Edu-Futuro Service Delivery Platform
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I designed a service delivery platform to help staff manage beneficiaries, services, and reporting in one place. The goal was to replace spreadsheet-heavy workflows with a system that supports clarity, security, and day-to-day operations.
Role
UX Designer
Skills
Systems design, Payments & dashboards, Interaction & hierarchy
Timeline
Sept 2024 - Feb 2025
Tools
Figma, Linear, FigJam, Datadog
How do we help a small nonprofit manage complex services without relying on fragile spreadsheets?
Edu-Futuro tracked beneficiaries and services across Excel and Apricot, making data hard to find, easy to break, and difficult to share safely across teams.
Through stakeholder interviews and workflow mapping, I found repeated friction around duplicate data entry, unclear service status, and lack of visibility into who was receiving what support, and when.
Language access was also a constraint. Many staff and community members were Spanish-speaking, which meant traditional surveys failed and interviews became essential for understanding real needs.
The user needs
👨👩👧👦 Family in need of Service
Access to services for food stability and youth programs.
Straightforward process to request and receive support.
Assignment to appropriate service providers.
👧 Youth participants
Educational opportunities.
Connect with educational resources and mentors.
Clear communication channels for program updates and participation.
💼 Case managers and service providers
A system to manage multiple service requests efficiently.
Auto-assign families to the right services without manual errors.
Real-time access to user information and case details to avoid errors and delays.
Who we were designing for:
1
Many staff and beneficiaries were recent immigrants to the U.S., often coming from under-resourced communities.
2
Technical comfort varied widely, and many users relied on familiar tools like Excel and Apricot to manage their work.
3
Language access mattered—Spanish was often the primary working language.
What this meant for design:
The system needed to be usable without onboarding or technical training.
The interface should say exactly what’s going on, especially when something is saved, submitted, or completed.
Familiar UI patterns helped users move faster.
How do we design a system that reduces operational overhead while protecting sensitive beneficiary data?
Staff needed a way to track services confidently, without worrying about version control, access permissions, or losing critical information.
I designed the platform from first principles, focusing on how staff actually think about their work, not how data is stored.
Instead of centering the system around spreadsheets or forms, I structured it around beneficiaries, services, and status.
Consistency and security guided every decision. If the system didn’t feel predictable or safe, it wouldn’t be trusted.
#1 Staff couldn’t see the full picture of a beneficiary
Information was scattered across files, tabs, and tools.
I designed beneficiary profiles that consolidate services, history, and notes into one view, reducing context switching and missed information.
#2 Spreadsheets made data fragile and unsafe
Manual edits created errors and privacy risks.
I designed controlled data entry patterns with role-based visibility to protect sensitive information while still supporting collaboration.
#3 Services needed a single source of truth
Excel made it easy to miss details or apply rules inconsistently.
A structured service creation flow ensures every service follows the same requirements and stays accurate over time.
#4 Tools weren’t designed for how nonprofits actually work
Existing systems assumed technical comfort and rigid processes.
I kept interactions simple, language clear, and layouts predictable so the platform supports staff with varying levels of technical experience.
The final platform replaces scattered spreadsheets with a structured, secure system built around real workflows.
Staff can track beneficiaries, manage services, and understand status without digging through files or second-guessing data accuracy.
This project was a valuable learning experience, it taught me how much every detail matters when designing from the user’s perspective, especially when building something meant to be accessible to a wide and diverse audience.
It was also my first design project, and I was learning Figma while actively building the system. That learning curve pushed me to be more intentional about structure, clarity, and how design decisions scale beyond a single screen.
Working closely with Katherine, the director at the time and the only other UX designer on the team, helped sharpen my thinking and decision-making. Collaborating with software engineers also taught me how to design within real constraints and deliver work that could realistically be built and handed off to a client.