FREELANCE PRODUCT DESIGNER

ACTIONAID

Person holding a smartphone displaying a webpage titled 'Welcome to Collective' for a book club, with a red 'Join Collective' button and FAQ section.

Encourage younger audiences to become regular monthly donors through an engaging digital experience.

PROJECT GOAL

My Role

Freelance UX/UI Designer

Tools

Figma, Figjam, Ballpark

Successful usability testing, concept taken into build

Results

Discovery through to ideation & definition, design and testing

Process

PROBLEM DEFINITION

ActionAid is a global charity working with women and girls living in poverty, however, recurring, monthly donations are in decline.

DISCOVERY

Client Meeting

I started with a client meeting to further understand their requirements.

Attract new donors

Typical donors were women in their 50s. ActionAid wanted a new audience.

Small budget for build

ActionAid was budget conscious and wanted an affordable solution.

Mobile first

The majority of donations were made through mobile devices.

Focus on regular giving

This had to be a feature that encouraged ongoing monthly donations.

User Interviews

After completing a screener survey, 30 participants were selected for 1:1 interviews.

KEY INSIGHT ONE

👯‍♂️

Personal Connection

People were most motivated to donate to charities that resonated with them personally.

KEY INSIGHT TWO

🤑

Affordability

Committing to monthly donations was a concern to some users as they worried about how much they could afford to give.

KEY INSIGHT THREE

🌍

Impact

Those who did donate were motivated by seeing the impact that their money could have.

KEY INSIGHT FOUR

🤝

Community

People wanted to feel like they were part of something.

DEFINITION

How might we…

…make recurring donations feel more affordable?

…increase a sense of personal connection for donors?

…foster a sense of community?

…show the impact of contributions?

Groups of people who know each other can set up a donation group, club together and give small amounts which collectively add up.

The core flows would allow users to:

  • Create a group and start contributing monthly.

  • Invite others to join and add their contributions.

  • Show the impact of the group’s Collective over time.

DEVELOP

The Solution

Group Donations through “Collectives”

A table covered with several sheets of paper and yellow sticky notes, all containing handwritten notes and sketches for a user interface design or wireframe, with fields for creating accounts, adding details, selecting groups, and navigation buttons labeled 'Next' and 'Action.'

DELIVERY

Key User Flows

Create a Collective

Flowchart showing steps to create or join a collective online, starting from the homepage, naming the collective, collecting emails, creating a user account, and finalizing the collective.

Set up a donation

Flowchart of a donation process with steps such as setting up a donation, entering name, account details, choosing payment date, and confirming donation for a collective group page.

Join a Collective

Flowchart for joining a collective, starts with a collective invite page, then join collective, asks if user has an account, prompts for email, password, first name, last name, then joins collective or logs in.

Initial Concept Testing

I tested the initial concept using Ballpark.

184 participants went through the screener with 143 qualifying to take part in the research.

A screenshot of a survey result showing how often 61 participants donate to charities or charitable causes, with options including a couple of times a year, monthly, once a year, never, or more than monthly.
Results of a survey showing the options for donating to an international aid charity: 'Have donated and would do again', 'Have not but would consider', 'Have not and would not', and 'Have donated but wouldn't again', with response percentages and participant counts.

Results

The results from the Ballpark usability test were positive overall. They allowed me to iron out obvious design changes before proceeding into the next round of testing - face to face usability testing.

A slide presentation showing task one and a prototype for creating a collective group for women's football team donations, including a landing page and admin view, with instructions and progress statistics.
A slide presentation page with the title 'Heatmaps and Learnings' on the left, and three screenshots of a mobile app interface on the right. The app appears to be related to group donations and collective giving, featuring images of smiling women and text about community power and ActionAid.

Sentiment Analysis

What are your initial thoughts on the Collective concept?

Positive Comments:

  • "Love the concept" / "Great idea" / "Excellent idea" / "Amazing idea!"

  • "Easy to navigate"

  • "If I know my friends are also contributing, it might encourage me to donate"

Negative Comments:

  • "Confusing coming cold to it"

  •  "It took a minute to understand what it was/the benefit"

What did you think of the set up process for creating a Collective?

Positive Comments:

  • Many users found the process easy, intuitive, and straightforward.

  • Several users appreciated the simplicity and clarity of the flow.

  • "It seemed easy to follow and I like the feature to hide the contributions to the other members."

Negative Comments:

  • "Not the way I anticipated - I'd rather build the Collective then think about the amount we are trying to raise."

  • "It was confusing if I was setting an amount our collective would pay monthly or if I was starting the group donation with £7 for myself."

  • "I found it a little hard to follow... I was looking for a button that would let me set up a Collective/group."

Usability Testing

I enhanced the flow and then ran two further rounds of usability testing, with a total of 12 participants.

✅ Concept appeal: Many participants found the idea of group donations engaging and community-oriented. It was seen as a potentially effective way to encourage regular giving.

✅ Clarity: The concept was generally well-explained, with participants appreciating the clear information provided about the collective's purpose and financial contributions.

✅ Social aspect: The community feeling and ability to give with friends or family was seen as a strong point.

✅ Ease of use: Participants appreciated the straightforward process of setting up and joining a collective.

Positive Feedback:

Screenshot of a webpage for ActionAid's collective fundraising campaign, showing instructions to remove the collective logo, not asking users about it yet, moving the FAQ section up, and displaying various donation options and stories.
Mobile donation form for ActionAid, allowing users to select monthly donation amount with preset options (£3, £5, £7, £9, £11, £13) and a dropdown to change currency, with a note indicating the amount cannot be changed after creating the collective. There is a large red continue button at the bottom.
Screenshot of a donation app interface showing options to set monthly donation amounts with a note that the amount can't be changed after creation, and a section to select currency and submit the donation.
Comparison of two mobile app screenshots. The first shows a profile named Hackney Ladies FC with a highlighted tab 'Collective Impact' in purple, thanking for donations to Action Aid, with details about contributions. The second shows a similar profile with the tab 'My Contributions' highlighted in red, thanking Jade for donating, with the same donation total. A handwritten note indicates that the tabs are practically identical in content.
Screenshot of a mobile app page showing a fundraising campaign for Hackney Ladies FC, with details about the number of members, total amount raised, and start date. The page has a red button labeled 'Invite members' and a section thanking for donations, specifying a total donation of 7 pounds. There is also an image of two pads of period products with a caption explaining their relevance.
Screenshot of a mobile app onboarding form for ActionAid, asking for first name and last name, with a checkbox to contribute anonymously, and a red 'Continue' button. Red handwritten note on black background says, 'Make clearer how many onboarding stages there are.'

Final Designs

Create a Collective

Join a Collective