theGivingTree.
a mobile app for managing recurring donations to nonprofits
Spanning across two Stanford HCI courses, I contributed to this project as a UX researcher, designer, and developer to build a mobile app designed to provide nonprofit organizations with consistent revenue. theGivingTree enables users to manage recurring donations to organizations supporting the causes they care about.
Contributors
Anna Chang, Nancy Hoang, Fernanda Kramer, Kayla Patterson, Britney Tran, Alissa Vuillier, Lainey Wang
Method
needfinding, user interviews, usability testing, UI/UX design, heuristic evaluations, prototyping, mobile app development
Duration
20 weeks
Tools
Figma, React Native, Firebase
Mixed Method Study
Through iterations of needfinding, testing, heuristic evaluations, and implementing changes, the medium-fidelity prototype (with its tasks outlined below) was developed as the final project of the course Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction. This version was then picked up in User Interface Design Project for further iteration towards a high-fidelity prototype.
User Tasks
simple task
Donate to a cause effectively without having to do research on organizations
moderate task
View recommended resources based on generated net-cost and user profile
complex task
See the organizations/amounts you’ve donated to long-term and retrieve your tax-forms
Using this prototype, we conducted usability and concept testing with 5 frequent donors using the framework below.
Background Questions
What is your relationship to donating?
Do you have organizations or causes you donate to? If not, is there a reason why you do not donate to organizations?
How do you research organizations to donate?
Testing Metrics
for Task Completion
Engagement: # clicks
Efficiency: Completion time
Robustness: # errors per task
Probing Questions
What were some parts of the app that were difficult to follow? Useful?
Would you use this app?
What would make you more likely to make recurring donations?
Users want to…
search for an organization
personally set goals in the reward system
give in ways other than money (e.g. time)
intuitively cancel recurring donations
Prototype v1
before
after
Browse Page
horizontal carousel to maximize browsing & organization
allows direct navigation to nonprofits
User values:
convenience
personalization
Donations Page
clearly shows chosen organization
button to donate is only clickable once all fields are completed
visible payment information
User values:
documentation
error prevention
before
after
before
after
Profile Page
'Forms' has its own tab in navbar since its functionality is unique and complex
minimalistic interface
User values:
aesthetics
clarity
Forms Page
toggle between 'Donation History' and 'Past Tax Forms' for simple navigation
minimalistic interface
User values:
aesthetics
intuitive navigation
before
after
Prototype v2
before
after
Home Page
incentivize users to continue donating
new trees collected based as number of donations increases, goals are customizable
User values:
motivation
personalization
before
after
Browse Page
populated with organizations for browsing
filter tabs allow for prioritization
star system displays organization needs
image carousel
User values:
efficiency
documentation
Database Page
initially Wizard-of-Oz using frontend
organizations, donation, history, images, and graph data are all stored in Firebase storage system
User values:
user history & data
before
after