Experiencing impact through immersive storytelling
New Story is a global organization using cutting edge technology to help end global housing insecurity.
Using Virtual Reality technology and storytelling, I reimagined their donor dashboard from a platform for downloading tax receipts to a dynamic space that fosters meaningful impact and engagement.
REDESIGNED NEW STORY DONOR DASHBOARD
Low donor dashboard engagement
Donors are essential to New Story's mission but their donor dashboard has low engagement because it's perceived
as a functional interface.
New Story is looking for new ways to engage their donors through an emerging technology such as Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) to encourage donor participation. The dashboard has to be memorable, shareable, accessible and interactive.
ROLE
Product Strategist & Designer
YEAR
2022
TEAM
UI Designer/UX Researcher
DELIVERABLES
Research from user interviews
Competitive analysis
Journeys/Flows
Sketches/Mockups
Prototypes
Final executive presentation
CURRENT NEW STORY DONOR DASHBOARD
The Approach
To design a donor dashboard that is engaging to New Story's donors, we set out to understand:
• What motivates this type of donor to engage in social causes?
• What are other organizations doing to engage their donor base?
• Are the target users fluent/engaging in VR technology?
Competitors' dashboards are engaging
Using a variety of research methods, opportunities and weaknesses of the New Story
dashboard were identified along with how competitors are showing impact on their
donor dashboard.
NEW STORY SWOT ANALYSIS
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Empowering core values with
a 100% transparency model
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Unique proposition to end global homelessness
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Strong partnerships with other humanitarian organizations and
local communities
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Innovative ways to donate
S
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Low awareness of activities, creating a perception of low impact
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Less opportunity for social connections due to dashboard inflexible structure
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Key to understanding impact is tied to knowledge of latest
technologies
W
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Dashboard an extension of New Story's brand values to create opportunities for more social connections
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Create personalized content that lets donors fully experience the impact of their donations
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Share New Story's latest activities in an immersive way
O
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Inconsistent stream of donations
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Low charity awareness causing donors to donate elsewhere
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Disengaged donors due to inactivity on dashboard
T
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS —
Nonprofits are showing donor impact through innovative ways to engage their target audience through their donor dashboards. They do this in a variety of ways.
Competitor dashboards are not only interactive but tell a story. Telling a story engages the audience more than facts and figures.
Seeing a direct correlation between donor's contribution and their impact (through live video feeds) is another powerful tool connecting donors with non-profits' work.
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ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS: SWOT ANALYSIS, COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Understanding donor behaviors
Through the brief, the target demographics has been identified as:
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18-30 year olds
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Has the highest level of engagement on social media and donor dashboard
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Many donate on a monthly basis
Through user interviews of this demographic, some common behaviors emerged:
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These donors want to see immediate impact of their donations
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They donate through causes they see on social media
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They donate to causes that are personal to them
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They are fluent in VR and appreciate social interaction in VR apps
"It takes a personal connection..."
USER INSIGHT, User Interview
Enhancing the experience with personalization
Our research findings show that the experience needs to evoke a sense of personal connection for donors, allowing them to witness their immediate impact. Armed with this valuable insight, we initiated a brainstorming session to explore various ideas. During our brainstorm, I kept going back to New Story's unique positioning - which is to use emerging technology to build better homes for their clients. It all started with New Story's home so I asked:
How can we bring New Story's home into donors' homes?
Quick sketches and an idea was born
We quickly sketched the New Story home and the various interactions that donors could engage in within its virtual walls. Based on our interviews with donors, we determined that the VR app would be developed specifically for the Oculus Quest, given its prevalence among our target audience.
To validate the feasibility and potential of this concept, I promptly iterated the VR home using Unity.
INITIAL SKETCH
INITIAL PROTOTYPE TO BRING CONCEPT TO LIFE
ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS: USER INTERVIEWS, SKETCHES, PROTOTYPING
Conceptualizing user experience
Our initial prototype validated our proof of concept and we began mapping out the immersive VR experience in detail. The journey mapping and user flows were completed to identify any points of friction. Empathizing with the user is especially important in VR, where the entry barrier is high. The ultimate goal is any user experience is to make it as frictionless as possible but also include moments of intrigue and delight.
DONOR DASHBOARD VR USER JOURNEY
DONOR DASHBOARD VR USER FLOW
ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS: JOURNEY MAPPING, USER FLOW
Introducing the New Story VR App
An intimate virtual reality experience, it starts inside a New Story 3D printed home. Through personal interactions, donors can learn more about New Story's work, see the immediate
impact of their donations and share their experiences with their communities.
A NEW STORY HOME EXPERIENCE
Creating a welcoming atmosphere inside the VR app was important as was creating affordances for the user so that they can easily understand which objects were interactive and how to engage with them. To enhance this experience, I introduced the concept of Ali, an avatar hostess. She effectively guides the user and highlights object interactions throughout the journey. This curated and intimate approach adds an extra layer of immersion and personalization to the overall experience.
UNDERSTANDING IMPACT THROUGH INTERACTION
Ali guides the user towards a desk where a prompt appears, indicating an interaction with the globe. The interaction help to raise the donor's awareness of the organization's global impact and the profound influence their contributions have on a larger scale. As the VR experience unfolds, it gradually becomes more intimate with each subsequent interaction.
A PICTURE TELLS MORE THAN A THOUSAND WORDS
Some of the most impactful stories come from New Story clients themselves. Those who faced housing insecurity have felt a profound transformation in the quality of life upon securing housing for themselves and their families. Donors can hear more about these stories by interacting with the picture frames on the walls in the virtual environment.
SHARE YOUR VIRTUAL JOURNEY WITH OTHERS
I introduced the idea of the virtual suitcase. Certain interactions, such as the stories told in the
picture frames can be saved to the donor's virtual suitcase. A small, yellow virtual suitcase icon
indicates that the donor can point to it and save that experience in their virtual suitcase.
The contents can then be shared with the donor's community through email or a social media feed.
This goal of this feature was sharing New Story's impact within the donor's network and building
a community around it.
DONATIONS THAT SHOW IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Including a donation CTA feature in the VR app was important to the client but also to the user.
The user wants to see the immediate impact of their donations for the experience to be meaningful to them. The intent with this interaction is to show the far reaching affects of owning a home to people and their families to the donor. It starts with the home but the impact is much more and far reaching than just owning a home.
THE ITERATIONS THAT GOT US HERE
It was difficult to find donors that were avid VR users but the donors we found that used VR were passionate users and gave us great feedback on the experience. Designing in the VR space is complex. Our prototype had its limitations - it wasn't fully developed to be experienced with a headset. However, we implemented VR design patterns for familiarity and ease of use.
TELEPORTATION
Teleportation is a common design pattern used in VR so the user can move around the virtual space with ease, particularly large distances. Initially, double arrows indicated the direction of movement. Users understood the double arrows as a UI element for teleportation but we later changed it to foot prints as we felt this was a commonly used for teleportation and we felt it worked well with the interior theme of a home.
BEFORE
AFTER
DISAGREEMENTS OVER ALI
The role of Ali, our New Story ambassador/hostess was not universally liked. Some found her to be helpful while others felt taken aback by her presence (in the first iteration). In the end, we kept her in the experience because she facilitated and introduced object interactions to the user. We modified her look from casual to business casual for a more professional look.
ALI BEFORE
ALI AFTER
TOO MUCH TEXT
In VR, there is such a thing as too much text. In our usability testing, our users lets us know
right away that text is difficult to read in VR apps and too much of it can detract from their experience.
I edited down the text to 2-3 sentences and we had text represented visually and added audio
for accessibility.
BEFORE
AFTER
TUTORIALS ARE ESSENTIAL IN VR APPS
A tutorial was added to the VR experience. VR users said they always watch a tutorial if it's their first time in a VR app so they know how to maneuver and interact in the app. They thought the virtual suitcase was unique and users should be taught its function. We included a tutorial of the virtual suitcase as how to use controls to minimizes user frustration when interacting in the app and make it more enjoyable.
VIRTUAL SUITCASE TUTORIAL
CONTROLLER TUTORIAL
ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility in VR is a work in progress. The VR hardware is not accessible to individuals with limited mobility. As technology for the hardware continues to evolve and improve, there are several ways we can make the VR application more accessible, using control, graphicis and audio settings that can be customized.
This accessibility settings do not cover everything but it opens a dialogue on accessibility concerns and the types of features that need to be included to make this VR experiences
successful for a larger audience.
ACCESSIBILITY SETTINGS IN NEW STORY VR APP
Client Feedback
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Liked the concept of entering VR space and exploring the space at donor's own pace.
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The use of the avatar to help guide the experience was helpful
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The idea of virtual suitcase was well received but it was not clear to the client what was
being shared
Next Steps
The client would need to understand ROI and development costs if they decide to move forward.
Some future implementations to consider are adding 360 videos to the environment around the 3D home, avatar customization to add more diverse representation and building out the prototype in Unity for full functionality.