Volly iOS app
What I Did
Volly is an iOS app that I developed during my UX Design course at General Assembly NYC.
I have been volunteering at the Father’s Heart Soup Kitchen in the East Village for 7+ years now, and I got to thinking about other people’s volunteering habits — what they think about volunteering, where they volunteer, and how they find their opportunities.
This app connects busy people to volunteering opportunities that are right for them.
The Problem
People want to volunteer, but they don’t know where to look, who to trust, don’t have a lot of time, and don’t know what opportunities are out there.
Through a number of in-person interviews, on-line surveys, a competitive analysis of 3 competitors, and multiple rounds of user testing, I came up with a solution, the app Volly.
Volly allows users to search volunteer opportunities based on location, and then sign up for an event that matches their needs. Filtering lets the user curate the listings based on distance from input location, availability, type, style and interests. A profile can be created where activity is archived and listings can be favorited and saved for future reference.
Persona Creation
Based on all my research from interviews and surveys, I created my persona, Violet Von Wantstovol, in order to help me visualize my app's main user, her habits, motivations, needs, and pain points.
User Flow
Next, I mapped out the main user flow that Violet would need for signing up for a volunteering opportunity. Starting out with opening up the app for the first time and either searching for what was out there or creating a profile and curating a list of opportunities that fit her needs.
Site Map
With the user flow in place, I created the site map for the app that breaks down the pages and site navigation.
Prototypes
I sketched early versions of each page to figure out layout and functionality. I later developed low-fidelity wire frames to test on user for flow and functionality. Here you can see a map view function that when tested was useless and unnecessary for the user even though it seemed pretty cool when explained. I later added the expandable map view to individual listings which tested very well.
Wire Frames
I created wireframes in Sketch, then added annotations identifying functionality. It was important to keep the features and gestures simple and intuitive in order to help the user quickly and successfully complete their task.
What's Next
Phase 2 goals for Volly would be a social aspect to the app that would allow users to have friends and share and invite their connections to volunteer with them and view their activity.
With this social component I would also like to introduce ratings and reviews to better help volunteers and organizations find what they need and create an even more well rounded experience.
A future feature I’d like to include would be a verification system that would let users get “verified” by submitting government ID, signature, and references in order build a more trustworthy profile that would enable them to more immediately be cleared for special types of volunteering: special skills, top secret, activities with children, etc.