Wildheart Foundation was the second nonprofit I assisted with UX work. The founder wanted to create a mobile donation platform for users to be able to scroll and connect with captive wildlife. The mission was clear and the design was mostly collecting existing platforms and combining functionality.

I see so much potential for the product and had so much fun conducting research on donation trends, usability, and user needs. As the design wrapped up, I saw nothing but opportunity with the findings being so clear that there is such a huge need among citizens for good will and charity, yet such a detachment from those who can most help. 

While conducting user interviews and usability tests there where many asks about where the content was coming from and why there are people who need donations as a part of the database of content. When users were as why they currently use social media many users simply enjoy the escapism of the mindless scroll and the process of liking an image. I spoke to many users who spoke about performism on social media, but the failure to act in reality. This made a platform that's focal call-to-action is a donate button seem like a somewhat refined solution.

However, all of these insights made the database of captive wildlife seem worthy of donation and a relevant problem, but also a smidge off target from a more all encompassing solution for the gap between social media as performism, escapism through the endless scroll, and the millions of people slipping in poverty in the last year. 

My anthropological user assessment aside - I had a product to design that met the founder's needs. 

A snippet of the final design is above. The idea is a Tik Tok style scrolling with zoo-keeper uploaded content, that triggers users to then donate to that animal and contribute to the purchasing of toy for that animal. Below is the style guide I used while developing the product and some of the surveys I used for quick feedback.

As I reflect on this particular project, I note my ambition and excitement. Before any user interviews or research, I felt compelled by the idea presented by the founder. I saw elementary school classes doing fundraisers for their local zoo then taking a field trip to see the day the tiger was given it's new rubber ball. I shared strategies for growing Wildheart by promoting it through educational institutions as a method to learn about animals who are endangered. I had fun imaging Wildheart at it's greatest potential and I am grateful for this experience because it showed me how energetic I could be about a project that was scoped so small. Who knew it would open my eyes to how much further a problem there is?

To read the full case study go to kathrynlouisa.com.