Picture this: you're passionate about your career and determined to build a supportive community for others in your field. You establish an organization and gain momentum, only to discover that your members feel disengaged and confused, putting you at risk of losing their interest and involvement. What should you do?

OVERVIEW

Enhancing the member experience to be more inviting and resource-rich

Background

Baddies in Tech is a professional development and networking community for women of color in tech. Their mission is to foster a more diverse and equitable tech industry by inspiring, empowering, and connecting a community of Black, Latina, Native American, and other women of color in technology.

The Problem

Baddies in Tech shared that their current membership experience is low-touch and requires minimal engagement, which can lead to some members feeling lost or disengaged. They wanted a new member portal that is more welcoming and resource-rich.

The Solution

I had the privilege of contributing to Tech Fleet's partnership with Baddies in Tech with five other designers to develop a member portal from the ground up. This new platform enables members access exclusive content, connect with one another, and enjoy a more engaging and positive user experience.

EMPATHIZE

Establishing a strong foundation by understanding client and audience needs

Alignment with Client

The initial weeks mainly focused on alignment meetings with the client and defining the MMP/MVP. They had great ideas and a list of potential features, so it was necessary to collaborate with the product strategy and UX research teams to identify prioritize them effectively.

A lot of team meetings!

Since this was our first time partnering with Baddies in Tech, we understood the importance of thoroughly balancing their needs with a realistic assessment of what we could deliver within the limited timeframe.

DEFINE

Segmenting the Baddies in Tech audience into three personas

Initially, the team struggled to define and align on the personas, which made it challenging to define key features and move forward. To resolve this, we organized a workshop focused on refining the personas, resulting in the following three.

Persona #1: Individuals breaking into tech
This group consists of students and career changers seeking relevant experience and mentorship.

Persona #2: Professionals already in tech
These professionals seek a sense of belonging within a community that supports their career growth.

Persona #3: Senior professionals
This group includes individuals who wish to mentor others and gain industry recognition.

A snapshot of the work we accomplished during the workshop

BRAINSTORM & RESEARCH

Building the portal's foundation

To establish a strong foundation, we thoughtfully developed a site map and thoroughly researched the software the client wanted to use to build the portal.

Site Map

With the personas defined, we gathered the client's requests for the new portal and developed an information architecture that incorporated the desired pages and features.

Information architecture for the member portal

Research Memberstack

The client wanted to use Memberstack to build the portal, so our team decided to explore its features and templates to leverage the existing components. My team decided to divide the work, with each person focusing on a different page or feature. I was assigned to design the home page.

An exploration of the templates available on Memberstack for the home page

DESIGN & COLLABORATE

Tackling the home page with help from the UX writing team

View prototype

Low Fidelity Wireframe

Drawing inspiration from the Memberstack templates, I created a low-fidelity version of the home page, with the following:

All the features requested by the client are in the vertical navigation bar on the left.

The page has dashboard design to allow users easy access to their desired content.

Each section, except for the Community section, includes a CTA that directs users to a separate page for a comprehensive view. This CTA leads to the same page accessible via the navigation bar items.

Home page low-fidelity

Mid-High Fidelity Wireframe

I proceeded to design the mid-high fidelity wireframe, shown below.

Home page mid-high fidelity (version 1)

After getting feedback from my UXD team, I made the following changes:

I changed two vertical sections to be horizontal, enhancing alignment with natural reading patterns and making the content easier on the eyes.

With the help of the UXW team, I tweaked the wording to ensure it aligns with the tone and branding of Baddies in Tech.

Home page mid-high fidelity (final version)

ITERATE

Integrating and considering user survey results

User Survey Results

While my team was designing the wireframes, the UX research team was simultaneously conducting user surveys to gather deeper insights into people's experiences with various career-focused member portals.

After analyzing the data, we found that users expect a centralized resource where they have access to help and support for job searches and networking through these portals.

The screenshot below features quotes from users responding to the question of what they expect from member portals.

Quotes from user surveys about member portals

The survey results confirmed that we were prioritizing the right features. For the home page, I continued to design a personalized experience that provides an overview of jobs, resources, and networking opportunities tailored to each user.

Reflections

Don't be afraid of overcommunicating

Next Steps

1. Aligning with the client for feedback and approval on the initial portal designs created by our team. Since there was another UXD team focused on redesigning the Baddies in Tech website, that project took priority, leaving us without sufficient time to gather the client's input on our designs.

2. Wrapping up prototyping and conducting usability testing on the current portal designs.

Learnings

Throughout the project, our team believed we were communicating adequately. However, this turned out not to be the case.

By the end, we recognized that we had not effectively aligned with the other UXD team or the client, which led to siloed work that risked straying from the intended scope.

If I had the chance to redo the project, I would prioritize scheduling more meetings and establishing a follow-up process to ensure that the entire team and the client remain aligned.