on supporting nonprofit tech access and literacy through developing a digital platform for sharing the Everett Program method - empowerment through systemic thinking for needs based, human centered technology solutions.
Technological advancement has created an almost infinite realm of possibilities and solutions.
PRIOR ITERATIONS (HISTORY)
The first iteration of the UoT was a physical conceptual mind-map. The map focused on need based tech solutions for nonprofits and was developed in 2015. Six basic common needs were identified through observations of several years' worth of project implementations within the Everett Program’s nonprofit partnerships:
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Storytelling
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Internal Communication
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External Communication
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Training People
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Gathering Information
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Money
Each of these “basic need clusters” branched out into more specific solution pathways, ultimately leading to the 76 technology solutions.
The 2nd iteration of the UoT, developed in 2018 digitized the six need clusters into an online platform for ease of use and increased accessibility. The content was expanded to include infographics designed to increase the technical literacy of nonprofit users accessing this first web application. The infographics collectively utilized for the 2nd iteration were developed by over 40 individual Everett students.
2nd UoT Iteration (UoT MVP)
UoT MVP Student Infographic
PROJECT NEEDS
Although the first iteration of the UoT is still in use as a printed large scale visual within the Everett offices, this format is
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difficult to navigate in a digital form
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limits users to the finite number of specific software recommendations that will quickly become outdated as universal technology continues to expand
The second iteration of the UoT does expand on content to increase user literacy, however, the infographics
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lack design consistency
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overall application isn’t fully intuitive to navigate
Both prior iterations
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lack built-in instructions, explanations, or guidance for their use and how to determine one’s core needs to begin exploration
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only assist in basic need-based tech access, but lack support for implementing selected technology, leaving users with only partial understanding and without supportive methodology for tech selection
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potentially leaves users more dependent on external technical expertise to plan and manage the implementation of any new technology selections.
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No disability accessibility
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Language barriers inhibiting global accessibility
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Search engine optimization to make these tools more publicly accessible
PROPOSED SOLUTION
Assess
Explore
Plan
Designed for nonprofits lacking literacy and access to technical innovations, this 3rd iteration of the multi-year UoT project developed the foundation for a three component digital platform to share the Everett Program method. This application in progress is designed to comprehensively support nonprofit project need and capacity assessment, facilitate nonprofit technological access, literacy, and selection of technology, while also providing project implementation guidance that incorporates human centered systemic thinking.
The two additional components to complement the map our team brought on were a needs assessment and tech implementation guide. The addition of the Assessment and Guide serves to digitize portions of the organizational assessment process, making the methodology accessible to Everett Program students as well as nonprofits. Ideally, this three component application has the capacity to fulfill prior iteration’s lack of support for assessing the needs and capacity while empowering Everett students with a new set of skills if integrated into program curriculum.
IMPLEMENTATION
Our team of 4 brainstormed core functionalities, where we paired up in groups of two. Our team decided the following were of the utmost importance:
Core Needs Assessment
This feature takes the user through both multiple choice and open ended questions to guide them through a self analysis of their needs for the project or issue they are seeking resolution for.
The end result brings them to a description of Core Needs that can be aided by tech. This can guide them to discovering or reaffirming the user’s Core Needs and help them think more thoroughly through their issue or project by putting words around it in open ended questions.
(Map visuals are still a WIP)
Tech Tool Branching & Description
This feature guides the user from their Core Needs through various categories of “what can be done” and the tech tools that can be utilized.
This results in suggestions for tech tools that a user can select for their project or issue. This feature is important because it fulfills the ultimate purpose of the UoT by bringing a user to a tech tool solution to pursue.
Sketching
After laying the core needs that needed to be focused on, it helped streamline the design process in terms of what needed to be tackled first. The first few weeks of the project, I created some sketches for the home, tech plan, core needs, map, and tech tools page. Fleshing out these ideas got my brain in the right mindset and I gained inspiration during the sketching process. A core need that our team agreed upon was to keep the application clean, functional, and intuitive.
Everything should have responsive feedback when trying to interact with the website and the user should be able to navigate the site with ease. Another important factor I kept in mind when designing was to make it simple enough where our developer could translate the design into code (our case WordPress functionality). As someone who knows front-end proficiently and our limited time constraint, I knew I had to make the handoff period fast and simple for iteration and launching purposes.
Early process flow of assessment to map
Early sketching of UoT Map
User Research
We determined what research methodologies would be best for the user test, drawing from research done at the beginning of the quarter and from a meeting with Kathi Kitner, a Lead UX Researcher at Google. Deciding upon a cognitive walkthrough as the best fit, my teammate Max, with my assistance (because I had previous experience with cognitive walkthroughs), got to work designing the structure and logistics of user testing sessions that we conducted.
We conducted 6 user testing sessions with individuals spanning 5 nonprofits within the Santa Cruz area with each nonprofit having a different tech literacy and capacity, ranging from low to high.
We discovered, through user testing research with the 2nd iteration, that lack of user intuition and consistent design inhibited comprehensive use of the MVP. I gained a tremendous amount of qualitative data so it aided in creating a more seamless and intuitive experience for our target audience. Such data included were how the information on the pages could be formatted with less clicks, how the wayfinding between the MVP and our Beta version increased interactivity, and overall our team was pleased to hear the responses that matched our proposed solutions (adding the assessment and guide).
Prototyping
I translated the sketches digitally into low-fidelity (lo-fi) prototypes through Figma for user research testing purposes. It went through multiple iterations and changes through various channels of feedback: user testing sessions and from internally whether that be from the team or staff. This type of deliverable also allowed for quick feedback and communicating ideas and concepts to members of the team.
Post lo-fi prototype, I aimed to do a high-fidelity (hi-fi) prototype/mockup and focused on the typography (font), iconography, and colours of the designs created in the lo-fi. Unfortunately due to time constraints and constant iteration on the lo-fi screens, it was never was finalized so it is still a WIP.
Hi-fi WIP (never finalized due to constant iteration for the lo-fi and time constraints)
Aspiration Tech Festival
Testing & Branding the UoT
We also further showcased and tested the complete UoT Beta with nonprofit representatives at the California Nonprofit Tech Festival hosted by Aspiration Tech. During this conference, we met with dozens of passionate and inspiring individuals who wanted to learn more about how technology could help their organization promote social good. We used this opportunity to both demo the progress we made with the UoT as well as get feedback.
Since we attended a conference, I decided to focus on the branding of UoT - creating a logo, colours, and merchandise. There was something satisfying about walking around the conference and seeing a ton of people taking notes in the notebooks we created for them.
IMPACT
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We indirectly served about 120 people
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Developed a 3-component web-based application concept (through the addition of the needs assessment and guide)
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Expanded the available tech solutions from the map by 300% (76 to over 200)
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Designed a holistic and intuitive interface
Though our team fell short of having a more polished and final deliverable that low tech capacity organizations could test and eventually utilize in the field, we were able to collect some data from previous versions of the UoT in order to guide improvements during the beginning of project implementation.
Fortunately, we conducted user testing for the UoT MVP and our work-in-progress UoT Beta. We also further showcased and tested the complete UoT Beta with nonprofit representatives at the tech festival. Our ‘failure’ to meet ambitious goals actually turned out for the better, as it outlined a path of success for future iterations of the UoT and for the teams that will be working on them.
Although our immediate failure actually made room for future success, we did not collect much quantitative data to help determine our immediate impact. However, we do know qualitatively that our project has, and will continue to have, an impact for organizations with low tech capacity. According to our cognitive walkthrough of our Beta, our users seem eager for the full completion of our web application and see the potential for our project.
“It would save a ton of time and energy and would allow much more space for a person like me"
Mariah Borrow / Programs & Operations Coordinator / Food What?!