Duet
Designing a donation dashboard and a fresh identity for nonprofit serving refugee families across the globe.
SUMMARY
I spent 10 months designing donor experiences at Duet, a startup that helps refugee families rebuild their lives. In addition to product design work, I did some illustrations for them, too—like the one below :)
ROLE
Product Designer
TIMELINE
2020-2021
SKILLS
Product thinking
Interaction design
Visual design
TOOLS
Figma
Illustrator
DUET AND THE CHARITY CRISIS
While well-intentioned, humanitarian aid is often ineffective, wasteful, and at its worst, harmful.
Duet is reinventing the relationship between beneficiaries, donors, and local communities. Every dollar donated is invested back into the local community.
Delivering hyper-personalized and dignified aid
By creating a three-sided marketplace, Duet provides unique benefits for beneficiaries, local store partners, and Duet donors.
Beneficiaries tell us exactly what they need by “shopping” in Duet’s local partner stores—ensuring both no waste, and perfect fit.
THE SYSTEM IN PRACTICE
The donation journey
REQUEST
Families visit local stores & request items through Duet’s Refugee Portal
LIST
Duet lists items on the donor website for visitors to browse
DONATE
Donors buy those items and donate them directly to that family
RETRIEVE
The family is notified. They visit the store to retrieve their item
SEE IMPACT
Donors see an impact report of their donations
How might we help Duet donors understand their impact with a donation dashboard?
A donation dashboard would not only serve as a functional place where donors can see donation insights, but would be the entry point to nurture relationships between donors and beneficiaries.
Project Goals
Visualize impact
Give donors a high-level overview of their donation impact.
Nurture connection
Cultivate a sense of connection between donors and families.
Encourage donation
Serve as an entrypoint for new donations.
Gathering Insights
To kickstart the design process, I scoped out how other companies approached impact summaries. I noted how they distilled numbers and encouraged donations & engagement.
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Wren, a climate subscription, contextualizes a donor’s carbon footprint by their top 3 emission sources.
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Charity: Water, a non-profit that provides drinking water to people in developing nations, showcases a donor’s impact by (1) lifetime financial impact and (2) estimated number of people served.
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Donor profiles on Charity: Water feature a donation form, where visitors are encouraged to “join” their friend by donating monthly.
Conceptualizing a modular feed of "Impact Cards"
As Duet expands locations and onboards different kinds of beneficiaries onto its platform, the Dashboard will change—in fact, new initiatives were already underway at the time of the project.
Considering Duet’s future, I designed a modular layout of “Impact Cards" that can be rearranged and replaced.
The Architecture of an Impact Card
Impact Cards are informative and/or actionable components that make up the greater dashboard.
Informative
Impact Cards contextualize a donor’s impact in a distinct way, such as “Number of families supported.”
Actionable
Impact Cards may also serve as an entry-point for an action, such as “Donate again” or “Refer a friend.”
The Evolution of the Duet Brand through the Eyes of the Dashboard
During this project, I undertook a sweeping overhaul of the Duet brand. The brand was more than a matter of visuals—it reflected the company’s ethos. In each iteration of this redesign, my goal was to better embody Duet’s values of dignity, community, and trust.
NOTE
Iterations 1 and 2 were done in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Iteration 3 was done in 2023 as a personal exploration.
FINAL OVERVIEW
FINAL OVERVIEW
FINAL OVERVIEW
Lessons Learned
Over-document for easy handoff.
Clear documentation makes lives easier for everyone! I learned the hard way that when you leave room for interpretation, your designs probably won’t be engineered to spec.
I had to revisit my designs several times to ensure that component padding, naming conventions, and other forms of documentation were consistent and clear.
During my subsequent project at Duet, I began documenting my work from the outset and even created a template for future designers to use.
Lay the groundwork with patience.
As a product designer whose greatest area of strength was visual design, this project tested my ability to lay groundwork before even touching anything visual.
During my internship, I challenged myself to focus on building a comprehensive understanding of Duet’s donors via research and conversation before diving into the Figma file.
Thank you
To Spence, head of design at Duet, I wouldn’t be the designer I am today without your mentorship! Thank you for your constant guidance and for the opportunity to learn & grow alongside you. And another thank you to Michael, our indefatigable CEO, for bringing this team together. I hope that one day we’ll be able to verify our heights in real life :)
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