Kappa Alpha Theta Application and Portal
Theta Connect Application
Problem
Kappa Alpha Theta is a female fraternity that prides itself in providing a sense of community for women attending universities. They contacted our team in regards to helping them figure out how to bring in engagement from post college graduates 1 to 3 years out.
Solution
Our team was able to effectively solve the problem of low alumnae engagement post grad by proposing a new application and improving the current portal and website to help foster a sense of ongoing community for young women. Overall creating value and allowing for donations from younger alumnae as they progress in their career paths.
Scope
This project lasted 2 weeks with 3 team members. My roles included being the Market Researcher, Usability Test Coordinator and UI Designer.
Design Tools
InVision, Sketch and Paper Prototypes
Research
To thoroughly understand young alumnae we went ahead to find out about
1.) Giving priorities, membership journey and engagement.
2.) Context of what was currently being offered to members of Kappa Alpha Theta.
3.) What other membership organizations were doing and what we could learn from their models.
We kicked off the project by sending out a screener survey that focused on women empowerment and charitable giving. Then conducted a focus group and 1-on-1 interviews with recently graduated greek alumnae, college alumnae, and older greek alumnae.
Trends
Through our research we discovered common themes and patterns around charitable giving, membership and engagement.
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Young women are not financially able to give back but are willing to give their time.
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Life changes dramatically after college and young women are bombarded with finding a place to live, job hunting and overall adjusting to a new phase in life.
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Fraternal organization does not stay in touch post college and when alumnae are contacted it is primarily for donations and that leads to frustration.
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Alumnae need to understand the benefits of giving.
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Unclear information on how to network with fellow alumnae and give back on online mediums.
Mood Board
Having a clear picture of what we were solving for we went ahead and created a mood board to understand what Kappa Alpha Theta women represent by compiling images of what stood out to them the most.
Personas
Personas depicted key patterns and needs for the Greek Senior, Greek Graduate and Greek Alumnae that is 10 years post graduation. However, we focused in on our target user the recent Greek Graduate. She is the alumnae that has moved to a new city searching for a community of women who can serve as mentors and help empower her.
Journey Maps
Journey Mapping charted the paths of users and identified what is most important to them at their unique life stage and combining a storyboard with it added a visual to how their life unfolds with Kappa Alpha Theta being at the heart of it.
Comparative Analysis Summary
We moved forward with compiling secondary research by comparing other greek groups, foundations and companies.
What we discovered was that all these entities had one thing in common, ongoing engagement. They had a structure in place that gave back to their members through community outreach and added value to their lives.
Backed by an overwhelming amount of research we identified unique pain points and were now ready to propose service and design-oriented solutions.
Solution 1
An interactive application that allows young alumnae to connect with their fraternity members.
Solution 2
Redesign of the current
theta portal to meet
the needs of young
alumnae.
Solution 3
Suggest redesign of website in terms of usability and clarity when it came to donations.
Usability Tests
We had users walk through our paper prototypes and that led to iterations of design. Gamification was incorporated into our application through earning badges for events attended and sharing achievements with fellow sisters. This ensured that the application would be continually used and provided value in the lives of the members throughout different stages of life.
Low fidelity prototype of Theta Connect in Sketch
Hifi prototype of Theta Connect using Sketch and InVision.
KAT Portal Redesign
The redesign of the portal took into effect the clarity of each individual society by listing benefits and cost of membership at each tier. Now alumni would better understand what was available to them and how they could remain engaged with fellow sisters post university life.
Takeaways
What I have learned
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Large fraternal organizations often have many chapters located in different areas that do not always work together. So, implementing change takes a great deal of effort and timelines.
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I learned how it is to work in a functional design team having designers from a variety of backgrounds exposed me to different dynamics during the design process.
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When presenting to the client and board of directors it is best to summarize the discoveries and focus your time on presenting the prototype.
What I would do differently
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I would have the amount for Soaring Kites listed as an annual figure similar to the Founders and Presidents Circle to stay consistent.
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I would coordinate more time to speak with some of the board of directors to better understand their concerns with launching a mobile networking tool.