5 min read

iContribute – Designing Better Volunteer Connections

High school students often struggle to find meaningful volunteer opportunities that meet their needs. With iContribute, I collaborated in a sprint-driven environment to simplify opportunity discovery, applications, and creation. The outcome was a platform designed to reduce barriers and encourage student engagement in their communities.

Please note that this case study is not optimized for mobile devices, and I recommend viewing this work, and it's images on a desktop (or laptop!) device for the best experience :)

Overview

iContribute is a volunteer-driven startup helping high school students discover meaningful and accessible volunteer opportunities in their communities. The mobile app connected students searching for volunteer hours with local organizations needing support.

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When I joined the team, the app was struggling to adapt post–COVID-19. Students needed new ways to find relevant opportunities: remote, flexible, and safe, while organizers needed better tools to post and manage events.

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Over six months, I helped redesign three core features: Filtering, Viewing, and Creating Opportunities, improving usability and engagement for both students and organizers.

I designed features for the mobile app, plus app store visuals and promotional graphics.

Role

Role: UX/UI Designer & Graphic Designer

‍Team: 6-person design team (3 mobile, 3 web) under a product manager

‍Timeline: Starting Jan 2021, 6 months (part-time, ~12 hours of design work)

The project goal was to enhance the mobile experience with student-centered design updates that reflect post–COVID-19 needs, making opportunities easier to find, post, and apply for, while staying aligned with the updated design system.

The Challenge

After COVID-19, the volunteering landscape changed: many roles became virtual, required vaccination proof, or needed flexible scheduling.

But the app hadn’t evolved with these changes.

Key issues included:

No filtering — students had to scroll through countless irrelevant listings.
Outdated UI — the app’s interface no longer matched the new design system.
Missing details — users only found out opportunities were full or past the deadline after applying.

The goal was clear: modernize the experience and make finding the right volunteer role effortless.

Updated screens from the following design sprints at iContribute

Primary Users

Students (12–18)

Searching for volunteer hours to meet school requirements
Want engaging, relevant, and accessible opportunities
Often limited by location, time, or COVID-19 restrictions

Secondary Users

Organizers (18+)

Nonprofits and community groups posting roles
Need a simple way to post, track, and manage student volunteers

Process

Each designed feature followed a cycle of:
Briefing → Solo Design → Group Critique → Iteration → Handoff → Retrospective

This lightweight workflow worked perfectly for our small, volunteer-led team, allowing us to iterate quickly while staying aligned. All work and communications were done remotely.

🔍 Feature 1: Opportunity Filtering

Problem

Students were frustrated by endless scrolling. There was no way to narrow results by location, interests, or requirements.

Solution

I designed a simple yet powerful filtering experience that helped users quickly find relevant opportunities.

What I Did:

Added filters for virtual/in-person, vaccination proof, and driver’s license requirements
Introduced distance, date, and interest-based filters (e.g., Animals, Environment, Healthcare)
Set filters to default to “All” for a smoother first-time user experience
Designed loading, empty, and error states for clarity and feedback

✅ Impact: Searching became faster, more intuitive, and frustration-free — giving students control over how they find opportunities.

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New opportunity filtering and "no results" screens

🪄 Feature 2: Viewing Opportunities

Problem

Students couldn’t tell if an opportunity was full or closed until after applying. The lack of information caused confusion and wasted time.

Solution

I redesigned the viewing flow to bring transparency and consistency to every listing.

What I Did:

Integrated updated design system components for visual consistency
Added tags and requirement indicators (vaccination, license, etc.)
Displayed attendee counts and application deadlines to prevent wasted effort
Introduced a “shifts” feature so students could select their availability
Designed a new application confirmation screen for a more polished finish

✅ Impact: Students now see clear, upfront information — reducing drop-off and improving trust in the app.

Opportunity application screens

✏️ Feature 3: Creating Opportunities

Problem

Organizers struggled to post clear, complete listings. The old process was confusing and limited.

Solution

I streamlined the creation flow to guide users through the process and make posting more flexible.

What I Did:

Added intro and outro screens for better guidance
Expanded requirements, tags, and shift options to match student-side updates
Enabled recurring and virtual opportunities to reduce duplicate postings
Simplified review and preview so organizers could see what students would see
Replaced outdated custom sharing with native mobile sharing

✅ Impact: Organizers could now post faster and more accurately, improving the overall quality of opportunities in the app.

Opportunity and Shift creation screens

Reflection & Key Learnings

Volunteering with iContribute was a highlight in my early design career.

It gave me the chance to:

Strengthen my design system and collaboration skills.
Experience a true design critique culture for the first time.
Learn how to balance limited resources with meaningful UX improvements.
Deepen empathy for students trying to meet graduation requirements during a difficult time.
Iterate quickly, and with impact as the number 1 priority.

Even though iContribute has since stopped hosting their application due to the founder's personal reasons, the mission—to help students give back to their communities—remains one I deeply value. The project reinforced why I love UX: using design to make small, meaningful differences in real people’s lives.