👆
When I worked with the UX team during project meetings.
👆
When I volunteered at R2G events to gain community insights.
If I had more resources
With limited resources and tight timelines, our team chose Squarespace for its simplicity and one-click deployment, which allowed us to design and launch the site without involving many developers. However, that convenience came with trade-offs: it constrained our design flexibility and prevented implementation of more complex flows and interactions.
If given more resources and developer support, I would envision rebuilding the site with a custom solution—unlocking richer user flows, more interactive features, and ultimately deeper engagement.
What I learned
I learned how to design within an existing design system—balancing consistency with creativity. By adapting established patterns to new project needs, I not only ensured alignment with the organization’s visual identity but also gained hands-on experience in extending the system responsibly. This strengthened my ability to deliver designs that are both scalable and implementation-ready.
05 Reflection
Final Design
Now, the Community Hub serves as a central space discover opportunities, connect with partners, and stay engaged. Through consistent layouts and recognizable partner cards, the new design amplifies partner visibility while creating a cohesive, trustworthy space that strengthens collaboration and community identity.
Solution Approach
1. Layout Decision
We (me & Ashlyn) explored 2 layout options to balance clarity and scalability. Through internal critique, we chose the right one, which better supports partner visibility while keeping the interface clean and future-proof.
Discard
Fewer partners are visible at once.
Users’ eyes need to jump left and right, making scanning harder.
Choose
Uses space more efficiently — more partners can be shown without clutter.
Vertical alignment makes scanning faster and keeps key info clear.
2. Component Design
I also created standardized partner cards to ensure consistency and recognizability across diverse organizations. The component system made it simple for the team to update or onboard new partners, without redesigning the hub each time.
Logo thumbnail
(unified style & shared library for reuse)
Title
Location / Type
Brief intro (one-line initiative)
Link
Design Opportunity
Community partners wanted to collaborate more closely, but their initiatives were scattered across different channels with no shared place to connect. This fragmentation limited visibility and made it harder for organizations to discover one another’s work.
We identified an opportunity to create a centralized hub where partner groups could showcase initiatives, exchange resources, and build stronger collaborations—turning informal connections into a more sustainable network.
04 Design Focus 2: Community
Final Design
Now, the Join Us hub provides a dedicated entry point where volunteers, speakers, and partners can easily discover how to get involved. The redesigned hub clarifies value, aligns content with user roles, and integrates sign-up as part of a guided journey—making the process more intuitive, trustworthy, and engaging.
Solution Approach
1. Overall Approach
I, together with Ashlyn, translated broad research and key issues into concrete design actions—directing the redesign toward greater clarity and role alignment.
Restructure Information Architecture
UX Writing &
UI Adaptation
Remap User Flow
Analyze User Research
2. User Personas
We developed role-specific personas based on our user research analysis, focusing on each role’s motivations and challenges to directly inform the Join Us flow and interface design.
Volunteers
Focus
Pain Point
Contribute time and skills effectively.
Confused by scattered info & unclear expectations.
Clear entry point and and clear role descriptions.
Needs
Speakers
Focus
Pain Point
Visibility and audience engagement.
Sign-up feels unprofessional; unclear on event flow.
Streamlined onboarding with clear role expectations.
Needs
Business Partners
Focus
Pain Point
Collaboration and long-term visibility.
No clear entry point to connect with the org.
Dedicated hub to explore partnership opportunities.
Needs
3. Refined Sign-up Flow
To align with user needs and improve engagement, we transformed the sign-up flow from a transactional form into a guided journey—highlighting role value, clarifying expectations, and ensuring professional follow-up.
Previous Flow:
Current Flow:
Previous Design & Key Issues
The Join Us hub is a critical source for attracting volunteers, speakers, and business partners. However, the previous design lacked visibility and clarity, leading to low engagement and confusion during sign-up.
Previous Design
Key Issues
👉No dedicated entry point
— users had to find it by accident, reducing discoverability.
👉Minimal and unclear content
— information was sparse and failed to explain value or roles.
Join Us hub 😕
👉Redirected to Google Forms
— felt unprofessional and broke user trust.
👉Overloaded content
— too many fields at once, with poor hierarchy and readability.
👉Incomplete onboarding
— lacked context and role explanations, leaving expectations unclear.
Sign-up Forms 😩
03 Design Focus 1: Join Us
Design Direction
Before I joined, the UX team had just completed user research. These findings revealed challenges in branding, navigation, and engagement, laying the groundwork for the redesign.
Building on these insights, we set three design pillars—Expand, Strengthen, and Support Connection—to grow the community, build trust, and sustain engagement. My focus was on the Expand Connection pillar, collaborating with another UX designer Ashlyn to redesign the Join Us Hub and Community Hub.
Expand
Strengthen
Support
🤝
Highlight partner organizations and foster collaboration visibility through the redesigned Community hub.
Community Level
👭🏻
Make participation clearer and more appealing for volunteers, speakers, and partners through the redesigned Join Us hub.
Individual Level
🙋🏻♀️
Me & Ashlyn
Background
Rise2Gether’s mission is to support Asian women’s career growth through mentorship, community, and professional opportunities. However, the previous website struggled to deliver on this mission—71% of visits ended on the homepage, with an average view time of only 54 seconds.
Recognizing this gap, a new website was needed to drive deeper connections and enable the community’s long-term growth.
Previous Website
02 Project Context
Within 3 months of its May 2025 launch, the redesigned Rise2Gether website achieved significant impact, driving stronger storytelling, clearer branding, and deeper audience engagement.
↑137%
Total Visit Growth
Before: 8.1k in 10 months
After: 19k in 3 months
(including 11K unique visitors)
↑123%
Average View Time
Before: 54s average
After: 2min04s average
+2.4K
Cross-platform Followers
Before: 900+ total
After: 3300+ total
01 Real-world Impact
Rise2Gether:
Community Platform supporting Asian women’s careers
Rise2Gether is a Seattle-based non-profit community that empowers Asian women through career events, mentorship, and peer support. The redesigned website elevates its brand presence, sharpens its story, and expands its reach to engage a wider audience.
UX Designer
My Role
1 Founder & CEO
1 Design Director
8 UX Designers (Me)
Team
9 months (2025)
Duration
Information Achitecure
Content Strategy
Interaction Design
Web Design
Key Contribution