From my experience, it wasn't easy to find volunteer opportunities. I thought other people would face the same obstacles. The project aimed to develop a solution to encourage more people to volunteer.

Although users utilize the internet and online platforms, I discovered many users face the same challenges in locating opportunities. They also find motivation in volunteering with friends.

People had a difficult time searching, registering, and volunteering with others. Go Give is a mobile application to address those frustrations and encourage more individuals to volunteer.

A study conducted by Americorp from September 2020-2021 found compelling statistics of the financial impact on communities. With about a quarter of Americans volunteering, there is still room for growth in the market.

To learn about volunteering and the problem space, I used the following research methods to understand pain points with volunteers.

I conducted research with 4 volunteer platforms to understand what is offered to volunteers in the current market.

I surveyed 26 individuals, with Google surveys, about their experience volunteering. The surveys focused on when they last volunteered, what they looked for when volunteering, and what frustrations they faced.

Testimonials from respondents voiced their frustrations and struggles. They were asked, “What would encourage you to volunteer again?”

I interviewed 6 individuals who have volunteered in the past but haven’t volunteered in the last year. The goal was to understand why they haven’t volunteered recently.

Questions asked to participants:

From the information gathered through user interviews, 1 User persona was created to represent our target users during the design process.

After identifying user concerns and needs in research, I developed ideas to target both user concerns in searching for events and volunteering with others. I created a storyboard to visualize the user journey and a list of features needed in the application to help users search and sign up with others.

After creating a story of the user and a list of key features, I created digitized designs in Figma to outline the layout. These help me further conceptualize my solutions on screen.

The goal of the design is to portray a friendly, compassionate, and supportive environment for volunteers.

I applied the visual elements listed in the style guide to the screens. The developed screens focus on searching and signing up for an event.

After designing the solution in Figma, I conducted my moderated usability testing with 6 participants over Zoom. The test consisted of creating an account, signing up for an event, and inviting a friend.

Concern: Users were unsure how to invite a friend to a volunteer event

Concern: The information doesn't showcase all possible dates and availability

The goal of the designs was to create a user-friendly experience for volunteers to register for events and invite others to these opportunities. A full look into the prototype where users can search and sign up with friends.

There were so many features and options that I wanted to include in the product to address all the opportunities unavailable in the market. However, I realized a product doesn’t need to be good at everything to be successful.

Since there weren't many competitors in the volunteer mobile application market, I was unsure if my designs were viable and presented my designs in meetings.

With the iterations applied to the design, I would continue forward with testing both with moderated and unmoderated participants to gain insight from a larger pool of participants. There are also more areas to expand on and consider.