‍Role: End to End Product Designer
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Timeline: 5.5 months (3.5 months for research & strategy, 2 months for execution)

Team: 4 Designers

Tools: Figma, FigJam,

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CONTEXT

PRIDEnet is a national network dedicated to advancing LGBTQIA+ health research. They do this through connecting community members with ways to participate in research and create opportunities for community input to inform all stages of the research process. PRIDEnet is the community engagement arm of The PRIDE Study, the largest longitudinal health study of LGBTQ+ individuals. Despite being part of groundbreaking LGBTQ+ health research, PRIDEnet struggled with low community engagement and volunteer retention.

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THE CHALLENGE

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Problem and Business Goals

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PRIDEnet struggled with low community engagement and volunteer retention despite being part of groundbreaking LGBTQ+ health research. The existing website failed to communicate their mission clearly, leading to confusion with The PRIDE Study and missed opportunities for community involvement.

The existing website failed to communicate their mission clearly, leading to confusion with The PRIDE Study and missed opportunities for community involvement.

The client approached us with a desire to create a distinctive identity and a compelling digital presence that would set them apart in the competitive urban living market.

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THE PROCESS

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Research & Discovery

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Stakeholder Alignment Workshop

I facilitated workshops with 8 stakeholders to align on engagement strategy. We discovered fundamental disagreements about what "engagement" meant to different team members.

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User Research Deep Dive

14 in-depth interviews with:

• Active volunteers (6)
• Community partners (4)
• Potential participants (4)

‍Users: LGBTQ+ individuals, researchers, volunteers, and healthcare professionals struggled to navigate and understand PRIDEnet’s mission and resources.
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PRIDEnet: Needed a clearer digital identity, streamlined user journeys, and an engaging website to drive research participation and community involvement

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‍‍Key Insight: Before solving user problems, we needed to solve internal alignment issues.

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Pain Points Uncovered

1. Information Architecture Crisis
   1. No clear mission/vision
      communication
   2. Blog posts and events had zero discoverability
   3. Volunteers had no resources to share with interested participants
2. Brand Confusion
   • 78% of users confused PRIDEnet with The PRIDE Study
   • Unclear value proposition for engagement vs. participation
3. Resource Management Nightmare
   • Manual ordering and tracking of promotional materials
   • No way to measure ambassador engagement
   • Limited support for active community members

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Ideation & Strategy

1. Designed a hierarchical model that mirrors the org: Workstream → Metric → KPI with consistent definitions and rollups.
2. Made leaderboards and region based exception views with user profiles, then enabled safe drill‑downs.
3. Treated data freshness and provenance as UI elements to build trust.

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THE SOLUTION

I designed a hierarchical information architecture that mirrors organizational structure while prioritizing trust, accessibility, and actionable insights

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