Evaluative Research | Usability Test
Formative Usability Test for Civic Tech Volunteer Onboarding
Context & Role
I conducted a formative usability test on a volunteer-facing onboarding system for a civic tech organization. The goal was to evaluate how clearly the platform supported new volunteers navigating tasks, accessing resources, and understanding next steps.
I led the full research process—including test planning, participant recruitment, moderation, analysis, and reporting—and collaborated with the design team to iterate on the prototype based on findings.
Goals & Method
Objective: Identify usability issues that could hinder engagement, orientation, or task completion during onboarding
Participants: 4 new or prospective volunteers
Format: Remote, moderated usability sessions using a clickable Figma prototype
Key Tasks Tested:
Navigate the onboarding checklist
View project descriptions
Access contribution resources
Complete initial profile and Slack setup
Key Findings
Confusing Skills Terminology and Categorization
Participants struggled to understand certain skill labels and disagreed with how skills were grouped or prioritized. This created uncertainty about how to accurately represent their expertise.Unclear Error Messaging
Some participants didn’t recognize when an error message was being shown. The message was visually subtle and cognitively ambiguous, leading to missed corrections.Lack of Progress Cues in Skill Section
The skill selection experience felt overwhelming due to the amount of information presented at once. Participants expressed a need for structure or progression to avoid fatigue.
Design Impact
Refined Skill Terminology and Grouping
Collaborated with the product and outreach teams to revise confusing labels and reorganize skill categories to better reflect user mental models.Redesigned Error Messaging
Simplified copy and updated the visual treatment to emphasize the error itself—drawing attention directly to the problem rather than surrounding UI elements.Segmented Skill Pages
Broke the long skill list into clearly defined sections with visual progress indicators, improving scannability and creating a stronger sense of completion.Enhanced “Edit Skills & Availability” Page
Reworked layout and content hierarchy to improve clarity and task completion success for first-time users.Added Search Functionality to Job Listings
Introduced a search bar to help volunteers quickly find roles that aligned with their skills and interests, addressing exploration friction.
Key Findings & User Pain Points
Usability Issues Identified
The following summarized the major usability challenges participants encountered.
What I learned
This project reinforced the value of formative usability testing as a practical and impactful tool for improving real-world product experiences—especially in volunteer-driven, asynchronous environments.
Key Insights:
Usability testing surfaces issues that heuristics miss
Direct observation revealed pain points that weren’t caught in early expert reviews, especially around cognitive load, expectations, and error handling.Targeted participant segmentation matters
Testing with the right users—those who match the actual onboarding journey—led to clearer, more actionable insights and reduced design ambiguity.Baseline metrics support iterative improvement
Establishing early usability success benchmarks made it easier to track progress and measure the effectiveness of design changes over time.Not all issues need fixing at once
Prioritizing fixes based on impact and urgency helped us manage scope and focus on the most critical blockers first, while allowing room for phased improvements.Tight, ongoing collaboration builds momentum
Regular, clear communication with designers, developers, and stakeholder teams helped translate findings into action and ensured alignment throughout the process.