BeeKind
Role
UX Designer
Timeline
2023–2024
Team
5 designers, globally distributed
Type
Passion project
Overview
BeeKind started as a question: what if volunteering felt as easy as ordering food? A group of designers from across the world — no budget, no OKRs, no client brief — came together to build something they genuinely cared about.
The app connects volunteers with local community organizations, making it easy to find events, sign up, log hours, and see real impact. What started as a passion project became a full-cycle UX process: research, personas, wireframes, hi-fidelity design, and two rounds of usability testing.
Problem
Volunteering platforms feel transactional and cold. Users log in once, struggle to find relevant opportunities, and don't come back. The platforms that do exist prioritize organizational needs over the volunteer's experience.
After analyzing competitors — VolunteerMatch, Idealist, All for Good — the pattern was clear: none of them made the volunteer feel seen. Finding events required too many steps. Impact was invisible. The reward for showing up was an hour logged in a spreadsheet.
Research
User surveys revealed two distinct motivation profiles — and two very different design problems to solve simultaneously.
Active volunteers
- → Motivated by community connection
- → Want to see their impact clearly
- → Value continuity with trusted orgs
- → Frustrated by poor coordination
Potential volunteers
- → Don't know where to start
- → Overwhelmed by commitment level
- → Need a low-friction first step
- → Respond to social proof
Who we designed for
Maria Lopez
Regular volunteer
Active in her community, tech-comfortable, motivated by connection and visible impact. Wants to find nearby opportunities and track her contributions over time.
Denese Manley
Potential volunteer
Wants to give back but finds the process intimidating. Time-strapped, needs a clear path to a first experience, and needs to see the value before committing.
Process
From user flows and IA through two rounds of usability testing with real participants. Each round fed directly back into the design.
Results
Two rounds of usability testing with real participants. The numbers validate the design decisions — and the before/afters show exactly where they paid off.
96%
Avg. task success rate across all tested flows
↑ SUS
System usability score improved round over round
↓ Errors
Failure rate reduced after targeted redesign
100%
Success rate on profile editing after iteration
Before & after
Finding Events
The original flow required too many taps to reach relevant local events. After testing, we restructured discovery to surface nearby opportunities immediately on the home screen.
Before
After
Before & after
Event Sign-Up
Sign-up had too many fields and no confirmation state. We reduced friction by pre-filling available info and adding a clear confirmation screen with calendar integration.
Before
After
Before & after
Log Hours with QR Code
Logging volunteer hours was buried deep in the app. We introduced a QR scan flow so volunteers could check in and out at the event location in a single tap.
Before
After
A/B test
Calendar Functionality
We tested a dropdown date selector against a horizontal scroll picker. Testing confirmed scroll navigation felt more native and produced fewer errors on both iOS and Android.
Option A — Dropdown
Higher error rate. Felt unfamiliar on mobile.
Option B — Scroll ✓
Lower error rate. Matched native iOS/Android patterns.
What's next
In-App Messaging
Direct communication between volunteers and organizations to reduce coordination friction.
Friends & Networking
A social layer to let volunteers see what their connections are joining and invite each other.
Feedback & Reviews
Two-way review system so volunteers can rate organizations and orgs can recognize their regulars.
Reflection
Passion projects teach you things client work can't. Without business constraints, every decision has to stand on its own design merit — you can't hide behind scope or budget.
Working across time zones with people I'd never met pushed the team to be intentional about async communication and documentation. The constraints made us better designers.