Context

CISS is a small but mighty institute for progressive and modern studies in Sufism with 50 students in Canada and around the world.

In an early meeting, stakeholders expressed a problem: the organization was growing quickly, and the pandemic forced all classes and events online, thus their digital content grew vastly. CISS was at a critical point to make some key decisions about the tools and arrangements needed to proceed with the work that will need to be done during this growth spurt. 

My Role

I was the UX researcher, UX designer, UI designer, and content writer. Also as project lead, I created a project goals and expectations document which kept the team organized and on task.

Key Problems

Email traffic: The organization was using a personal Gmail account for all email traffic, and all files were stored in the associated Google Drive. Anyone who had the login had access to all potentially private data. There was also no way of keeping track of whether people were answering emails since it was all in one account.

Access to files and information: Meanwhile, another group of users - the students of the organization that consumed the content - complained that files and information was notoriously difficult to find. 

Stakeholder Requirements

Stakeholders wanted an online solution to serve the growing needs of the organization. The outcome they expected had to be:

• Affordable

• Easy to implement

• Easy to train new people on

• User friendly and

• Scalable for the future

UX Research

I identified two main user groups: 

• User group 1 were the content creators. They were the administrative staff members and people who taught classes.

• User group 2 were the content viewers, the students who attended the classes.

I conducted semi-structured interviews with members from both user groups in order to understand their behaviour, needs and pain points. I met with users in person and asked them to show me their workflow as I asked them specific, pre-planned questions.

Key Research Questions 

Pain points: What about the current set-up isn't working for users?
Needs: What is essential for a virtual office run by volunteers, and an online school for people taking classes part time?
Behaviours: How do the users interact with the current set-up?

Synthesis and Ideation

I affinity mapped the interview findings which showcased a lot of consistent pain points across users. 

Key Insights

In order to tackle all of the problems that require solutions, this project will need a phased approach. In fact, this isn't one but four sub-projects to be completed in the following order:

• 1. A full overhaul of the file and folder structure in Google Drive and creation of a new member-access intranet for classes and events, optimized for web browser, but accessible on mobile devices.

  2. Re-designing and templating email newsletters for ease of authoring and readability. 

  3. Using service design to set-up virtual office practices that solve problems in content creator workflows including e-mail and other issues.

  4. Creation of a new member-access intranet for the music program, optimized for mobile devices but available on web.

Information Architecture

...and More Research

Card sorting exercise

I conducted a card sorting exercise with users to help determine what the navigation structure of the intranet should look like.

Feels-Like Prototype

Rather than building a prototype in a program like Figma or XD, I decided to do it right in Google Sites since it would be just as time efficient. 

I chose Google Sites as the platform for the intranet because, as per project objectives, it had to be affordable, easy to implement, and easy to train new people on. We created a Google Workspaces account for the organization at the non-profit rate of $0/month. 

I presented the prototype at our annual general meeting to all members and the board of directors, and it was met by a flurry of excitement in the room.

Next Steps

The next step in this project is to conduct a usability study of the prototype with our users.

Measuring Project Impact

Prior to the launch of the new CISS virtual office + archives, our team will conduct a satisfaction survey with CISS members in order to quantify the baseline of the current product user experience.

After launch, we are planning to re-circulate the same survey so that we can measure changes in satisfaction that resulted from the new product implementation. The results of both surveys will be shared with the BOD.

Website Re-Design

Earlier in my tenure at CISS, I was also asked to re-design the organization's external website. We needed to implement a solution that was affordable and easy to maintain. I chose to build a simple website in Google Sites because it would incur no cost to the organization, and it would be easy to update by any staff member as it requires very little website building skills to maintain.

By cancelling the organization's Wix account, which was used to host the old website, we were able to reduce the communications budget by 20%