Project Overview

I was fortunate to completed a UX design internship at Social Currant, a startup focused on supporting nonprofits and impact-driven organizations. I worked closely with the CEO, CTO, Design Lead, and fellow interns in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

This experience was different from a traditional UX workflow. There was no established end-to-end process, which required us to adapt quickly, make decisions with limited structure, and create clarity while delivering under tight timelines.

Team 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

4 UX Designer Interns

Engineer Lead

Project manager

Design lead

Tools 🛠️

Figma, Zoom, Linear, Notion, Google Suite

Project Timeline ⏳

2.5 months

My Role 👩🏻‍💻

UX Design Intern

Client Background

Social Currant is a startup that helps nonprofits and impact organizations partner with creators to reach wider audiences.

Our main goals?

The primary goal of this project was to improve Social Currant’s platform by completing key UI updates in preparation for VidCon and investor presentations.

Design

Starting the process

Most of our work focused on updating and refining existing wireframes. Given the tight timelines, we used an agile, sprint-based approach, prioritizing the screens needed most urgently.

We started each sprint with open team discussions to identify gaps and opportunities. From there, we translated ideas into wireframes and high-fidelity designs in Figma, iterating quickly based on real-time feedback from the Social Currant team.

Getting Matched

The first thing I worked on was the matches page that brands would eventually reach to select creators for their campaign. Before we started, the Design Lead walked us through what the current screens looked like and what would be ideal for the new screens.

We made a list of “must have” that the screen has to show:

  • 4-6 creator cards on the page

  • select creator and view profile buttons

  • keywords

  • name and username

  • profile picture

  • save, rate, and causes

With that, we got to work in a design studio workshop where we each jotted down our ideas for the screens. When we shared our ideas, we quickly realized we were all very much on the same page.

Our priority was to make sure that users could comfortably view multiple cards on a single screen and which would also adapt seamlessly when transitioning to different devices, like tablets and smartphones.

Original Matches Page

Updated Matches Page

We worked through several versions of the creator cards, working through different sizes and layouts highlighting the causes, metrics, keywords.

This is our end product, showing different variations of the the state of the cards. We successfully included everything in our “must haves” list. As you can see from the previous version, our progress is unmistakable.

Profiles

Next up were the profiles, where brands could access information and metrics about the creators. Before we started brainstorming, the Design Lead showed us some screens that were created by an outside team previously.

Previous Profile Screens

We walked through these frames to help us establish some essential elements for the profiles screens. We decided on this set of “must haves” for the profiles:

  • circular profile picture

  • causes

  • keywords tag

  • availability marker

  • avoid an excess of white space

With another design studio workshop, we put together our designs and got to work on the mid-fidelity wireframe.

The aim for the profiles was to ensure brands could view the metrics that were important to them, no matter the platform.

Mobile Creator Profiles

Prototype

They’re called skeleton loading screens…

Our next task involved creating skeleton loading screens for both existing and new frames, a concept that was entirely new to us.

We initially had little knowledge about these screens or how to build them, but with a combination of YouTube tutorials and collaborative teamwork, we quickly got the hang of it. We got to work and started building out the loading screens for all the built out frames. Here’s another!

Design

Lastly, the landing page!

Our final challenge centered around the landing page. Just like our approach to the other screens, we first talked about the changes that needed to be made before a discussion to outline the essential sections.

After gathering inspiration from various landing pages, we got together for our last design studio workshop. Through extensive deliberation, we shaped our initial sketches and efficiently divided responsibilities for constructing the components within Figma.

Our Frankenstein-ed draft

Built out landing page

Key Takeaways

Achievements and Milestones

In the end, our collective efforts culminated in a resounding success. Not only did we meet the deadline, but our dedicated work proved instrumental in elevating Social Currant's presentation at VidCon, securing crucial funding!

Our work also helped Social Currant achieve an even more remarkable milestone – acceptance into Cohort #6 of Higher Ground Labs, an accelerator in the political tech space highlighting companies building for change in America.

Uncharted Waters

This project also marked the first time working alongside skilled engineers in UX design. It also introduced working with different and some times unfamiliar limitations was a bit of a learning curve but collaboration helped us overcoming these challenges.

Looking back at the entire journey, this experience holds a special place. It truly showcases how adaptability, creativity, and teamwork are the cornerstones of success. These factors together paved the way for a brighter future, aligning perfectly with Social Currant's vision of progress and positive transformation.

Thanks for reading!