United Way

The Challenge

How might we increase the United Way's volunteer conversion online and at live events?

The Solution

An online personality quiz, based on the psychology of play and motivation, will connect volunteers with opportunities. While at live events, the Kind Card Kit will direct volunteers to agencies with matching interests.

Tour the Invision Prototype

Download the Kind Card Kit PDF

The Design Process

Usability Testing Shows Users Overwhelmed

The United Way currently uses Volunteer Match to connect volunteers with opportunities. During usabiity testing we found first-time users were:

Overwhelmed by the number of choices
Receiving unintended search results
Turned off by the impersonal experience

Volunteermatch.org's Homepage

Participants can't figure out to start by clicking the "keywords" box. Then they had trouble knowing what to search for, "I guess I like Nature and being outdoors, but I also like technology."

Volunteermatch.org's Results Page

One participant, an avid runner, described this page as overwhelming, "I typed in 'running' and none of the results apply. Okay bowling is a sport, but thrift shop sorter?"

Volunteermatch.org journey map.

Key Insights Gained From The Usability Testing
Users expect:

Easier on-boarding
The option to browse opportunities
Fewer choices
Error protection
A more personalized experience

Survey Says 'Purpose' Is the Strongest Motivator, While Scientists Say It's 'Play'

We surveyed over 100 Twin Cities residents and found that:

73% feel morally inclined to volunteer.
83% don't know where to start.

Volunteering for a cause you care about gives you a sense of purpose.
Purpose is when you believe in the outcome of the work. You may not like doing it, but you believe in the greater mission of the work.The current system matches people based on the causes they care about, their skills, and a keyword search.

Volunteering because you enjoy the actual task is because of play.
Play is when your reason for doing the activity is the activity itself. However, play is very subjective. Dr. Stuart Brown asserts most of us fall into 8 play type categories.

Dr. Stuart Brown asserts most of us fall into 8 play type categories: Joker, Collector, Storyteller, Kinesthete, Explorer, Director, Competitor, Artist.

Illustrations Capture the Spirit of the Eight Play Types

For use in the app, I created illustrations to capture the spirit of the play types.

The Joker pursues play through nonsense and silliness.

The Collector wants to have and hold the most interesting collection of objects or experiences.

The Storyteller uses imagination, reading, and stories of all kinds to experience play.

The Kinesthete pursues play through movement.

The Explorer goes to new places, meets new people and adventure is the route to playing

The Director enjoys planning scenes and events.

The Competitor likes specific rules and plays to win.

The Artist finds a fulfilling experience of play when creating something.

The Play Type Characters: (top row) Joker, Collector, and Storyteller; (middle row) Kinesthete, Explorer, and Director; (bottom row) Competitor, and Artist.

Wireframes Inspired By a Dating App

After conducting a competitive audit of other volunteer matching websites and apps it was clear that no one has built one with an easy on-boarding process and that gave a personalized feel. So I started looking around for other apps that connect two groups of people, specifically Tinder.