Leading the design process through COVID-19 and beyond
I joined SaverLife, a nonprofit that helps low-income Americans save, in March 2020, the same week the pandemic began. Six stories from my time as its first and only designer.
01
“Welcome to SaverLife”
Two weeks in, we launched an emergency cash grant.
Two weeks after I started, we built and launched an emergency cash grant program to reach our most vulnerable members. I worked with stakeholders and engineering every day.
Resulting in
$2M+
dispersed to almost 5,000 families in need
Partnerships with Wells Fargo, MetLife, Prudential, Target, and Humanity Forward (Andrew Yang’s nonprofit)
02
“Here’s your reward!”
Letting members choose how they get paid.
Letting members choose how to receive cash rewards became new core functionality, and freed us from supporting other payout systems. I designed a simple payout flow with my PM and engineers.
Resulting in
3%
of payouts unclaimed, down from 39% with other payout systems
Members choose their bank, PayPal, or Venmo
A more refined notification experience
03
A system we can build on
A minimal design system so we could ship fast.
To build and ship fast without inconsistent type, color and layout, I set up a minimally viable design system with engineering.
Resulting in
A modern, consistent site that improved usability, and fewer new users asking “is this legit?”
Smoother dev handoffs for our weekly releases
04
A process we can rely on
A design brief that grounded ideas in goals.
Ideas weren’t always grounded in goals or research. With the VP of Product and Marketing, I created a simple design brief template.
Resulting in
Better collaboration inside and outside the product team
Reinforced quarterly product goals
Insights feeding our “How might we” questions and prototypes
05
Investing in UX research
Talking to our most engaged members.
We weren’t talking to our most engaged members. I got a list, built an outreach plan, and ran the interviews.
Resulting in
A clearer view of which features resonated, and why
Our first journey mapping exercise, which I led
Weekly interviews across member segments
Monthly check-ins on what we learned and on research best practices
06
Being a leader
How these stories set up the core redesign.
As COVID-19 disrupted our members’ lives, our roadmap and how we worked, stories like these kept the team moving. Through 2020 and 2021 they set up the revamp of our core experience.