Project Overview
Ung Cancer, a nonprofit supporting young adults affected by cancer, wanted to optimize their mobile website to increase donations. As part of my UX design internship, I collaborated with a classmate to identify user needs and provide actionable recommendations to improve the donation process. Our research-driven approach led to key insights that would directly inform their website reform. The client commended our work as thorough and insightful.
My Role: UX Designer
Team: Semcon’s UX team manager, 2 UX Designers (Semcon mentors), Ung Cancer's communications manager, 2 Ux Designers (YRGO students)
Duration: 300 hours (August - November 2024)
Tools: Microsoft 365, Figma, Canva, ChatGPT
Client: Semcon Corporate Social Responsibility project in support of Ung Cancer
Core Skills Applied
Hard Skills: Time reporting, presentation & report writing, usability testing, workshop facilitation, data analysis, user research, stakeholder communication, collaboration & project management.
Soft Skills: Problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, professionalism, attention to detail, adaptability, and time management.
Mockup for donor-friendly options in Ung Cancer's "Support Us" menu.
The Process
1. Understanding the Problem
We started by engaging directly with the the client and the Ung cancer mobile website to understand Ung Cancer’s mission, values, and existing website experience. During our initial analysis, we uncovered critical usability issues, lack of transparency around donation allocation, and missing emotional engagement factors.
Decisions & Trade-Offs:
Given the limited project timeframe, we prioritized usability over a complete website redesign.
We chose stakeholder meetings over a broad survey, allowing for deeper qualitative insights.
Mockup showing a simplified donation process.
2. Research & Insights
We conducted usability testing with 12 participants and facilitated a workshop with different donor groups (ages 25–60) to gather qualitative data.
Key Findings:
Trust & Transparency: Users were hesitant to donate without clear information on where their money goes.
Personal Connection: Emotional storytelling, particularly from real beneficiaries, significantly increased engagement.
Ease of Use: Many users found the donation process confusing due to unclear CTAs and complex navigation.
Challenges & Adaptation:
Due to the sensitive nature of the work, it was difficult to contact the website's current users to pinpoint usability issues from their perspective so we chose to target potential users instead.
Me facilitating the workshop
3. Defining the solution
With insights in hand, we mapped out two primary donor personas:
The Information Seeker: Values detailed impact statistics and transparency.
The Empathetic Decision-Maker: Motivated by personal stories and emotional connection.
These personas helped guide our recommendations for website improvements, ensuring solutions catered to different user motivations.
Trade-Offs Considered:
A fully interactive prototype was out of scope, so we created high-fidelity wireframes to effectively communicate our solutions.
Instead of a complete content overhaul, we suggested key messaging improvements that could be implemented within existing site constraints.
Landing page mockup for donors.
Results & Impact
Our deliverables included a comprehensive customer journey map, refined user personas, and a strategic concept proposal addressing website messaging, structure, and content. These insights provided a clear roadmap for improving donor engagement and ultimately increasing contributions.
What I Learned & Future Applications
User trust is paramount. Clear, transparent communication is as vital as visual design in conversion-driven experiences.
Constraints drive creativity. Navigating time and user interaction limitations pushed us to prioritize high-impact solutions.
Collaboration fuels success. Aligning closely with stakeholders and team members ensured that our recommendations were practical and actionable.
This project reinforced my ability to balance business goals with user needs while adapting to real-world constraints. It was an invaluable experience in applying UX design principles to create meaningful, user-centered solutions.