To broaden my international experience, I chose to undertake a short internship abroad in Indonesia. During this time, I connected with a volunteer organization in need of a new website. Together with an English team, I redesigned an entirely new website to raise awareness of their NGO. Throughout this internship, I independently managed the project and assembled the website based on thorough research. It was built using a CMS system, allowing NGO members to add content and easily modify the design.
The website was completed within two weeks, during which my team member and I underwent an entire design process of three months. All communication was conducted in English. Working in a different context and culture was incredibly educational.
The main design challenge was to redesign & further develop the Think Volunteer website. In addition, the assignment included setting up a strategy (campaign) to attract future volunteers to Indonesia, raising awareness of and driving engagement with the Think Academy. All of this was aimed at helping volunteers make a positive impact on the local community in Indonesia.
Results in numbers.
We investigated how Think Volunteer can inform and motivate (prospective) volunteers to engage in responsible volunteering. This included:
To conduct research, my team and I used several methods, including:
Based on these results, I created various outputs to draw conclusions.
The persona is a (prospective) volunteer who is not yet confident in how to make a positive impact without proper preparation. She encounters the Think Volunteer website to learn how to get started.
Based on our persona, I created an empathy map to better visualize our target audience and quickly access its characteristics and traits. We mapped out what 'Lilian' says, does, thinks, and feels regarding finding an organization that can train her to become a responsible volunteer.
We conducted several brainstorming sessions to generate ideas. Since we worked with team members located in different parts of Indonesia, these sessions were held online. The following brainstorming methods were used:
After the brainstorming sessions, we visualized the ideas in a morphological chart, where we created sketches for each functional requirement. This allowed us to explore and combine different solutions across the various functions.
Once we decided on a concept, we combined all functions into a single paper design.
We had to work quickly with the clients and had little opportunity to test with users at this stage. User testing could only be done later. Although we had already planned research sessions with users, we had to continue with the design process for now.
The Think Volunteer website did not have a style guide, so we had to develop one ourselves. To do this, we conducted brainstorming sessions, created a framework to test ideas, and eventually finalized the style guide. We also conducted additional desk research on Millennials and Gen Z to understand what appeals to these audiences.
After several feedback rounds with the client, we were ready to start. At the end of my internship, I had two weeks to build the entire website. We created the designs in Figma, but we could not directly implement them in the final website. Since we were designing for an NGO, WordPress was the only feasible option to work with certain blocks. Due to time and budget constraints, the design had to be kept as simple as possible. Additionally, it needed to remain usable for volunteers after we left the organization.
After my internship it wasn't possible to further test it, because it was already time to end the project. Although we didn't test it, my UX coach and the co-founder of the NGO we're super happy.
Nikki is an ambitious, proactive, and independent team player. Even in the second year of her study, she finished an internship with Think Volunteer as if it were a graduation project, very impressive! I highly recommend Nikki! - UX coach, Rikje Sendeza Huber
I met Nikki in Indonesia, where she immediately stood out as an incredibly eager-to-learn, enthusiastic, and creative professional.
She not only demonstrated that she can work independently and with clear focus, but her empathy and spontaneity also made her a valuable team player
.From the very beginning, Nikki took initiative and developed her own approach, including a well-structured plan and timeline.
She proactively responded to the needs and questions within the organization, striking a strong balance between independence and collaboration within the team.
At the start of the project, Nikki conducted thorough research into our target audiences and the topic at hand. She drew clear conclusions and used the right methods to define solid requirements.
Together with Brianne, she then worked efficiently on developing a prototype for our academy/learning platform.
The result: a professional and impressive prototype that we still use to this day.I look back on our collaboration with great appreciation and am convinced that, with her skills and mindset, Nikki is a valuable asset to any organization. - Co-founder, Mirte Kroeze
Summary of results.
Disclaimer: At the moment, thinkvolunteer.com does not reflect our original design, as other interns made changes to it after we completed our version.
