Growing Hope

Working within a team of 5 UX designers and researchers, I conducted and synthesized mixed-methods research (interviews, surveys, field observations, and affinity mapping) to uncover stakeholder needs for Growing Hope. I used these insights to inform design recommendations and helped translate them into an interactive map that makes the organization’s mission and values accessible to visitors through a self-guided experience.

Growing Hope lacked a centralized and accessible way to share information about their mission, programs, and amenities, as much of the operational knowledge resided with the farm manager. This resulted in gaps in staff knowledge regarding the farm’s features and offerings. As a result, visitors and volunteers struggled to gain a comprehensive understanding of the farm’s resources, events, and opportunities. This lack of understanding limited engagement and participation, hindering Growing Hope’s ability to educate the community and involve more people in their mission.

These questions helped identify the existing knowledge gaps within the staff, visitors, and volunteers, driving the goals for our design solution.

User personas and journey maps were created based on the insights from our research. The goal of these artifacts is to better understand the motivations, pain points, and behavior of our stakeholders.

Our iterative design process involved unfiltered ideation, low-fidelity sketches, mid-fidelity wireframes, and multiple rounds of user testing and peer reviews to refine our interactive map prototype. Guided by our UX requirements, we prioritized usability, accessibility, and a clean backend interface for the client.

We conducted 15 usability tests: 11 online with the digital prototypes, and 4 at the farm with the physical and mobile prototypes. The users, never having visited Growing Hope’s Urban Farm, responded positively to the map’s friendly, illustrative design but noted issues with legend visibility, label clarity, and responsiveness. While the physical map was appreciated for its simplicity, users sought more landmarks and consistent labeling across formats. We developed a list of design refinements based on the feedback from usability tests. By modifying some of the interactions on the digital prototype and improving the layout of the physical map, we created a more approachable, intuitive, and inclusive visitor experience for all audiences.

After testing several map-making platforms (MapMe, Drawpoint, and Image Map Pro), we ultimately chose Framer, a no-code website builder, to design and build the map. We utilized Framer’s Content Management System (CMS) so the client could easily update content on their own. Consolidating onto a single platform gave the project a clearer direction and made it easier for us to refine our designs along the way. The interactive map will be nested in the Farm & Gardens page of Growing Hope’s website.

Throughout this project, we learned a lot about what stakeholders look for when visiting the Growing Hope website, as well as what they might be interested in seeing in both physical and digital maps.

It was a new experience working with a farm and getting to explore and conduct studies on the farm. I had a lot of fun illustrating elements on the map and also learning a new platform, Framer!