Client: The Community Dreams Foundation (CDF)
Role: Design Team Lead (GreenConnect), User Experience Designer
Contributions: Created a new product aligned with business goals and existing user needs. Led research, designed the interactive prototype, supported user interviews, and collaborated with developers through design and build to a launch-ready state.
Impact: Advanced CDF’s mission to increase access to the green economy. Delivered a useful, differentiated product in a competitive space.
Defining the Product
The Community Dreams Foundation (C.D.F.), an organization focused on expanding access to resources that support the growth of the Green Economy, hired a User Experience Designer to help shape its new mobile app, GreenConnect. The app was intended to integrate an algorithm developed by another C.D.F. team that could match people based on sustainability-related interests and skills.
At the time of joining the project, the team had moved quickly into design without conducting foundational user research, which led to conflicting product visions and unclear priorities. To bring clarity and alignment, I met with C.D.F. Founder Dion Richardson to refine the core goals of the project and ensure the product direction supported the organization’s broader mission and business objectives.
Product Scope
Overview: A mobile app designed to support career growth within the Green Economy by connecting individuals with experienced mentors in relevant sustainability fields.
First Assignment: Quickly and cost-effectively create a prototype to validate the concept with real users.
My Role: Design Team Lead and UX Designer, GreenConnect Team.
Responsibilities: Led a cross-functional team of researchers, UX designers, and developers. Conducted user research to understand target audiences and their pain points. Designed an interactive prototype, facilitated user testing sessions, and presented actionable insights to Dion and other key stakeholders.
Describing GreenConnect’s Value
To understand how GreenConnect could bring real value, I began by reaching out to other teams at C.D.F. to review their previous user research. From that, I uncovered key insights about our target users, including their demographics, motivations, and reasons for wanting to participate in the Green Economy.
Still, we needed to explore how mentorship could best support them through a mobile platform. I created an interview script centered around mentorship: what it means to have or be a mentor, what makes mentorship effective, what drives people to seek it, and what challenges they experience along the way. Using this framework, I guided user interviews that revealed valuable feedback and helped shape the foundation of GreenConnect.
Unique Value Proposition
GreenConnect offers users direct access to mentors with real experience in the Green Economy. It not only connects people but also helps them build meaningful, goal-driven mentorships that support both personal growth and sustainable career development.
Designing Core Functions
Define Core Features
To make mentorship more accessible and effective, GreenConnect focuses on two core functions: Connecting with Mentors and Streamlining Mentorship. Together, these features help users find the right mentors, build relationships, and maintain structured, productive sessions over time.
Connecting with Mentors
Step 1: Set up a profile
Creating a profile helps mentees reflect on their motivations, goals, and areas of interest. It’s the first step in shaping a meaningful mentorship experience.Step 2: Review available mentors
Users can personalize search criteria using filters, bookmark profiles for later review, and explore mentor information at varying levels of detail—from a quick overview to a full profile view.Step 3: Connect
Mentees send a connection request, with an optional (but encouraged) short message about their goals. The platform allows users to track the status of their requests and stay organized during outreach.Streamlining Mentorship
Step 1: Schedule a meeting
Once a mentor accepts a request, the mentee is prompted to select a time to meet, guided by the mentor’s available calendar slots.Step 2: Prepare an agenda
Before the meeting, the mentee creates a brief bullet-point agenda outlining key discussion topics. This helps both sides stay focused and make the most of their session.Step 3: Stay on track
Automated reminders ensure that both mentor and mentee are aware of the meeting time and prepared for discussion.Step 4: Repeat and grow
After each meeting, users can easily set up the next session, update goals, and continue refining the mentorship process—making growth a continuous, structured experience.
Define the App’s Tone & Style
The tone of GreenConnect was built around being supportive, clear, and goal-oriented. It needed to make mentorship feel approachable while still giving users a sense of structure and purpose. The design and microcopy reflected this balance through simple navigation, warm language, and an emphasis on progress.
Tone and Style:
Efficient: Helps users find mentors and schedule meetings quickly without unnecessary steps.
Organized: Keeps information structured and easy to follow so users always know where they are in the process.
Informative: Offers helpful guidance and context throughout the mentorship journey.
Personable: Feels friendly and encouraging, making users comfortable reaching out and building genuine connections.
Prototype Interfaces
To quickly test whether GreenConnect offered a better way to find mentors, we focused the prototype on the discovery and connection process. The goal was to evaluate if users felt this approach was faster and more intuitive than their usual methods.
The screens above show key interactions from the prototype:
Mentor Profile Cards: Each mentor profile highlights essential information such as their role, background, and areas of expertise. Users can view a brief bio, explore tagged skills, or open the full profile for more details.
Filter and Navigation Options: The filter dropdown at the top allows users to refine their search based on interests or experience level. Arrows on either side of the profile make browsing mentors feel smooth and continuous.
Dual View Option: The icon in the upper-left corner lets users switch between different viewing styles (for example, card view vs. list view) depending on how they prefer to explore mentor profiles.
Connect Button: The clear call-to-action invites mentees to send a personalized connection request, reinforcing the app’s personable and structured tone.
These prototype interactions were designed to feel approachable, informative, and efficient—mirroring the mentorship experience GreenConnect aims to create.
Testing
Method:
We conducted incremental A/B testing with a small group of users. Since GreenConnect introduced a new approach to mentorship in the Green Economy, we expected to test multiple iterations before understanding its full perceived value. Stakeholders emphasized the importance of gathering quick insights over achieving a perfect version early on.
Using Feedback to Improve
Some of the labels and categories on mentor profiles felt overly technical or formal. We simplified the language to sound more natural and approachable.
Certain “fields of expertise” were too specialized for new users entering the workforce. To make the app more inclusive, we added interactive definitions that appear when users tap on a term.
Users appreciated transparency in mentor profiles, saying it helped them feel more connected. We built on this insight by encouraging users to share more personal context in their own profiles, while keeping privacy in mind.
A few users felt uncertain about how to make the most of mentorship. To help them, we introduced a short, bullet-style infographic during onboarding that offered simple best practices for effective mentor-mentee relationships.
Stakeholder Approval to Build
We presented our findings and improvements to Dion and the leadership team. They agreed that the updated prototype addressed user needs effectively and aligned with CDF’s mission. The project was approved to move forward into development, and we began collaborating with the engineering team to prepare the app for build and internal testing.
Outcome and Impact
GreenConnect
Turned an initial idea into a clear, validated vision and transformed that vision into a valuable, user-centered product.
Customer Relationships
User research uncovered insights that extended beyond this project, informing several other Community Dreams Foundation (C.D.F.) initiatives.
C.D.F.’s Mission
GreenConnect strengthened C.D.F.’s mission by increasing access to careers in the Green Economy.
Through partnership and integration with LinkedIn, GreenConnect also helped raise awareness of the Green Workforce initiative.
Marketing
Developed a new visual identity for GreenConnect that clarified and reinforced C.D.F.’s mission and value statements.
Development
Improved design and development efficiency by creating a shared library of components, patterns, and style guidelines.
Team Efficiency
Successfully developed and validated a product concept from idea to prototype in under three months.
Reflection
Working on GreenConnect taught me the value of turning complexity into clarity. This project was not only about designing an app but also about creating a structured way for people to connect, learn, and grow within a new and evolving industry. I learned how fast-paced, iterative testing can uncover deep user insights even in early stages, and how cross-team collaboration can turn a simple concept into something meaningful. Most importantly, it reinforced my belief that thoughtful design can open doors to opportunity, especially when it helps people find guidance, purpose, and community.