LAUNCHED

April 2016

ROLE

Design Lead
Interaction Designer
Later handled Visual Design using established patterns

AGENCY

Planet Argon

The Challenge

In 2005, the Portland-based Meyer Memorial Trust reached a pivotal point in their grants management process to fully transition online; invest in a commercial grants management software or build their own customized system. Given the high cost of the commercial software and the specific needs of the organization, MMT decided to build its own open source, LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) based system. The work began in 2006.

When MMT approached Planet Argon, they had a custom software that got the job done, but years of fixes and add-ons has turned their in-house solution into a complicated tool with far too little flexibility and far too many issues, resulting in high maintenance overhead. With a requirement to allow for flexibility and growth, MMT turned to our team for help.

1.

After leading a discovery meeting, it was clear that this would be an extensive workflow (from accepting an organization into the system, to creating grant forms, receiving applications (and the steps of the review process), to awarding (and the process within). My role as interaction designer became integral to be able to communicate with users at Meyer Memorial and identify actual needs and workflows that their staff had created over the years. 

2.

The main goals of the application were:

• Streamline the registration workflow
• Develop an efficient path for their entire application and grant process 
• Create a flexible application management tool for admins
• Track ownership and accountability for a variety of tasks, from reviewing applications to making grant payments

To accomplish these, I defined each workflow. Then, I designed user interfaces that guided potential grantees or internal staff along a clear path from beginning to end.