Local 2 Women’s Caucus
A responsive public forum for L2WC, an advocacy group within the Local 2 union. The purpose is for employees to be able to share issues they’ve had at work and get help.
Role: Full Stack UX designer
Software: WordPress & bbpress
The Problem
Local 2 employees in Northern California sometimes have insufficient representation, so this diverse and relatively digitally-inexperienced group needs a way to share issues and get help.
“Aidan is really collaborative and has an intuitive listening that moves the work along more quickly than expected.”
– Jessica, Local 2 Women’s Caucus
Accessibility
I simplified the user interface for the forum and integrated it into the website so that our users would have an easier time sharing issues.
A Space to be Heard
With 6 different categories of issues, users can search past posts, post what has gone wrong for them, and get help from L2WC members.
Responsive for Mobile
Most people will use this website on their phone, likely on their break, heading home from work, or waiting to pick their kids up. It had to be a great experience on mobile.
The Process
Goal Setting Call
The Local 2 Women’s Caucus is a group of about 15 women who advocate for their rights at work. They were having an issue reaching people online because their newsletter could only send to 100 people. After brainstorming together, we decided that it would be best to make a public forum.
Interviewing
My interviewing focused on our target users behavior, frustrations, and preferences. I learned that users are very motivated to participate: they have history of strikes, collective bargaining, and general advocacy. I also learned that many were uncomfortable with technology.
User Personas
These 2 personas represent a large segment of Local 2 employees. They come from diverse backgrounds; they are about half millennials, half gen X. Most speak very fluent English, but some do not.
Paper Wireframes
I quickly iterated using paper wireframes to solve some key issues: when users land, how can we quickly guide them to the right topic? Once they’re there, how can I make it as easy as possible for them to read, post, or reply?
First Prototype
During this, I focused on representing the wireframes within WordPress’ design software and the information architecture (about, newsletter, zoom, forums).
Team Meeting
With a prototype complete, I showed the L2WC team the website on zoom. They had positive feedback, but they also had a lot of ideas and suggestions.
It felt very productive as we all brainstormed how to make it better. They were able to think about what their colleagues would want, and I could give feedback on how to successfully manifest that.
Iterating
I changed the WordPress theme to a more robust one, so I was able to customize the site closer to our shared vision.
The Forum is Crowded
As the bbpress software starts, there is a lot of options for customization, but our users did’t need to use most of them. In fact, it made it a lot harder for them to complete the essential tasks.
Simplifying the Interface
I downloaded a plugin to let me edit the forum interface. Out of all the softwares I’ve used, this forum was the most restrictive, which made it a compelling challenge to try to solve. Through addition by subtraction, I cleaned up the interface to bring emphasis to the key actions.
Team Testing
With a more user friendly prototype in hand, I assigned the L2WC team to each make two posts and two replys. After this, we met and discussed the changes.
Iterating
After feedback from team testing, we fixed a big in the google calendar and made the text containers on the landing page more opaque to be more legible.
Final Website
Impact
Worker Advocacy
Local 2 members have a new way to be heard! It connects people who are being treated unfairly to knowledge on how to improve their situation. It’s a network of community support.
Next Steps
Translating
Some of our target users are not very comfortable speaking English and would prefer a different language. Using software to automatically translate the site would be great.
Newsletter
L2WC wants to be able to regularly communicate with their colleagues and update them on successes and other important news. I installed the software, but I need to train one of them to use it.