Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO)
TIME
2023 Summer
MY ROLE
Website Designer | Developer
TOOLS
Figma | Wordpress
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Redesign and launch the entire WEDO official website for the upcoming 10th year anniversary of the establishment of the NGO.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
To promote awareness and facilitate engagement for the underrepresented stories in local communitie, the project aims to deliver a mobile-accessible web app based on Figma UX prototype within 4 months. Through scanning QR codes at different locations of the river front, users and stakeholders can share various forms of content, including text, video, photo, and auditory files.
Background
Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO)Our mission is to WEDO is an NGO that celebrate, support, and uplift women entrepreneurs worldwide. Founded in 2013 by Wendy Diamond, each year on November 19th, WEDO celebrates Women's Entrepreneurship Day by hosting conventions and gatherings worldwide. In 2023, WEDO was celebrating their 10th year anniversary and was updating their website for the upcoming WED.
The goal of the internship is to collaborate with the organization manager and 2 developers to design and develop the new WEDO website based on current design using Figma and Wordpress.
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Sharing Personal and Historical Experiences: The client recognized the importance of capturing and preserving personal experiences and historical accounts related to the Detroit River. By creating a platform for sharing these stories, the project aimed to enrich the community's understanding and appreciation of the river's significance.
Connecting People to the River's Narratives: Beyond simply collecting stories, the client sought to establish a meaningful connection between individuals and the river's narratives. The solution needed to provide an immersive and engaging experience that would encourage exploration and facilitate a deeper understanding of the river's cultural and historical significance.
Timeline and Strategy
We approached the project using the Agile Method. Agile is an iterative and incremental approach to project management and software development that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, customer feedback, and rapid delivery of functional software. This method involves breaking the project into smaller, manageable units called sprints, allowing teams to continuously assess progress and adapt to changes efficiently. Throughout the sprints, we prioritized the most important and needed features from the client to ensure we delivered maximum value.
Website Structure
Based on our client's requirements and the time limit, we established four main epics/features for our development focus:
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User Authentication: Secure login and registration, including password reset, and Google login.
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Create and Share Posts with Multimedia: Users can create, edit, and share posts with text, images, videos, and audio.
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Explore and Map Experience: Users can discover and navigate content using search, and a dynamic map view for geographic exploration.
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Admin Moderation: Tools for administrators to monitor and manage user content.
We broke these epics into smaller user stories and set up user flows to complete these main actions efficiently.
Design System
At the beginning of the project, we were provided with a Figma design document developed by Emily Hanafi, Meera Amin, Amelia Turco, and Cooper Drobnich. We followed most of the design and UI components for the development, making minimal adjustments for styling consistency and to meet the client's needs based on testing.
Colors and UI components
UX Design
We followed most of the design in the developed product, but made a few adjustments based on testing and client's feedback:
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Created a laptop-first UI for Admin users for content moderation.
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Added a search and filtering feature for posts.
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Allowed audio input and uploads for users.
Colors and UI components
WEDO Summit
WEDO Events
WEDO Updates
WEDO Volunteer
WEDO FAQs
WEDO About
WEDO in the Press
Website Demo
Reflection and Lesson Learned
While the Detroit River Story Lab project successfully addressed the client's needs and delivered a valuable solution, there are several areas for potential enhancement and expansion. Based on the insights gathered during the project's development and feedback from stakeholders, the following next steps have been identified:
Performance Optimization
To ensure a seamless and responsive user experience, especially as the application's user base and content volume grow, several performance optimization measures have been proposed:​
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Caching: Implementing intelligent caching mechanisms can significantly improve the application's performance by reducing the need to fetch data from the server repeatedly. Caching frequently accessed data on the client-side can minimize network requests and accelerate content delivery.​
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​Debounce and Throttle: Techniques like debouncing and throttling can be applied to certain user interactions, such as search queries or scroll events, to prevent excessive function calls and improve overall responsiveness.​
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​Error Prevention and Management: Robust error handling and prevention strategies should be implemented to ensure a seamless user experience even in the face of unexpected errors or edge cases. This includes proactive error detection, graceful error handling, and comprehensive logging and monitoring systems.
User Experience (UX) and Content Enhancements
To further enrich the user experience and expand the application's content offerings, the following enhancements have been proposed:
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Additional User Testing on Engagement: Conducting additional user testing focused specifically on user engagement can provide valuable insights into how users interact with the application's features and content. This feedback can inform design and functionality improvements to foster increased engagement and retention.
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Integration with Other Story Lab Projects: Exploring integration opportunities with related Story Lab projects, such as digital mapping initiatives, carbon emission tracking, and podcasts, can create a more comprehensive and interconnected experience for users, expanding the breadth and depth of content available within the application.
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Content Modules from Story Lab: Incorporating additional content modules developed by the Story Lab, such as interactive historical timelines and educational quizzes, can further enhance the application's educational value and provide users with a more immersive and informative experience.