UX & Web Design Projects

As a disclaimer, this is not my ideal portfolio interface. Weebly was cool for making a website back when I needed it for job applications in 2017, but now I need something more legit. I'm working on a much sexier production in WebFlow, but it's taking a good chunk of time to do it correctly. So, this will have to suffice until it's done 😎

Below is a tl;dr (too long; didn't read) list of projects. I'm working on the details to articulate and visualize my process.

My Website IA Reorg

Picture credit: Adobe Stock

My role: Information Architect
Tools: Optimal Workshop, Notion (for organizing my thoughts and task management)
Status: In Progress (does it ever really end?)

tl;dr version: I created this website using a basic template back in 2017 when I was originally applying to professor jobs. I never assessed the IA! Since I've added a lot of content over the years and my goals are different now, I wanted to assess whether the categories were intuitive to a wider variety of users. A series of open and closed card sorts revealed that most of my original categories matched users' expectations except for a couple of persistently-fuzzy options. As a result, I restructured the navigation menu to what you see now.

Next up is a tree test to see whether the newly-organized information is findable with some additional context (and to hopefully flesh out these fuzzy concepts).

Hack for LA

Some of the crew in one of our weekly all-hands meetings.

My role: UX Writer, UX researcher
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Google Workspace, Zoom, Slack, GitHub
Status: In progress

tl;dr version: I'm on a multidisciplinary team working on a specific project called Access the Data. It's a two-part project focusing on improving data literacy for citizens who want to learn how to use open-source data to advocate for a cause. We are building a website for citizens to find resources on this (part 1) and workshops/modules to train them (part 2).

I entered the project nearly a year after it had started as its first UX writer. Most of my impact over the last few months has not been something I can screenshot or benchmark; as a UX writer, my role is much more than paring down and clarifying copy. Some of my other responsibilities include:

Designing, implementing, and analyzing studies with other researchers (usability testing, A/B testing, tree testing, card sorting, interviews)
Refining research materials and recruiting participants
Leading and contributing to the ideation process
Making recommendations and design components in Figma while consulting with developers
Establishing copy and microcopy tone, voice, and clarity with other UX writers
Managing stakeholders and other team members
Advocating for inclusive language and design
Creating onboarding tutorials for new team members

involveMINT.io

Picture credit: involveMINT

My role: Website design & development consultant
Tools: WebFlow, Slack, Notion
Status: In progress

tl;dr version: I was contracted to fix WebFlow classes for responsive web design, organize and train employees on CMS, and diagnose issues with a custom HTML pop-up modal.

AZ Exotic Bird Rescue

Picture credit: Adobe Stock

My role: UX Designer
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Google Workspace, Facebook, Optimal Workshop

Background: This is one of my heart projects. I've had my eye on this site for years, so I jumped head-first into this project back in February 2022. AZEBR is the Phoenix metro area's best-known parrot rescue, but its website's responsive design, information architecture, accessibility, and SEO are in dire need of attention. It's pretty clear that they used a basic website template (just like I did with this site!), but busy rescue managers don't have time to worry about little details!

Process: Although there were plenty of usability issues from the outset, I wanted to assess whether users were able to navigate the existing layout. I made a site map and started with a tree test.

Since Optimal Workshop's free version only let me use two tasks and 10 participants, I prioritized the most important touch points: (1) signing up to volunteer and (2) learning more about the rescue's adoptable birds (which hadn't been updated in about 10 years).
I recruited 10 real participants who had never visited the site before, had actual interest in learning more about the organization, and had experience with parrot adoption.
I ran the stats on the site's adherence to WCAG 2.0.

Results:

The tree test confirmed that the navigation and page labeling were incongruent with participants' mental models. Fun note- two participants reached out to me after the test to complain about how frustrated they were with the website's navigation!
The site failed most of the WCAG requirements. Taking a peek in Chrome's developer tools revealed tons of mislabeled HTML structures as well.

Next actionable steps:

Open card sort to discover how users naturally organize the site content with their own lexicon.
Closed card sort (if needed) to clarify remaining fuzzy categories and match user expectations with those provided in the open card sort.
Tree test to verify whether the revised architecture is more efficient for users.
Wireframes in Figma for potential site reconfiguration. I don't want to overhaul their design theme, but changing how things are organized will be paramount.

I could also conduct research to make user personas and journey maps. Although I have a pretty good idea of a couple continuous attributes (familiarity with rescue birds, volunteering experience), I need to discover how (and if) these variables interact with the ways in which users navigate the site.

Since optimization is critical for non-profits and small businesses, I would also like to assess the site's SEO in Google Search Console or (in a perfect world) Moz.

Namwera AIDS Coordinating Committee

Picture credit: NACC

My role: User experience consultant
Tools: TBD
Status: In progress

tl;dr: Saeed contacted me back in April to arrange a usability audit for the NACC's outdated website. Since he is in Malawi, we arranged meetings at 10am my time, 7pm his time! Zoom was really spotty, so we decided to continue our communications via email. More info coming soon!