Purpose
To improve efficiency and simplify the process of disaster relief assistance
Role Research Team Tools Duration
UX Researcher Me + Principal Service Designer Axure, Teams, Lucidspark, Excel 7 months
Overview
I took on the role of lead designer and researcher for six workstreams, focusing on creating and refining digital experiences for the American Red Cross. These workstreams included the RC Care Login Experience, WalkMe In-App Guidance, RC Care Console, Regional Account Authorizer Process, and Intake Shelter Linking. Throughout these projects, I was able to implement accessibility standards. One of my biggest accomplishments was delivering a solution that increased the ease-of-use score by 20% compared to the current design.
I facilitated discovery workshops and user feedback review sessions for the RC Care Login Experience, WalkMe In-App Guidance, and RC Care Console. In these sessions, I identified solutions to enhance or initiate improved experiences. After discussing my ideas with my project manager, I successfully pitched them to the team, receiving approval from the product owner to begin the discovery phase. This allowed me to innovate with purpose and drive meaningful change.
Background
American Red Cross RC Care
- Responds to the client’s submission for disaster relief
- Provides internal employees with efficient tools for coordinating efforts, tracking resources, and managing event-related information
- Provides internal employees with efficient tools for coordinating efforts, tracking resources, and managing event-related information
Problem
How can we streamline the process of applying and receiving disaster relief assistance?
For this case study, the specific project scope focused on simplifying the login process for internal employees to create and manage cases.
How might we simplify the login process for the internal intake and console systems to make it more efficient and user-friendly for internal employees to create and manage cases?
Discovery Workshop
As the sole UX researcher and designer on this project, advised by the principal service designer, I began with a comprehensive discovery workshop with active participation from cross functional teams and users.
This helped me understand the existing workflows, identify pain points, and gather initial insights and business requirements from various stakeholders. It set the foundation for a user-centered approach to problem-solving.
Prototype
Based on findings from the discovery workshop, I created an interactive prototype. This prototype provided more alternative and simple ways to log into the platforms, including through a common portal and a direct login page. These options made it friendly and efficient for both new and experienced users. Currently, users can access the login page for managing cases through multiple logins on other platforms, which I aimed to simplify.
Research By The Numbers
I conducted extensive user testing to validate the prototype. In total, I tested with 8 users across 3 different roles, completing 6 hours of user testing sessions. This thorough testing ensured that the design addressed the needs of the key user groups involved in the disaster relief efforts.
User Feedback
User feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Users appreciated the simple and convenient design, which streamlined the process and made information easy to read and access.
Overall, the design achieved a 20% improvement in user satisfaction compared to the current work flow, which is a sign of success for the first round of iteration.
Recommendations and Collaboration
From the synthesis of user feedback, I made corresponding recommendations to enhance the system further. I then collaborated with stakeholders and cross-functional teams to prioritize the feedback implementation.
I categorized the user feedback into three priority levels: Do Now, Do Next, and Backlog Updates. This structured approach allowed us to address the most critical issues and the quick wins first while planning for future enhancements.
Performance Feedback
"For the past seven months, I’ve had the pleasure of managing Hedy’s work on multiple design projects at the American Red Cross. In her role, she’s successfully navigated complexity and ambiguity while implementing feedback and delivering work on time.
Through her user research activities, Hedy learned about our users to design a simplified workforce log-in experience. As part of our projects for in-application guidance and regional account authorizer process, she worked with business and product teams to discover opportunities that will help users in our application. Her insights were pivotal in assisting the business and product managers with prioritizing content to be created. For the Salesforce Console, she conducted a card sorting activity to help guide our development team’s efforts to simplify user permissions while learning what pieces of content are most frequently used by them.
As part of design prototyping, I really appreciate Hedy’s efforts to learn new software and build prototypes. She has also learned new methods to collaborate with developers. Across three prototypes, she built 73 screens, including ongoing iterations and usability testing. One prototype shows interactivity for an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) that is designed for our clients. We are excited for this new product, as it will help our clients readily access important information they need.
Hedy is a delight to work with. She is professional, thoughtful, and cares about the design work we are doing. I am grateful for her willingness to join me on our design journey at the American Red Cross, ready to jump into a complex environment and navigate the unknown through design. She embraces feedback and is collaborative with me on implementing suggestions to make our service and product designs the best they can be. I enjoy having her as part of my team!"
Jamie
Principal Service Designer – RC Care
American Red Cross
