KANDUIT

We designed an information sharing site with ask-to-answer functionality to help NYC social services workers identify and navigate appropriate programs for their clients. My work on this project began as a student in General Assembly's UX Immersive program and continued as a consultant after graduation.

We aimed to make the site intuitive, approachable, and efficient to help social services workers find and share information to help meet client needs. Kanduit began as a simple directory, and is evolving to become a full-featured site. We designed a homepage, forum, and user profiles. We implemented a dynamic search pane that provides simultaneous searching and filtering across these information sources to help users find information quickly and easily.

Future possibilities could include some information management features such as notes, lists, and collaborative tools. We've also discussed the possibility of social events that would be educational while helping to reinforce community and the Kanduit brand.

CONSULTING TO DISCUSS MVP FOR SITE LAUNCH・HIGH FIDELITY MOCKUPS & PROTOTYPE・INTERFACE & INTERACTION DESIGN・ITERATIVE USER TESTING・WIREFRAMING・INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE・IDEATION & FEATURE DEVELOPMENT・PERSONAS・SURVEYS & INTERVIEWS・COMPARATIVE FEATURE ANALYSIS

TEAM OF 3 X 3 WEEKS

Key Screens

Features & Innovation

Unified Dynamic Search Pane: Allows for flexible and efficient searching and filtering across the forum, programs, topic posts, and user profiles. Helps users find what they are looking for quickly.

Topic Posts: One hurdle for a new information sharing site is content. User generated content can build quickly, if you give it an easy platform. We introduced the idea of Topic Posts to help jumpstart Kanduit as a knowledgebase.

Anonymity: Although Kanduit was initially opposed to anonymity because it could detract from accountability, our user research overwhelmingly supported the need for it. We chose to give the option of selective per-post anonymity to foster open dialogue.

Credential Verification: We counterbalanced anonymous posting with credential verification, so that anonymous posts would show if a user's professional credentials have been verified, while still concealing their identity.

Ask to Answer: Brings a question to the attention of people likely to be helpful.

Profile: Friendly, personal, colorful, and informative. Highlights credentials and contributions to the Kanduit community. Large color profile photo and about section help to foster human connection.

PROCESS

Comparative Feature Analysis

We did extensive comparative heuristics and feature analyses of other information sharing platforms, including Quora, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and LinkedIn. I did annotated feature analysis of the forum and profile features of Quora, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.

We took what we learned from this research to consider how we could best meet the needs of our specific user base.

Survey & Interview Analysis

View PDF of survey

Our research showed that social services workers are very excited about Kanduit's mission. They crave a supportive community, appreciate peer recognition, and would love a tool to help them work more effectively.

Currently, there is no reliable, comprehensive way for social services workers to find out about appropriate programs and services for their clients. Many rely on outdated spreadsheets or their often limited professional network to get information.

Insights

We learned that many of Kanduit's potential users have quite a lot of hesitation about online interactions. They feel intimidated by potential conflict, have concerns about privacy, are cautious about saying something they may be judged for, and tend to understate or undervalue their own knowledge and experience.

They also want to know the qualifications of other contributors while having the option to post anonymously.

Personas

Based on Kanduit's stated knowledge of their target audience and backed up by our survey responses, our personas are all women to reflect the vast majority of their users. Kanduit was particularly concerned about addressing obstacles to women participating in online information sharing.

We created 3 personas to characterize our typical site users:

Selena Marcus, the Highly Engaged User, is excited about taking an active role in building community and information sharing.

Kelly Reyes, the Occasional User, is looking for actionable information.

Marissa Castelli, the Content Creator, loves to write and has a wealth of experience and information to share.