In4All
Program development, creative and content strategy for a Portland based nonprofit that brings human centered design lessons and industry leaders into classrooms.
Students in Oregon are not graduating.
In 2019, Oregon students across disadvantaged populations in middle and high school classes comprised only 18% of students on a track towards STEM related careers, over 50% of 8th graders did not pass state’s science and math standards, 7,600 students left high school without a plan for their future, and over 11,000 students weren’t expected to graduate on time. As a non-profit organization, In4All is committed to serving all of them.
Their mission? To mobilize community. To bring local businesses and schools together, forming strategic partnerships that offer underserved youth opportunities to engage in their education and aspire to attain careers in fields historically barred from them. They do so via a multi-pronged approach that curates their educational materials for different grade levels, level of ability, and comprehension. Their mission is what informed my work in UX research and design and content and creative strategy as their Design Thinking Program Developer.
Objectives
In my role as Design Thinking Program Developer, I developed new instructional materials and curriculum for multiple audiences with unique objectives (while leading the research to do so). I defined the program’s content strategy, and overhauled their materials library to ensure brand guideline adherence.
Like In4All’s mission, my work was designed for scalability and accessibility - culminating in a delivery of not just a well developed program, but also the means to make it even better year over year.
My interest holders
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Students
Middle and high school students attending comprehensive and alternative education programs within the Portland Metro district. Innovative and creative career hopefuls with untapped potential.
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Educators
Classroom representatives of In4All’s partner schools. Thought partners, advocates, and collaborators supporting the positive impact and efficacy of In4All’s programs.
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Co-learners
Representatives of In4All’s corporate partners. Facilitators of the Design Thinking program in partner classrooms. Ambassadors to multiple roles within STEM-related fields.
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Corporate Partners
Industry leading businesses with a local presence whose work aligns with In4All’s mission within STEM-related fields. Think Nike, Intel, PGE.
The Process
Working within In4All’s program cycle, I performed interest holder (user) research through surveys and focus groups, conducted internal material audits, and executed on a rapid delivery of relevant materials.
In4All's model offered me the opportunity to leverage my background in UX research and UX / UI design while observing the impact of my work in classrooms real time and its reception by interest holders across co-learner trainings, partner meetings, and outreach events.
Design Standardization
In4All’s materials were due for a refresh - their content was visually inconsistent and aesthetically challenged. The impact of their work was reduced by complicated slide decks and their mission was obfuscated behind dense bodies of text and inconsistent messaging.
In my creative strategy work I reshaped program materials to fit audience-first design models and created a scalable, templatized, design system, enabling my team to consistently uphold standards. By conducting a comprehensive material audit, I led the standardization of all external facing materials published by In4all. The results of which were based on design standards that emphasize text hierarchy to support their narrative and distinct color applications to visually organize and deliver concepts to multiple interest holders. Ultimately, my work connected design and creative strategy to mission driven results.
Development
Core to In4All’s model is the synergy that should exist between co-learners and students. The benefits of partnerships formed between schools and corporations require it. For it to be possible, the program materials required are specific to each of In4All’s target populations and tailored to their needs. Co-learners need to know how to facilitate the delivery of program materials, students need to be supported by materials, educators need access to tangible curriculum, and corporate partners need to understand why the program exists.
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Program overview
To expand In4All’s reach by securing partner buy-in, I developed a comprehensive program overview that cultivated increased corporate partner engagement. It worked to deepen current and prospective partner understandings of In4All’s DT program while anchoring it within a real world case study. A visually appealing and effective presentation of broad concepts and story with as little lift required of readers as possible.
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Presentations
To ensure the successful delivery of In4All’s programs within increasingly restrictive class schedules, I developed a streamlined body of materials with new content formats and that introduced new human-centered instructional concepts and activities. Presentations with reduced visual static that prioritized learning by doing over lecture. My materials effectively compressed 8 weeks worth of curriculum into 6, fulfilling the needs of In4All’s educators and students without compromising impact.
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Session guides
My research showed that students were losing work between classes and co-learners were struggling to lead without dense text bodies on presentations serving as material references. In response, I developed supportive documents that reduced the effort required of students to track their work and of co-learners to memorize dense concepts. The program guides that I developed parallel one another structurally, but come with distinct functionalities based on user-needs - ensuring both the mutual and independent success of both user groups.
Outcomes
By the end of my time with In4All, our programs saw significant development across all areas of focus.
My work directly influenced securing 4 additional business partnerships, increased co-learner program participation by 65 percent, and broadened the mission’s scope to reach 5 additional schools within the Portland Metro area.
My work also saw the development of two high school pilot programs - bringing additional school and business partnerships together to cultivate new opportunities. Ultimately bringing our programs to 59 percent more students than years prior.