Timeline
July 2024 - August 2024 (4 Weeks)
My Role
Project Manager and UX Designer in a team of 4 with the support of educators and program manager
Meet our team!
PROBLEMLack of Deep Connection and Sense of Belonging
BIPOC Creatives face challenges connecting to peers from similar cultural backgrounds, leading to difficulties in developing and maintaining meaningful connections and feeling a sense of belonging in the design community.
THE SOLUTIONThe Power Of Connection
Connection is the bridge that introduces the resources, trust, and diversity that designers need to enter the workforce. LuNR aims to build these bridges between various users, starting with linking the BRIDGEGOOD ecosystem of apprentices and alumni to interested educators, professionals, and students.
PRIMARY RESEARCHIn-person interactions are the key to building trust, fostering deep connections, and creating lasting relationships
In our first round of interviews, we focused on understanding the challenges, desires, and ideals individuals have when pursuing a career in design as BIPOC Creatives. We discovered that most participants sought one-on-one mentorship, cultural and racial representation, and needed support in terms of time, space, and financial resources. One interviewee confirmed that with sufficient resources, mentorship, and access to industry professionals, BIPOC students can thrive in their pursuit of a design career.
AFFINITY MAP (FIRST ROUND INTERVIEWS)
“I think a lot of it was allowing myself to do these things, and a lot of it was seeing others around me who were like me.”
- Nilpa Jhaveri
Building on insights from our first round of interviews, we sought to deepen our research on professional relationships. We asked participants how they define a professional relationship and what tools they currently use to seek those connections.
In our second round of interviews, we uncovered a more profound challenge: the difficulties in building meaningful professional relationships. Interviewees mentioned experiencing social anxiety, particularly in the post-pandemic context, and highlighted the impact of neurodivergence, such as ADHD. They also expressed a desire for deeper connections based on shared values and interests, contrasting with the often surface-level nature of most networking experiences.
AFFINITY MAP (SECOND ROUNG INTERVIEWS + SURVEYS)Considering the insights from both rounds of interviews, we decided to focus on helping BIPOC creatives easily seek out professional relationships while building deeper connections. Our conclusion was that the power of strong connections could effectively address this challenge.
Our goal is to create an app that enables BIPOC creatives to connect with others from similar backgrounds in person. We aim to make the process easy and safe, removing any barriers that might discourage in-person meetings.
PERSONA
Aaron
Aaron represents the immigrant and freelance population among our interviewees. As a graphic designer who recently immigrated from El Salvador, he wants to pivot to UX/UI but struggles to find the right people to guide him.
Aaron is insecure about his accent, which contributes to social anxiety and prevents him from initiating and maintaining connections. He finds it hard to connect with like-minded people and is not surrounded by a supportive design community. Aaron’s goal is to gain confidence when meeting new people and to make meaningful, deep connections with other like-minded individuals.
Renee
Renee represents the student population of our interviewees. She is an african american student pursuing a career in design who is also neurodivergent. Her goal is to find networking opportunities, and increase personal access to educational resources to strengthen her hard skills.
Her challenges and pain points are “Out of sight, out of mind” -- it’s easy to forget to message someone or follow-up on a conversation. Its hard to find a motivation or an incentive to maintain relationships . She has Difficult in finding like-minded people and a supportive community.
DESIGN PROCESS
Team Moodboard and sketching activity (Crazy 8s)
After conducting thorough research and engaging with BRIDGEGOOD stakeholders to understand the organization's business values, our team began the creative process by inspiring each other through mood boards. These visualizations helped us align on the look and feel of our app. We then collaboratively voted on a name that encapsulated our vision, leading to the creation of LUNR. To further refine our ideas, we participated in a Crazy 8s brainstorming session, where we rapidly generated and discussed features we wanted to incorporate into the app. This collaborative approach ensured that LUNR not only reflected our shared vision but also met the needs of our target users
Mood Boards
Aiko and I each created wireframes based on our persona, Renee's happy flow. We then presented them to the team for feedback and shared them with our educators and stakeholders for additional input and iterations.
Renee’s Happy FlowCrazy 8s Team Activity
Mid-fidelity wireframes by Anthea
Mid-fidelity wireframes by Aiko
USABILITY TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
We tested our prototype with five users ranging in age from 20 to 55. Their feedback was instrumental in refining and iterating our design.
PROTOTYPE
Team Reflection
Research: Both rounds of research identified clear issues and solutions to focus on.
Team Alignment: The team maintained strong alignment in communication, ideas, design decisions, and research.
Skill Sets: Our team had a well-balanced range of skills.
Support: Team members were supportive, kept each other accountable, and regularly checked in on progress.
Key Takeaways
My time at BRIDGEGOOD has been incredibly valuable, and it's hard to capture everything we achieved as a cohort in a single case study—you'll just have to trust me on that. I've grown tremendously since the beginning of this journey, and I never imagined I would take on a leadership role. I'm incredibly fortunate to have worked alongside three amazing teammates to create LUNR. The level of trust we developed throughout the process was truly remarkable. We faced many ups and downs, but thanks to everyone's dedication and support, we pushed through and successfully presented our project in front of stakeholders at Wells Fargo HQ in Concord! This experience has been a testament to the power of collaboration and resilience, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of it.
