J*Crow
A platform that helps Black women and Women of Color impacted by the U.S. criminal justice system gain legal and financial literacy
Duration
May - Aug 2023
(4 Months)
Project Type
Team Project
My Role
UX Research
UX Design
Tools
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Figma
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Webflow
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Google Form
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Figjam
Project Process
User Research
Secondary Research
Literary Analysis
Competitor Analysis
Primary Research
Expert Interview
User Interview
Design
Development
Showcase
Design System
Low-fi Design
Design Iteration
High-fi Design
Information Architecture
Webflow Development
Usability Testing
Presentation to clients
Design handoff
Project Overview
About J*Crow
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J*Crow is a nonprofit that aims to usher in a new era of economic justice for Black Women and Women of Color impacted by the U.S. criminal justice system. Their goal is to equip these women with financial, legal, entrepreneurial, and workforce resources to uplift them and their families.
About Develop for Good
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Develop for Good (DFG) is a nonprofit that supports teams of diverse college students as they work on real-world tech projects under professional mentors for other nonprofits and make meaningful impact. J*Crow is one of the projects during DFG 2023 summer batch.
Project Objective
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Black Women and Women of Color make up <11% of jail and prison populations, yet pay >60% amount of fees to the U.S. criminal justice system. There’s a severe lack of financial and economic resources for this population: most resources are catered towards Black men, while 90% of the Black economy is women.
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This project would benefit Black women + WOC impacted by the criminal justice system. Creating a welcoming and functional website would expose its users (potential J*Crow partners and the Women of Color community) to financial resources as well as an open community.
Final Deliverable
Project Final Deliverable
A sneak peek of what we did (About 1 min)👇
Project Final Award
Our team has received the most aesthetic award on Develop for Good 2023 Demo Day among 30+ teams.
Research
01 Connecting with the Client
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Our team understood that the website required digital financial, legal, entrepreneurial, and workforce resources that empower Women of Color. These resources encompass pilot courses and mentorship programs covering financial literacy (JFi) and entrepreneurship (JStart). A key objective of the website is to secure $250K in funding next year.
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Achieving this goal demands a responsive website that is especially easy to use on mobile devices. This design relies on a powerful brand identity grounded in comprehensive UX research. Because our client wanted a mobile-friendly and highly customized site, we designed on Figma and built on Webflow, a no-code platform.
02 Identify User Group
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Before starting the user research process, we identified our user research groups and aimed to understand their goals and challenges. Using literary analysis, we gained deeper insights into our issue and target audiences, while competitive analysis helped us recognize the unaddressed needs within the user groups.
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User Research Groups
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Black Women and Women of Color ​
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Funders and Social impact investors
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03 Literary Analysis
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​The historical backdrop of racism, dating back to the "Slave Patrol" of the 1700s, emphasizes the deep-rooted mistreatment of Black women and women of color within this system and is only the beginning of their persecution. Our analysis encompassed factors contributing to this issue:
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Stringent sentencing policies
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War on drugs
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Absence of gender-responsive
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Trauma-informed approaches within the system
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Mental health issues
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These articles exposed us to the complex matters of charged domestic abuse survivors and overpoliced young black children, who are often vulnerable and acting in self-defense or running away from unsafe homes. Additionally, we explored the intricate legal journey when interacting with law enforcement, a tedious process marked by various stages and associated fees.
04 Competitive Analysis
Step 1 General Analysis
Our team conducted a competitive analysis on these organization websites
Insights from competitive analysis
Step 2 Focus Analysis
Throughout the project, we referenced Dream.org and Designers for Climate most frequently.
Both websites
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are colorful and interactive
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are easy to navigate
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use clean, simple layouts
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use geometric graphic elements
Key takeaway from these two websites
Design
01 Information Architecture
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The team and client developed a site map together on how the information on the website should be laid out among the different pages. At the midpoint of our project, our client made adjustments as she got feedback from her stakeholders and partners on what would be necessary/unnecessary to have on the J*Crow website.
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Some of the changes made include rearranging page order, cutting down the number of pages, and combining J*Crow resources into a Get Started page.
Final Information Architecture
02 Website Design
Low-Fi
Mid-Fi
After the designer and client review, we moved on to making adjustments and focusing on establishing a brand design in the mid-fi’s. Some of the major changes made from the low-fi include:
Creating a bold hero section
Incorporating Imagery
High-Fi
After the designer and client review, we moved on to making adjustments and focusing on establishing a brand design in the mid-fi’s. Some of the major changes made from the low-fi include:
Designing a logo, establishing typography and refining illustrations
Create visually appealing flows and clear contrasts
Final Prototype
'About Us' page
Learn more about how J*Crow started, their mission, theory of change, core values, as well as connect with the founder
'Get Started' page
Include J*Crow's community resources as well as their process to help Women of Color increase their financial and business literacy
'Contact Us' page
Share J*Crow's current partners and give the opportunity to become a partner or ask questions, address concerns or comments through an embedded form
User Testing
01 User Testing Process
Our team of designers performed a total of 10 interviews for user testing. We received both overall and specific feedback on the brand identity, user flow, page layouts, etc. Users thought the website “feels very exciting and lofty” thanks to the bold color story and typography and overall “feminine design”. Several stakeholders also expressed positive feedback on the website’s overall design and functionality.
Some specific feedback we received:
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Make the Homepage hero section more visually impactful + some sort of illustration to give viewers the idea of who and what J*Crow is
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Include a more concrete “What we do” kind of messaging, as part of “The Problem” section
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Add CTA to drive clients/partners to other site pages
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Need more visuals/infographics in general; very text-heavy
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Craft more impactful and clear copy
We identified all of the feedback that we received to create a cohesive and informational website.
We also took into account the feedback our client gave us based on the interviews she had with clients, partners, and specific stakeholders.
02 User Testing Results
We were able to help JCrow achieve its goal of building a visually appealing digital platform to appeal to users and stakeholders by creating an aesthetically pleasing, fully functional and responsive website. We were able to successfully achieve this goal by creating bold visuals and engaging, storytelling content that helps to tell JCrow's story and connect with their audience.
Testimonials
From our client Kelli Morgan
With our partnership with Develop for Good, we have received 16 weeks of technical services for the Summer 2023, including an 8-person women of color volunteer team of custom-made-to-order design and development services. This is equivalent to up to ~800 hours of technical work for the expansion of our online presence: websites, apps, and data visualizations.
From users
Definitely with the typography coupled with the non-white background, it gives me the hint that it’s for women. Feminine design —- I can tell right away.
Based on the text, it’s very clear who they are and what they do.
This feels very exciting and lofty as a first look of a website.
Meet Our Founding Design Team
J*Crow’s site was built through a partnership with Develop For Good, a nonprofit that matches student volunteers to different organizations. We are proud to have worked with a diverse, 100% women-led team with students from the US and Canada.
