A learning experience for children in East Oakland that aims to engage the entire community, including parents, partners, volunteers, and donors, through Acta Non Verba (ANV)'s social media platform and blog.
This solution serves a dual purpose: empowering children to express their voices while also serving as a powerful tool to attract more stakeholders by highlighting the impactful work being carried out within ANV.
My ANV Day
Roles: Research, Ideation, Interviews, Mock Ups, User Journeys, Storyboards, Wireframes, Prototyping
Experience Design with a Non-Profit Organization
Team: Lucia Pineda, Christie Lee, Henry Zhu
Who is Acta Non Verba?
A non-profit in East Oakland that challenges oppressive dynamics through urban farming, educating children about farming while offering homework help and leadership opportunities. They address food insecurity, community development, and sustainability, aiming to provide better access to green spaces and healthy food, especially in neglected neighborhoods.
My team and I were tasked with figuring out how we could help ANV as Interaction Designers and further their mission while addressing current pain points.
What I Did:
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Market Research
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Interviews (Including Co-Design Methods like Card Sorting)
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Observations (Farm Visits)
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Experience and Product Design (Storyboards, Wireframes, Mock Ups)
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Prototyping (Low Fi and Hi Fi)
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Documentation (Handovers)
RESEARCH
Stakeholder Map
To visualize ANV and their partners in a holistic system and understand their interactions with various parties.
Market Research
To learn other successful engagement strategies and identify areas for improvement.
Farm Observations
To understand ANV more deeply and help frame the type of conversations we wanted to have with the community.
Interviews
To identify the pain points and concerns of key ANV members (kids, parents, executives, board members).
To gain deeper insights, we utilized co-creation techniques like card sorting and drawing to tap into their mindsets.
DEFINE
In order to identify common themes, painpoints, and opporunity areas, we made use of sense-making techniques such as Affinity Mapping.
OPPORTUNITY
Empower the Acta Non Verba children by amplifying their voices through social media, thereby strengthening the organization's brand identity.
PURPOSE
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Advertise the value and effectiveness of ANV’s programs & increase online engagement
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Strengthen and diversify ANV’s brand identity by including the voices of the community that they serve
HOW MIGHT WE
...create an experience which amplifies the community’s voice, is fun and engaging for the kids, promotes ANV’s programs, and is sustainable over time?
DESIGN
We have designed a two-way experience that not only provides the children with valuable learning opportunities, but also utilizes ANV's social media presence to engage and connect with the broader community, including parents, partners, and donors.
The Concept: Part I
Learning Experience for the Children
The Concept: Part II
Boosting Online Presence
Reel
This is an example of one of the #MyANVDay reels captured by one of the kids during ANV's After School Program.
Storyboards
We created storyboards from both ANV's and the partner's perspective, illustrating ideal scenarios to visualize and understand how this experience can significantly benefit the organization.
If you would like a more detailed overview of the experience and the ideal impact of this initiative, follow along ANV Parent, Megan, and her son, Artie, in the following video:
Theory of Change
We made a theory of change to establish our goals and identify areas we could measure impact.
TESTING
We have conducted multiple rounds of testing with children, parents (within and outside of ANV), and fellow designers utilizing both low fidelity and high fidelity methods.
RESULTS
Overall Insights
ANV Parents believe that they need to see ANV from a kid’s perspective on their social media.
ANV executives believe that ANV needs a stronger online brand/presence/personality.
ANV Parents feel a sense of pride when they see their kids in the videos. They appreciate this glimpse into the activities that they do at ANV.
Some kids chosen to direct #MyANVDay are more shy than others, and may need a little more encouragement.
When people not familiar with ANV see #MyANVDay posts, they want to learn even more about both the kids and the community.
For videos, parents and ANV executives prefer that the content showcases actual activities being done at ANV, not just the people.
What's Next?
Since ANV is undergoing a major departmental shift, we have supplied them with detailed handover documents and job descriptions for future #MyANVDay facilitators, as well as budget-friendly alternatives and best practices.
Ideally, upon full implementation of this initiative by ANV, we aim to gather concrete metrics that measure online engagement and its overall impact.
