Edu - futuro
Hack4Impact is working with Edu-Futuro, a non-profit service that works with immigrants and the Latinx community with the mission of breaking the cycle of poverty.
🖊️ Role
Co - UX Designer
🗓️ Timeline
Sept 2022 - Nov
🔧 Tools
Figma, Notion, Excel Sheets
How can technology bring order to care?
Hack4Impact partnered with Edu-Futuro to transform scattered spreadsheets into a secure, unified platform that streamlines service delivery, automates matching, and safeguards every beneficiary’s data.
Overview
How can design strengthen community impact?
We’re building a secure, centralized platform that helps Edu-Futuro deliver support with clarity and care. By replacing Excel and Apricot with an integrated system, service matching becomes seamless, data stays protected, and staff can focus on empowering the immigrant and Latinx communities they serve.
Problem Statment
When systems fail, service suffers.
Edu-Futuro’s process relied on manual spreadsheets and disconnected tools, making it hard to track services or safeguard sensitive data. The challenge was to design a unified platform that automates matching, secures information, and gives staff full visibility into every beneficiary’s journey.
The User Needs
Who are we designing for?
👨👩👧👦 Family in need of Service
Need easy access to services for food stability and youth programs.
Require a straightforward process to request and receive support.
Desire timely assignment to appropriate service providers.
👧👦 Youth participants
Seek empowering educational opportunities.
Require a platform to connect with educational resources and mentors.
Need clear communication channels for program updates and participation.
💼 Case managers and service providers
Need a streamlined system to manage multiple service requests efficiently.
Require tools to auto-assign families to the right services without manual errors.
Desire real-time access to user information and case details to avoid errors and delays.
Research
Before we could design a solution, we had to uncover exactly why Edu-Futuro’s service delivery was slow, scattered, and risky.
Information was scattered across spreadsheets, leading to duplication and lost records.
Coordinators spent hours manually linking services to beneficiaries, slowing service delivery.
Sensitive immigrant and Latinx community data was not consistently protected.
No clear dashboards to see service delivery progress or identify gaps.
We began by mapping Edu-Futuro’s daily workflows, shadowing coordinators, and analyzing how data moved across Excel and Apricot. Weekly feedback sessions revealed where friction lived—manual entry, unclear ownership, and missing visibility. Interviews with Spanish-speaking staff surfaced deeper usability barriers, showing the need for a design that balances simplicity with structure. These insights grounded every design decision in the realities of Edu-Futuro’s day-to-day work.
Further Problem Definition & Insights
From our research, it became clear that Edu-Futuro’s existing system created several barriers to efficiently delivering services.
Design Goals:
Centralize all beneficiary and service data in a secure platform.
Automate service matching to reduce manual work.
Provide clear, visual dashboards to track service delivery.
Ensure accessibility for Spanish-speaking, non-tech-savvy users.
My Initals Creations
Using Figma, we outlined + designed the initial prototype inspired by Edu-Futuro’s executive board’s interview that covered their desires & tested various section placements.
I created a style guide to ensure uniformity in the application and help the developers to a clearer CSS code + brand style with everything from design to writing.
The goal of my designs for Edu-Futuro is to effectively serve their branding, and this guide not only visual aspects but also makes sure that the user experience stays consistent, accessible, and user-centered. 🖌️
Final Creations
After meeting with Edu-future and taking into consideration their responses + opinions regarding the low-fidelity wireframe, we used Figma to create the high-fidelity prototype.
Takeaways
I am proud to have had the opportunity to work on my very first UI/UX project, which was a large-scale project for Edu-futuro.
I was fortunate to have the guidance of Katherine, the director at the time, throughout the process, and also learnt how to collaborate with software engineers and deliver final products to the client. In this project, I took the initiative to come up with multiple design versions, present them to my project manager and team, test them, and gather user feedback. This was a valuable learning experience for me, as I was able to understand the importance of considering every detail from the user's perspective and making the program as user-friendly as possible and accessible to a diverse audience.
As we launch the program through Edu-Futuro, I plan to gather user feedback to better understand how it's being used and identify ways to improve future versions. This will help ensure the platform continues to meet the evolving needs of its users.
For any questions about this case study please feel free to reach out! Feedback is always much appreciated, I am always looking for ways to grow. 🌷
