Awhale is an app focused on helping whales. It gives access to organizations worldwide sharing the mission of saving whales and helping the ocean environment. Awhale targets people who care about the environment and need a fast and simple way to make donations and stay informed about the ways to get involved.
July 2022 - October 2022
UX Design and Research, UI Design
My responsibilities included conducting interviews, user research, competitive audit, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, visual design, and addressing accessibility issues.
How can I create a mobile-first responsive website design to help people make contributions to the marine environment online so that they have an easy and fast way to contribute to any organization aiming to help whales and the ocean environment?
Create an app and responsive website to help people make fast and adjustable donations, get access to educational resources, and be a part of a community that wants to be involved in making a positive change in the ocean environment.
I put high emphasis on creating empathatic connections and conducting interviews. That included questions such as asking to describe the experience with donations to charity organizations, being a member of one, or having an interest in a specific social issue. The Interview goal was to understand what drives people to volunteer their time and money to environmental causes and identify concerns and frustrations people experience while wanting to help.
During this round of interviews, I gathered information including age, location, educational level, occupation, marital status, and other key identifiers.
Target participant characteristics included:
Had a hard time picking an organization to donate to, hence delaying their decision to do so
Reported not having enough time and forgetting to make regular contributions while being interested in the issue of the ocean environment
Did not have enough information about why whales need to be saved
Felt disappointed not having a community with the same interest in the cause
Felt overwhelmed with the amount of information available online and do not know where to start
Freja is a young adult with a large focus on helping the environment who needs one go-to place for latest news and events as well as suggestions on how to help whales because she wants to make a difference.
Mattias is a concerned individual who needs reminders and automatic payments set up because he cares about the whales' population and wants to help save them.
The goal of the competitive audit was to compare the donations experience of each of the competitors' websites on different devices. For the purpose of this research, I analyzed the activity and digital experience of 4 organizations. Our competitors are widely known non-profits with a mission to protect whales and their environment.
OCEAN ALLIANCE positions itself as one of the oldest non-profits with a mission to protect whales and their ocean environment through research, scientific collaboration, public education, and the arts. They place a big emphasis on collaboration and research to maximize efforts.
SAVE THE WHALES is focused on educating the public, especially children, about ocean inhabitants and fragile marine environments.
SEA SHEPHERD SOCIETY positions itself as a defender of all marine wildlife, without exception.
PACIFIC WHALE FOUNDATION positions itself as the ocean guardian in the face of emerging threats. As leaders in the development of responsible whale watching, they have developed a broad, holistic approach to marine tourism. Through an audit, some strengths and weaknesses were detected which are listed further.
I used the "Crazy Eights" and "How Might We" as part of my ideation process. I drafted iterations of each screen on paper to ensure the elements were well-suited to address all the pain points. As actionable problem statements guided the design considerations, these methods became central to solution-oriented brainstorming.
Distilling the research into problems we can solve
As the design phase continued, I made sure to make some changes based on the feedback received through the user research.
Moderated usability study
Bangkok, Thailand
5 participants
20-30 minutes
I conducted a round of usability studies the results of which revealed which aspects needed iteration and guided my designs from wireframes to mockups.
Users want to know what whale adoption is and how it is different from donating.
Users need to know why the whales need to be saved.
Users need to know where their money is being directed.
Below is my final iteration of the vision for Awale, which shows several different design elements outlined in more detail. I created the logo using the symbolism of a whale in its natural environment. I leaned into light blue as my main color to capture the color of the water as a natural marine environment and I set this against crisp and refreshing shades. I was looking to maintain fresh, calm, inspiring, and natural tones throughout the digital experience. I chose Poppins for its clear and bold forms.
For a smooth adoption experience, I included different plans for different budgets, each including special benefits. I provided an opportunity to make this adoption a gift, which will include a digital certificate.
For a smooth adoption experience, I included different plans for different budgets, each including special benefits. I provided an opportunity to make this adoption a gift, which will include a digital certificate.
To accommodate different budgets, the users are given an opportunity to pick an amout they would feel comfortable donating.
Included a variety of languages other than English.
Used icons to help make navigation easier and better understand the designs.
Provided high contrast for texts in accordance with WCAG requirements.
After building the informational architecture I crafted a responsive design to provide an optimal viewing experience on screens of different sizes. The aim was to create responsive pages that look great on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices.
The app makes users feel like it is saving them time for donations and provides resources to be more involved in enhancing the environment.
While designing the Awale App, I learned that user feedback and research guided every iteration of the process. Designing pages for mobile first was a great way to help find what was most important within the experience. I understood the needs of users through conversations and user tests and created an engaging app from both visual and user perspectives.
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