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Redesigned Private Dashboard and Website for Emergency Food & Shelter Program
A complete redesign of the public-facing website and internal dashboard for a government-funded emergency services program - combining a responsive design system with detailed guidelines, administration user flows for volunteer coordinators, and consolidated accessibility improvements.
My Role
Product Designer
Product Type
Me & 2 other people
Team
Saas
Date
Jan 2020 - Feb 2021
Challenge
The EPSP website and internal dashboard were built on legacy technology that no longer served the organization's evolving needs. The digital experience was outdated, difficult to navigate, and didn't reflect the organization's modern mission and impact.
Solution
Redesigned both the public-facing website and internal dashboards with a unified, scalable design system, optimizing key user flows, improving usability across staff and leadership tools, and ensuring accessibility compliance aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
Impact
Improved operational efficiency, accessibility, and user experience projecting a 60% reduction in task completion time, and increases staff productivity by 20%. Built a scalable, accessibility-first design system that streamlined workflows, reduced staff workload, expanded accessibility and partner engagement through a more modern digital presence.
01
The Problem
To better understand the problem area, I conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders to understand organizational needs, user pain points, and success metrics. Here are some quoted issues faced by the users:
Admin: Poor Bulk-Management UI, Confusing Menu Architecture
LBs (Local Boards): No Real-Time Tracking, Lack of Visual Status Cues, Fragmented Approval Flows
LROs (Local Recipient Organisations): Visual Information Overload, Deeply Hidden Actions
02
My Design Thinking & Process
I approached this redesign by first understanding how users actually used internal tool to get the work done. Every decision was driven by real problems - discoverability, lack of real-time tracking, duplication, and lack of flexibility rather than just visual refinement.
03
My Contribution
Research & Planning
I conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, including the my manager, to identify organizational needs and gap in the workflow.
Customer Journey
User flow mapping was used to identify critical user journeys based on the strategic vision provided by Board members and leadership.
Wireframing & Design
I performed iterative wireframing based on stakeholder feedback to visualize a new information architecture.
Resolve UX complexity
UX complexity was resolved by restructuring the navigation model, making critical pages accessible in fewer clicks.
Design System
A comprehensive design system was built with 47 reusable components, covering 95% of identified user flows to ensure consistency and future scalability.
Validation & Feedback
Conducted regular review presentations with stakeholders to clarify any queries & communicate my design perspective.
04
What did I learn?
Map Complex Userflow
Multiple user types moved through EFSP with branching approvals and edge cases. Mapping it revealed where users got stuck, guiding redesign priorities.
2. Design Advocacy
Creating clear before/after comparisons helps organizations understand the value of design investment. Quantify impact and communicate design's business values.
Strategic Value of Documentation
Comprehensive documentation for unfunded work creates significant long-term value by serving as a strategic blueprint and roadmap for future digital initiatives.
Requirements Gathering
Requirements balanced strict federal compliance with real user workarounds like offline entry and shadow spreadsheets. This gave a clear picture of constraints to design around.
05
Conclusion
Thank you for reading! Working on a government-funded civic tool came with constraints that commercial products rarely carry - accessibility obligations, multiple stakeholder sign-off layers, and the weight of designing for people in genuine crisis. Here is how I carried forward the whole project. Drop me an email to read full case study.
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