Impact Fund, The Notice Project↗
MOBILE APP
0 --> 1
PRO BONO
LEGAL TECH
The Impact Fund↗ is a legal NPO based in Berkeley, CA; they challenge the wealthy and powerful by fighting for socioeconomic, environmental & racial justice through strategic litigation.
My team at Blueprint↗ was challenged to build a digital notice administrator that made participating in class-actions easy and accessible for all stakeholders.
Aug 2023 --> May 2024
TIMELINE
Product Designer
ROLE
Figma
React Native
Typescript
Supabase
TECH STACK
THE PROBLEM
Class action lawsuits are confusing and tedious.
Although they can hold corporations accountable and compensate exploited Americans, the status quo hinders active participant engagement due to various pain points.
Intricate legal procedures, documents and arguments make it challenging for class members to follow along.
Complexity
Most lawyers combine using WhatsApp, email and physical mail, which feels messy and outdated.
Communication
Class members feel uninformed and left in the dark, reducing their investment in the process.
Connection
THE PROCESS
What do lawyers need?
Centralization
Coordinating information with all class action members and keeping track of each user’s progress in case proceedings
What do class-action members need?
Transparency
Updates and organizes all relevant information in one, simple-to-navigate, place
Guidance
Provides easy access to all possible and appropriate legal actions
THE SOLUTION
A product to address
these pain points:
A user-facing mobile application
that equips users with information, instructions and updates.
Converting the analog
to digital.
UX research revealed users trusted mailed notices over potentially dubious websites.
We chose to distribute access via QR codes to add the case to users' accounts, alongside traditional link sharing.
Account management
& creation.
Each class action applicant must file claims individually, while lawyers must track each user separately,
so designing a strong account system was essential for a secure, flexible user experience.
Determining eligibility for filing a claim.
An interactive checklist speeds up the process and ensures only eligible users can file claims.
Before, users had to determine their case eligibility by navigating dense, tedious text.
Case resources
Documentation for class-actions is usually messy and scattered across several different locations,
so we aimed to simplify access with an in-app file viewer.
Taking next steps
Each digitized case includes a jargon-free brief with key facts,
and direct links to file a claim or opt out once eligibility is confirmed.
TAKEAWAYS
This was my first time taking on an end-to-end, 0 to 1 product for development, meaning that I had to be prepared for my designs to be used by real people with real problems and use cases.
My biggest learnings would have to be
Problem-solving is threading the needle between your developers' capacity, user experience, and your creativity.
Work with, not against, technical constraints
Sanity-check all flows & interaction from the perspective of a new user; does your design make sense?
Always go back to the user's shoes
Don't get too lost in the weeds of a single component—how does it work in context with the whole product?
Think in systems, not in screens
Lastly I can't thank my developers and PMs enough—this team is easily and honestly a highlight of my undergrad career :)
