Modulist
A comprehensive dashboard for nonprofits that streamlines task management, financial tracking, grant management, and event coordination.
(Student project)
SCOPE
Research

UX/UI Design

Branding

Prototyping

Usability Testing
TIMELINE
JUL 2024 - AUG 2024
(1 month)
*Working on a part-time 20hr/week schedule
Problem
Nonprofit staff and managers face inefficiencies due to fragmented task management, financial tracking, and event coordination, leading to disorganization. Additionally, there is resistance to change, with many believing their established routines are the most efficient.
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Nonprofits demand a high level of attention to detail, as the number of moving parts—finances, grants, daily operations, outreach, volunteers, and more—requires seamless coordination to ensure the organization runs smoothly and successfully.
The Research
For the research portion of this project, it was imperative I spoke with users who were involved in nonprofit work themselves. Finding participants that had this connection proved difficult. I took to social forums, like Reddit, to scout participants but was kicked out of threads. I reached out to my DesignLab peers, but nobody had experience working with non profits. So, I turned to my inner circle.
Competitive analysis
In my competitive analysis, I looked at companies specializing in project management and found that, while their products were effective for general management, they didn’t fully address the unique needs of nonprofits.
User interviews
I spoke with 3 users who were currently involved or previously involved with nonprofits, ranging from volunteers to VPs. Since I was only able to speak with 3 users, I recognized the importance of compensating for the limited sample size thorough secondary research.
Secondary research
I centered my secondary research on gathering firsthand experiences from nonprofit employees, exploring topics such as workflow, financial management, platform recommendations, organizational strategies, as well as volunteer and grant management.
The Users
3 Participants / 1 Man, 2 Women & lots of secondary research Ages 25-67 / All involved with nonprofits
Key Learnings
The findings highlight a clear need for a centralized project management platform specifically designed for nonprofits to effectively manage projects, grants, and team coordination.
Important findings from my affinity map
User Personas
After completing my research, I developed two personas: Marsha, a seasoned nonprofit employee resistant to change, and Scott, a newcomer eager to streamline operations. Their distinct needs guided my design choices; Marsha’s preference for simplicity and Scott’s focus on efficiency led me to add a volunteer connection feature and a centralized dashboard to display key information, addressing the priorities both personas emphasized in interviews.
Customer Journey
To better understand my users, I developed a customer journey map that illustrates the progression from a potential customer to a loyal one, allowing me to consider the expectations organizations must meet to foster loyalty. In the acquisition stage of the journey, I focused on how to keep customers satisfied while onboarding their employees, which led to the idea of integrating calendars and other nonprofit organizational tools directly into Modulist.
Point of View & How Might We Statement
By crafting personas, the customer journey, and analyzing my research data, my goal was to address the issues posed by this question:
How might we develop a comprehensive dashboard that integrates real-time task updates, financial monitoring, and event scheduling to improve overall operational efficiency and coordination?
User Flows
To tackle the “How Might We” question, I created user flows for adding tasks, checking grant statuses, and creating events. These flows address the key issues identified in user interviews and insights gleaned from secondary research.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
To tackle the “How Might We” question, I created user flows for adding tasks, checking grant statuses, and creating events. These flows address the key issues identified in user interviews and insights gleaned from secondary research.
Low-Fidelity Wireframe Testing
Before settling on a layout, I knew I needed to get the preliminary designs in front of a few people. Some great suggestions were made.
“The dashboard might be a little bit cluttered. Profile and messages could be under a dropdown or icon in the top right.”
“Right now, I’m confused where to look. Could you adjust the placement based on priority?”
“Grants and their progress are usually defined by these: Status (Not started, In progress, On hold, Submitted, Overdue), Priority (Low, Medium or High), Issue description, Category, Assigned to, Reported by, Due date, Date closed, Comments.”
Branding
I aimed to use color creatively in this project to energize the dashboard and distinguish important sections, adding some fun to an otherwise mundane platform. To maintain a clean aesthetic, I chose a single sans-serif font for consistency, and ensured all elements had rounded corners and a minimalistic design.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
After gathering user feedback on the functionality of my design, I moved on to creating refined versions that better aligned with user needs while seamlessly integrating the branding.
Priority
Drawing on user research and feedback, I reorganized the dashboard layout to prioritize the calendar and tasks—two essential aspects of nonprofit organization that can be overlooked without an effective organizational platform.
New Task
In Modulist, adding a task is completed through a pop-up window, providing a streamlined way to enter all the necessary task information on a single screen.
Grant Status
As the grant lifecycle progresses, users can easily click and drag grant cards between status markers, from "Not Started" to "Approved." Once approved, the grant history is stored within the platform, allowing users to access it whenever needed.
Editing
Grant information can be easily edited by clicking on the card, allowing users to modify details in real-time without navigating to a separate editing page—ensuring everything is readily adjustable.
Events
Modulist’s calendar feature enables users to schedule meetings between team members and create nonprofit-wide events. Users can easily switch between different calendar views to access their own schedule or that of specific employees, facilitating better coordination among the team.
Volunteers
When creating events, users can simultaneously recruit volunteers, reducing the need for separate outreach efforts. They can select volunteers from a custom list or an integrated volunteer management platform like Rosterfy. After selecting volunteers, users can write a recruitment message, which is sent directly to the selected volunteers’ emails once the event is added.
User Testing
The next step in the process involved re-testing the updated designs. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with only one minor yet impactful change made to the event creation pop-up: the addition of an "event type" field to customize the pop-up based on the selected event type.
Since some testing participants did not work for nonprofits, I made sure to ask, "Would you use this platform if you worked for a nonprofit?" Their responses are detailed below.
Iteration
Once the feedback from the user testing was received, I went back to the wireframes and added their suggestions.
BEFORE
Event Type
One user emphasized the importance of including an option to select an event type, and upon reflecting on its purpose, I wholeheartedly agreed. This feature would allow the page content and available fields to adjust according to the selected event type.
AFTER
Prototype
The prototype can be
found here.
Moving Forward
In the future, this platform can add advanced features for in-depth data analytics and predictive insights. These features could use historical data to forecast future outcomes, such as predicting budget overruns or identifying projects at risk of falling behind schedule. Additionally, the platform could include budget tracking, expense forecasting, and analysis of financial performance over time.