Our415
Building a digital resource hub 0→1 for San Francisco’s youth and families
UX/UI Design · Visual Design
Overview
Client
San Francisco Dept of Children, Youth and their Families
Role
Design Lead
Tools
Figma, Notion
Timeline
10 months
Brief
Our415 is an initiative that the City of San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF) launched to help connect young people and families to city resources, services, and events. In support of this ambition, DCYF was looking to our team to build a resource hub and directory 0->1.
Approach
Typically, to kick off product discovery on a 0->1 project like this, I would want to conduct user research to get a deeper understanding of our key user groups and their needs. However, the DCYF team had a limited budget for this initial phase and they were hoping to get something off the ground within two months — just in time for families to use it during the summer months.
To accommodate this quick turnaround, I shifted to a lean discovery phase, where I relied on existing research from DCYF as well as an external data partner we were working with. I then moved into rapid prototyping, where I worked closely with the client team, the PM on the project, and our engineers through several design review cycles to quickly iterate and get feedback on a viable MVP for us to build within the short timeframe.
Process
Although our team moved quickly and successfully built an MVP, data coordination proved to be more difficult. The client was delayed in getting data from their partner organizations and grantees, and incorporating them into the larger database we were building with our external vendor proved to be trickier than expected.
However, while these issues delayed the launch, it did afford a team more time to continue our agile approach and iterate on the site in the meantime, improving the overall user experience and adding functionality that had been previously scrapped for time.
Impact
A surge in community interest and sign-ups
With the data issues settled and the product finally ready, our team volunteered alongside the client team at the San Francisco Summer Resources Fair to officially launch the new site by demoing it with young people and families passing through and encouraging them to sign up for DYCF’s new newsletter. The response was immense and pointed towards real momentum for the initiative.
5k active users in the first 6 months
The site continued to see active engagement from the community climb after launch, resulting in the real-life impact of a growing number of San Francisco families feeling more supported and connected to the resources their children need to grow and thrive.
