Name: Docebom (example bakery site)
Project for General Assembly Front End Development part-time course - October 2014
Skills: UX, HTML, CSS, Javascript, wireframes.
The Problem:
- My mother (a pastry-chef) needed a site to promote her homemade Brazilian sweets that she makes on the side as a hobby.
The Approach:
- Required (MVP): Create a simple website that:
- Provides basic information on the company.
- Provides a way to preview some of the products.
- Provide a means to contact the owner/chef.
- Next Steps:
- Make it responsive.
- Launch the site with a hosting company.
The Solution: View Wireframes | View the site.
Name: Buscando.io
Collaboration project with various attendees of the 2014 TechLady Hackathon.
Skills: Product management (discovery), remote team work, quality control, front-end support, content support, UX support.
Tools: Sketching (pen-paper), HTML, Github.
The Problem:
- Approximately 30,000 Central American children seeking refuge from violence in their home countries have arrived in the United States in 2014. These children and volunteer caretakers need access to local resources such as food and clothing.
The Approach:
- Required (MVP): Create a web app that:
- Matches caretakers to local resources (e.g., food, transportation).
- Matches volunteers to local organizations in need of resources.
- Provide registered organizations with site administration controls (e.g., volunteer approvals, supply management)
The Solution: View the site.
Buscando team at work at the 2014 Google-sponsored Tech Lady Hackathon.
Set of initial sketch wireframes.
Buscando.io welcome page
Name: MyPet.com or Fetcher (app).
Project for Human-Computer Interaction taught by Scott Klemmer from The University of California, San Diego on Coursera.org.
Skills: Research, competitive analysis, interviews, usability testing, sketching, low fidelity wireframes.
Tools: Sketching, Balsamiq
The Context:
- Approximately 2.7 million healthy, adoptable cats and dogs—about one every 11 seconds—are put down in U.S. shelters each year. - Humane Society of the United States
- The U.S. has approximately 15,000 puppy mills, supplying nearly 100 percent of the dogs sold in pet stores, online, and through newspaper ads. - Animal Rescue Corps
The Problem:
- Potential pet owners are not fully aware of the costs (financial, time, emotion etc.) associated with caring for a pet.
- Misunderstanding of how puppy mills affect the quality of life for millions of animals.
- Economic problems affect how well a pet owner can reasonably care for a pet, resulting in many abandoned or sheltered animals.
The Approach:
- Required (MVP): Create a mobile app that matches owners to a pet, and provide estimated costs associated with obtaining that pet.
- Good: Link users to local adoption agencies, and possibly responsible breeders.
- Future Feature: Link existing pet owners to other owners and/or organizations providing free resources such as food, crates, dog sitting discounts, veterinarian discounts etc.
The Solution: Download or view the full clickable wireframes done in Balsamiq.
Preview of MyPet project
Name: DCWebWomen.org Site Redesign (work in progress)
Project for General Assembly User Experience Design, Summer 2014
Skills: Research, competitive analysis, interviews, card sorting, surveys, usability testing, sketching, low fidelity wireframes, client presentations.
Tools: Balsamiq, OptimalSort, SurveyMonkey, UsabilityHub, OpenHallway, sketching.
The Context:
DC Web Women is a professional organization of more than 3000 members (mostly women) located in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Members are professional technologists, students, and enthusiasts who specialize in the fields of blogging, computer science, editing and proofreading, graphic design, information technology, SEO etc.
The Problem:
- Registration has slowed down. Membership benefits are unclear.
- Organization-sponsored events are poorly placed on the site, are not easily "shareable" and contain cumbersome registration features.
- Members and non-members cannot search for jobs, or post jobs.
The Approach:
Perform the full stack of User Experience research to identify current usability issues with the site, understand member needs, capture target market, assess improvement of current features, assess potential of future features etc.
- Required (MVP): Redesign the site so that the top membership priorities are easily found: Jobs, Events, membership perks etc. Improve the placement of registration buttons.
- Future Features: Provide blogs, original content pieces (written by founders or guest bloggers), tutorials, association perks (e.g., discounts), and peer-to-peer internal networking capabilities.
The Solution: Download to view the research and first set of low fidelity wireframes done in Balsamiq.
The landing page for DCWebWomen.org as of 08/2014
Based on research (surveys, usability tests, card sort) a suggested new landing page, that promotes the mission of the organization and invites new members to join.
Sample persona created for the top audience for DCWebWomen.org. The majority of members are women ages 18-35, with intermediate skills, currently employed or looking for work in the Washington D.C. metro area. Personas were created by Crystal Augusto (great Illustrator skills) based on research.
I played around a bit with the concept of Kano Analysis. My aim was to examine the most on-demand website features that survey respondents mentioned, and plot them on a line of most importance, but also of highest execution requirements.
DCWebWomen.org does not currently have a jobs page, but the site is built in Wordpress. This wireframe includes features that are easily found in Wordpress widgets.
Name: Club25online.org (2010-2011)
Work project for Safe Blood for Africa Foundation. The site has changed considerably since my involvement. The snapshot below is what it used to look like in 2010-2011 when I helped build it, manage it, and promote it on social.
Skills: Research, competitive analysis, interviews, client management, bug tracking, developer-liaison, copywriting, product development.
Tools: Photoshop, Gimp, Basecamp, Facebook, Twitter, Constant Contact, Webex (for international client presentations/troubleshooting), fivesecondtest, click tests, Google Analytics, HTML and CSS for content edits.
The Context:
Club 25 is a world-wide effort led by blood donation organizations to foster responsible blood donors amongst youth ages 18-25. In an effort to bring the concept of Club 25 to the web, Safe Blood for Africa Foundation in partnership with Sony Entertainment developed the concept of Club25online.org - a social network for blood donors.
The Problem:
- How to connect blood donors in various regions, while lightly involving blood banks.
- How to create a point system that honors good behavior, and can be traded for merchandize with local merchants.
- How to mobilize when a crisis hits.
The Approach:
- Required (MVP): Ability to connect blood donors from various regions to each other, and allow regional blood banks to use the platform to mobilize/contact their registered blood donors. Membership approvals, monitoring system, admin-level controls, static content areas, and video/photo uploads. Downloadable resources for blood banks (e.g., flyers, posters etc.)
- Future Features: Reward or Point system (was still being worked on when I left)
