Background
Alzheimer's San Diego is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by Alzheimer's disease. It has provided caregiver support, community education, and clinical services throughout the San Diego area. ASD has a network of 200+ active volunteers.
The Problem
ASD volunteers lacked a centralized system to log their service hours, submit case notes, or stay updated on organizational news. This made it difficult for administrators to track volunteer metrics and for volunteers to remain engaged and informed.
Currently, ASD admins manually email each volunteer with their volunteer session feedback, and volunteers handwrite their session logs at the ASD office.
The Solution
I designed a comprehensive volunteer management platform. Key deliverables included:
- A user-friendly form for volunteers to record their service details, hours, and notes
- An administrative dashboard for tracking volunteer metrics and generating statistics
- A homepage to centralize announcements and updates for all volunteers
Results
Implemented and shipped the ASD volunteer management platform with enhancements that reached a 94.7% success rate for key volunteer functions.
Discovery
After the first kickoff meeting with our client, I did deep research on ASD's mission and services. I found that there are two types of volunteers — ALZ Ally and ALZ Companion — each with unique requirements and responsibilities. Since this is a 0-to-1 product, we started by conducting competitive analysis of similar platforms.
Competitive Analysis
Some of my inspiration came from SaaS products like Asana and Confluence, as well as Google Calendar and Notion, which had clean flows for managing tasks and communication.
Admin's Pain Points
Met with ASD's volunteer admins to understand their struggles.
Volunteers Don't Keep Up to Date with Logging Sessions
Volunteers struggle to keep up to date with logging sessions. They either forget or lose track.
Different Volunteer Roles
ASD has two types of volunteers, ASD Ally and ASD Companion, each with their unique requirements and responsibilities.
Inefficient System
Right now, admins have to manually email each volunteer feedback based on their report. This gets frustrating and unstructured.
Unpredictability
Admins don't know when a volunteer is going to have a session, or when they plan to come into the office.
Volunteer Insights
Sent out 30 surveys to students who are volunteers at UCLA and conducted 3 user interviews to discover their pain points and shape new features.
Tracking and Reminders
"Direct messaging with a volunteer admin" seems unnecessary (1/5 participants chose this feature). However, passive reminders were wanted (5/5).
Summary and Infographics
"Summary of total hours in portal" is a popular wanted feature (5/5 participants).
Autofill Based on Past Sessions
Additional feature: autofill the description of duties for logging hours under the same event (e.g., weekly food bank volunteering where the same tasks are performed each time).
Translating Research into Design: Admin Features
Top 5 Admin-Facing Features
● 01 Hour Validation Workflow
Research Insight: Admins need to ensure accuracy and maintain trust in volunteer
data.
Design Choice: Manual validation for each entry, pending approvals widget, and audit
trail for edits.
● 02 Admin Announcements
Research Insight: Efficient, targeted communication for organizational updates.
Design Choice: Post announcements with tags, audience selection, and search/filter
options.
● 03 Volunteer Data Dashboard
Research Insight: Admins want quick access to individual volunteer data for
oversight.
Design Choice: Dashboard with individual profiles, sortable logs, and summary stats.
● 04 Inline Feedback on Reports
Research Insight: Structured, actionable feedback improves volunteer engagement and
saves admin time.
Design Choice: Commenting on volunteer reports, providing structured feedback.
● 05 Resource Publishing
Research Insight: Centralized resource sharing for volunteer training reduces
communication overload.
Design Choice: Admins can publish resources to a dedicated tab, targeted by volunteer
group or type.
Translating Research into Design: Volunteer Features
Top 5 Volunteer-Facing Features
● 01 Logging Hours
Research Insight: Volunteers need a simple, flexible way to record their service and
notes, with no time pressure.
Design Choice: Logging form with open text, role selection, and no deadline for
submissions.
● 02 Accessing Past Activities
Research Insight: Volunteers want to review and filter their history for
self-reflection, reporting, and motivation.
Design Choice: Dedicated tab with filters (date, activity, status) and search
functionality.
● 03 Adding Upcoming Sessions
Research Insight: Volunteers value planning ahead; admins lack visibility into
volunteer plans.
Design Choice: Schedule future sessions and add planning notes, viewable by admins.
● 04 Summaries & Reports
Research Insight: Seeing their impact motivates volunteers and helps with personal
tracking.
Design Choice: Tab or widget showing total hours per week/month and activity
breakdowns.
● 05 Resource & Training
Research Insight: Volunteers want ongoing education for continued engagement and
skill-building.
Design Choice: Dedicated resources tab with training materials, toolkits, and
activity ideas.
Design System
I ran through the features with our client and decided on branding guidelines, making sure the color combinations passed Accessibility Guidelines.
Design & Iterations: For Admins
01 — Publishing Announcements
While designing the announcement flow, I studied platforms like Piazza and Stack Overflow. Key takeaways included saving drafts, adding tags, and filtering — features that help admins manage posts. I replaced the modal with a full page to give users more space and time, similar to Notion's property creation flow.
02 — Validating Hours
In addition to validating hours from the home page, admins can access it from the volunteer activities page or each individual's profile. Admins have the ability to approve, add feedback, and send back a session.
Design & Iterations: For Volunteers
01 — Logging & Planning Hours
Standard fields like name, date, and time are included. ASD admins also wanted volunteers to report their daily activities. I chose V2 (side panel) over a modal because it feels less urgent and keeps users anchored in the current view. This allows them to reference their calendar and original page while logging hours, creating a more comfortable experience.
02 — Volunteer Home Screen
I designed the volunteer home screen with widgets for announcements, stats, and hour logging. Inspired by dashboards, I prioritized planning and logging hours over showing past logs, which volunteers rarely revisit. After speaking with an admin, I added the ability to log future sessions — helping admins anticipate availability, similar to Google Calendar.
03 — Viewing Feedback
Usability Testing
3 Moderated user testing sessions + 30 Unmoderated sessions. I asked the client for active volunteers to participate in moderated usability testing where I asked them to think out loud, evaluate features, and complete specific tasks.
I also sent out an unmoderated usability test using the interactive Figma Prototype to student volunteers through a user testing platform, Maze.
"I kept looking at the first table and missed the second table where it said view. Although there is a red dot but I still had to process it so it wasn't straightforward right away."
"Finding the log hour is confusing…I'm not sure where to find the button to log the hour… too many button choices."
Measuring Success
Based on the 30 unmoderated usability tests I conducted, I gathered the following success metrics:
Healthcare, Management & Design
With a passion for healthcare and tech, I explored and emphasized the significance of their unique UI/UX challenges and responsibilities due to their direct impact on people's well-being. Key factors that make them significant include:
High-Stakes Usability
Errors in interface design can lead to medical mistakes. Clear, intuitive design is essential to avoid confusion in critical tasks like medication tracking, patient monitoring, or scheduling.
Data Density
Medical records, vital stats, and histories are complex. Good UI/UX simplifies information without losing accuracy — often using smart hierarchy, grouping, and visualization.
Time Sensitivity
Clinicians often need to access or enter data quickly, sometimes under pressure. Efficient navigation, minimal clicks, and smart defaults are critical.
Trust & Empathy
Patients need to feel safe, understood, and supported. Friendly microcopy, calm color palettes, and empathetic tone help humanize digital experiences.
Next Steps
Stay in touch with ASD. Gather more feedback as volunteers transition to using this product.
Reflection
Listen Carefully, Listen Deeply
Understanding what my client wants is crucial. Nothing is more important than actively listening to them and asking clarifying questions. Listen more, speak minimal.
Leading a Team
First time leading a team is intimidating. I'm so grateful for my fellow designers who spoke up every time they had a different idea — always led to something intriguing. Lots of thanks to my PM who had my back, and the engineers.
Working with Engineers
After the first hand off to engineers, I checked in regularly to ensure no flows were missing and we were aligned.
