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My Role:

UX DESIGN —— Brainstorming → Design → Hand off

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Tech Stack:

DESIGN & RESEARCH —— Figma, ChatGPT, Notion

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Duration (6 weeks):

4-6 Weeks —— CX & Merchant Portal & Admin Dashboard

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TARGET AUDIENCE

1. Age - 22 or above (avg age 39)
2. Staff Age - 30 or above
3. Status - High-needs, underserved population
4. Language - English Language Learners (ELLs)
5. Education - No U.S. high school diploma
6. Origin: Immigrants/refugees from over 99 countries.

CONTEXT

Highlands Brain is an adult-serving charter school in the Sacramento region, California. Designed for immigrants and refugees seeking a second chance at education and employment, it offers vocational training alongside high school diploma programs. The mobile-first platform centralizes campus services, communications, and learning tools—making education more accessible, structured, and supportive for adult learners.

UX ANALYSIS

We identified three consistent friction points:

1. Uncertainty – Students didn’t know if services were open, available, or already full until they physically arrived.
2. Redundancy – Multiple cards, slips, and manual entries for attendance, events, and transit led to lost time and errors.
3. Blind Spots for Staff – Teachers and administrators lacked real-time data on attendance, event participation, and service usage, making communication and planning reactive instead of proactive.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

For adult immigrants and refugees at Highlands Brain, daily campus navigation was a series of invisible barriers. Students struggled to reliably mark attendance, discover and attend events, or access campus services without confusion. Staff lacked visibility into participation - who attended, what services were over-capacity, or how many were left out. Paper IDs and manual processes compounded the friction. This complexity undermined trust, participation, and the sense of belonging.

ACTIONABLE DESIGN DECISIONS

NFC-First Interactions –

Every student received a digital ID with NFC, enabling seamless tap-based attendance, event check-in, and service access. This reduced the need for physical cards and eliminated ambiguity for both students and staff.

Transparent Availability –

Service modules displayed open hours, slot limits, and real-time availability — helping students decide before walking across campus.

Integrated Events Layer –

Events were made discoverable in-app, with automatic attendance tracking through NFC at entry points, giving staff actionable data on interest vs. turnout.

Feedback Loops for Staff –

Attendance dashboards and service usage metrics helped staff make proactive decisions—like opening additional slots or adjusting timings.

Unified Mobility –

The Transit Pass was built directly into the app and could be shown to Sacramento bus drivers for free rides. The Digital ID Pass also lived inside the app, doubling as a universally accessible credential. Feedback Loops for Staff – Attendance dashboards and service usage metrics helped staff make proactive decisions—like opening additional slots or adjusting timings.