UX design · Product design · Research
Volunteer Connections
A web platform that helps people find volunteer opportunities that match their skills, interests and goals, faster.
Role
UX Designer
Year
2022
Timeline
10 weeks
Platform
Web
35%
Less time to find a relevant opportunity in usability testing
60→90%
Task success rate after iterative design improvements
10 weeks
From research to a tested, high-fidelity prototype
01 — The challenge
Volunteering should feel rewarding. Finding the right opportunity felt like work.
Volunteer opportunities are scattered across many platforms, and people have limited time. That makes it hard to find opportunities that match their skills, interests and availability.
Instead of feeling engaging, the search is inefficient and frustrating. People browse disconnected sources without knowing whether an opportunity is the right fit.
The gap pointed to a clear need: one intuitive place that makes discovery simple and volunteering more meaningful and accessible.
Discovery friction
✕ Users struggled to find relevant opportunities
✕ Navigation lacked a clear hierarchy
✕ Search results were hard to scan
✕ High cognitive load while completing tasks
✕ Task success rate: 60%
Target state
✓ An intuitive volunteer discovery experience
✓ Simplified information architecture
✓ Better search and filtering
✓ Faster decisions and a smoother application flow
✓ Task success rate: 90%
02 — Process
A double diamond, from motivation to validation.
We followed a human-centred process to understand what motivates volunteers, uncover the barriers in the current ecosystem, and design a platform that helps people connect with meaningful opportunities.
03 — Research & insights
People wanted to volunteer. They just couldn’t find the right fit.
Through interviews and secondary research, we mapped what motivates people to volunteer:
Building professional networks
Gaining experience
Developing skills
Supporting communities
Sharing expertise
Promoting a business or service
Integrating into a new place
Key insight
People were highly motivated to volunteer, but struggled to find opportunities that matched their goals.
04 — Define
The volunteer ecosystem was fragmented.
Users had to search across multiple websites, organizations and community groups just to find relevant opportunities.
How might we
How might we help volunteers quickly discover opportunities aligned with their skills, interests and goals, while helping organizations find qualified candidates?
05 — Ideate & design
From scattered ideas to a clear structure.
We explored ways to
Centralize opportunities
Improve discoverability
Simplify search and filtering
Surface skill-based recommendations
Create clearer paths to organizations
The design focused on
Simplified navigation
Better opportunity categories
An improved search experience
Clearer calls to action
I moved from sketches to user flows, information architecture, wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes.
Early sketches
Information architecture
Wireframes
06 — Testing
Validating the experience with real tasks.
Usability testing focused on four areas:
Opportunity discovery
Search and filtering
Navigation clarity
Application workflow
Finding
Users completed key tasks faster and with greater confidence.
07 — Outcome
From fragmented to focused.
✓ Reduced the time to find relevant opportunities by about 35% in usability testing
✓ Improved task success from 60% to 90% after iterative design changes
✓ Increased user confidence in navigating, applying and showcasing their skills
✓ Brought a scattered experience into one intuitive platform
By shifting from a fragmented model to skill-based matching, the platform helps people contribute to their community while building professional experience, creating value for both volunteers and organizations.
08 — The takeaway
My first UX project taught me when to open up, and when to focus.
What I learned
This was my first UX project, and the double diamond gave me a map. Instead of jumping straight to screens, I learned to widen the view first, exploring the problem with real people, then narrow it down to one clear question before designing anything. Going wide and then focusing, twice, kept me from solving the wrong problem.
Two diamonds, four lessons
01 · Discover
Listen before assuming. Interviews showed people were motivated to volunteer; the real barrier was finding the right fit.
02 · Define
Name one clear problem. A focused “How might we” gave every design decision a purpose.
03 · Develop
Explore before committing. Sketches, information architecture and wireframes let me try directions quickly and cheaply.
04 · Deliver
Let testing decide. Iterating on what users showed me took task success from 60% to 90%.
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