The Melanin Village
UX Research, UX Design
About
The Melanin Village is a social-impact organization that equips and empowers Black and Brown families to homeschool. The agency seeks to provide educational opportunities and outcomes for Black youth by providing professional development, support, and community for melanated homeschooling moms and academic programming and community for their children. This project serves to provide an app that will engage and effectively serve their community members.
Type
Website/App
Team
Jennaye B.
Rossana W. (me!)
Jonas H.
Candice H.
Alyssa M.
Duration
5 months
Tools
Figjam
Slack
Notion
Zoom
Google Meet
Google Forms
Optimal Workshop
Google Drive
Google Docs
Google Sheets
My role
Research co-lead
Stakeholder interview
Research
Usability interview
Usability testing
Stakeholder presentation
Deliverables
Competitive analysis
User personas
Customer journey maps
Research synthesis
Mid-fidelity wireframes
Stakeholder presentation
The Problem
Too many tools and platforms being used to create and maintain the Village community.
Admin problem: Juggling multiple tech platforms to keep the business going (community, learning resources, email, payment, etc)
Current Sister (paying member) problem: Sisters want a better way to communicate and engage in their community; accessing curriculum is confusing due to multiple platforms
Potential Sister (non-paying member) problem: Potential sisters are confused on how to join the Melanin Village and know what exactly is offered
The Users
Admin – Brenaea and any other admins
Current sister – Black and brown homeschooling moms across the US who pay the monthly membership
Potential sister – Black and brown women who have heard of The Melanin Village but currently do not pay membership (and may or may not be currently homeschooling)
Current Tech Stack
Agile Methodology
Phase 0 teams (12 teammates in total)
Product
Full Cycle UX (Research + Design) (me!)
Phase 1 teams (36 teammates in total)
Project management
Product strategy
UX Research (me!)
UX Design
Content
Solutions architect
Phase 0 sprint schedule
4 week project
1 week sprints
Sprint demo for the client at the end of each sprint
Sprint planning/retro
Phase 1 sprint schedule
8 week project
2 week sprints
Sprint demo for the client at the end of each sprint
Sprint planning/retro
Overall Goals
- Work with the client to formally define MVP and MMP scope
- Continue working toward MVP definition with the client
- Perform exploratory and evaluative UX research throughout the entire project
- Further exploration of user needs, behaviors, and problems to solve based on the previous phase
- Continue iterating on the content strategy as defined by the team and client
UX Team Goals
User – Streamline The Melanin Village access to the community, resources, and events
User – Streamline The Melanin Village help desk/support
Business – Reduce The Melanin Village community pain points and areas of confusion
Business – Increase the number of paying Village members
Business – Reduce the number of manual actions that The Melanin Village admins/moderators have to take to manage the logistics, operations, Village communication and content.
User Journey Maps
Pain Points
Admin – It takes multiple steps to accomplish one task (this creates a greater opportunity for error)
Recommendation – Find a new platform for the Village or build a native app/responsive website that includes all important features (community and curriculum)
Current sister – Some tasks require multiple logins to multiple platforms (reducing friction and mental load in the user journey will create a more positive experience and ensure the sister continues as a paying member)
Recommendation – Same as for admin, to create an all-in-one native app or responsive website
Potential sister – Confused about when they can actually join the Village (unsure about how the Sister Pass Weekend works) (a clear and easy onboarding process could increase membership)
Recommendation – Allow potential sisters to sign up for a trial period (versus waiting for the Sister Pass Weekend)
Segment Personas
Survey
Survey goals
- Learn how often the sisters are using the various platforms (can we remove any or find better replacements if the sisters aren’t responding to the platform and/or utilizing it?)
- Learn how the sisters navigate accessing resources like events and clubs, the various platforms & the pain points that come with that
- Pros & cons of being a sister in the Village
- Understand how sisters view the Village in terms of usefulness and the benefits of being a member. Are we meeting their needs? What are the areas of improvement?
Tools – Google Forms, Figjam (the survey had two parts depending on if you were a current or potential sister)
Incentive – enter a raffle to win a free year-long membership to The Melanin Village (2 winners)
We got more than 450 responses!
Survey Responses
Survey Insights
Recommendations
Phase 0 Deliverables
- Research goals and timelines
- Competitive analysis
- User journeys
- Segment personas
- Began drafting the card sort
- User survey and insights (affinity mapping)
- Access to user analytics from Mighty Networks (current community platform)
- Validated assumptions
Phase 1
Features prioritization – workshop with the client; she and the team ranked user value (low, medium, high) based on research from Phase 0. This will also help guide the user interviews we plan to conduct. The second round of competitive analysis may also uncover more features to add to the list.
High Level UXR Goals
- In-depth interviews (to further understand current and potential Sister’s needs and motivations)
- Card sort (for users to prioritize features)
- Usability testing
- Jobs to be done analysis
- Documentation of phase 1 research efforts
Research Plan
Continue the research from Phase 0 where we gathered insights from the survey that was sent out to current and potential sisters. We want to learn what current features are used and important to users.
Research goals/objectives
- What other platforms intrigued them, what ultimately led them to decide on TMV
- How are TMV resources and networks integrated into curriculum development?
- Uncover pain points and motivations for using TMV, Mighty Networks, etc.
- Determine must-have features for sisters
- Frequency of use of TMV
- How engaged are sisters in the community (Mighty Networks)
Anticipated outcomes
Actionable insights related to features users use and want.
Baseline assumptions/hypotheses
- Sisters enjoy the community aspect of TMV (posting content, reading content, engaging with other sisters)
- Sisters love what TMV offers (specifically that it is for melanated homeschooling moms)
- Sisters want a quick and easy way to troubleshoot issues
- Sisters use TMV as supplementary to their homeschooling
- Sisters find value in being a part of TMV
Research Methods
User interviews – this research method will allow us to gain more specific insight into users’ experience with the Village, learning about the impact TMV has, what pain points they have, etc.
Usability tests – this research method will allow us to learn how users learned about the village, how they enter the experience, what they engage in, how they end their experience, and what keeps them going back to use the product.
Card Sorting – this research method will allow us to learn what users deem high priority features that would guide the product’s MVP
Competitive Analysis – this research method will allow us to uncover any features not currently listed in the features list that would be beneficial to TMV
Card Sort
The card sort was a research method we utilized to help further prioritize features that would guide the MVP. Instead of using the card sort as a traditional information architecture tool, we had participants categorize features into three categories: most important, moderately important, and least important.
The card sort went live and we changed our original goal of 15-20 users to 28 users, based on this sample size calculator from Survey Monkey. With about 250 total current sisters, and a 95% confidence level, and 15% margin of error, the optimal sample size would be 28. Due to a lack of incentive or communications to the sisters (from the client’s end), we wound up with only 10 participants – so far.
User Interviews/Usability Test
Goals
- Understand how Sisters use TMV
- Understand TMV’s impact on current users/Sisters (primarily in efforts in curriculum development and creating/bolstering community)
- Uncover pleasures and pain points for using TMV (including costing structure and onboarding process)
- Uncover insight into features desired for MVP:
- Send a message
- Join a group
- Create a post
- Browse Social Feed
- View a message – get a notification
- Attend an event
- Determine other must-have features for sisters
We combined the user interviews with a usability test in order to make the most of the interviews. We knew with the holidays around the corner (the initial interview email was sent out shortly before Thanksgiving), and lack of an incentive, it might be hard to get participants.
Interview question examples
- Talk to me about your experience joining The Melanin Village. Did you create a membership during the Sister Pass weekend?
- What does a typical week look like for you as a homeschooling mom? To what extent does The Melanin Village play a role in that?
- Can you describe any barriers to accessing and using the Village’s resources and networks?
Usability task examples
- You are planning your lessons for the week and are looking for inspiration. You decide to check The Melanin Village. Can you log into your Melanin Village account?
- Now, walk me through how you typically use the Melanin Village as a resource to develop your child(ren’s) curriculum. Guide me through each step you take on the platform, searching for the ideal resource.
- You determine you need to speak with Sisters to get a sense of what they’re doing throughout their homeschooling journey. Walk and talk me through the areas in the Village that you go to for this type of connection.
What I Would Do Differently
- Gather and organize the research our client did on her own
- Convince our client that incentives are very important to gather participants
- Take into consideration timing (such as holidays)
