WXY Studio
Brown University Careers in the Common Good Summer Planning Internship, 2020
User Research and Prototyping, Figma
Community Engagement Methods
WXY is a multidisciplinary practice specializing in urban design, planning and architectural solutions rooted in community engagement.
As a planning intern, my objective was to create an interactive platform to give the Montgomery County Public School community an opportunity to interact with the data being analyzed as part of the Districtwide Boundary Analysis, and add their voice to the process.
Understanding the Community
Since we were working remotely, user research was done by parsing reports from old community meetings with WXY and exploring local online forums, blogs and the comment sections of local news sites. We also spoke extensively to team members involved in the project before the pandemic, on their experience and understanding of the community. Using this, we developed user stories.
Prototyping the Website
Based on the User Stories, we determined the content and layout of sections for the website. We wanted a simple one page website, with a top navigation bar for scrolling to the different sections. We used Figma to design wireframes for quick feedback and prototyping.
Background information, project objectives, key concepts and key insights from the research
Interactive Boundary Explorer, help content for using the tool and surveys
Drawing Key Insights from the Report
Based on the user stories, we determined which findings from the 600 page report were important to include on the website. The report analyzed the impact of school boundaries on four metrics - school utilization, school diversity, student proximity to schools and assignment stability. We arranged the insights as answers to key community questions on these four topics.
Redesigning the Interactive Boundary Explorer
After researching several interactive maps and data visualizations used by planning agencies like the New York Department of City Planning, we redesigned the existing tool and gave specific design feedback to the developer, to make the tool more accessible and user friendly.
Old Version - Not Designed for the Average County Student/Parent/School Administrator
Unclear what the user can control on the map and too many controls
Poor separation between navigation and analysis sections
Lots of Jargon
Text hard to read on the map. Legend obscuring parts of the map
Mockup of New Version in Figma
Separating what the user can control to change the map and the resulting statistics for analysis
Showing graphs and tables at the same time, reducing number of tabs to click through
Final New Version
Creating Help Content for Exploration
Since the tool was still complex, we scripted and recorded tutorial videos using Adobe Premiere Pro, keeping the different users in mind and providing different points of entry based on expertise level. We also used guiding questions to help people use the tool to find answers to common questions. Check out the videos under Getting Started.
Organizing Tutorial Content and Entry Points for different Users
In collaboration with team members who had held large community meetings before the pandemic, we designed surveys to understand how people's priorities related to diversity, utilization and proximity to schools had shifted due to the pandemic, and to learn about their experience using the tool.