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Creating a Digital Home for African Diaspora Families

Project & Design Manager @ FullCircle (via Develop For Good)

DELIVERABLES

Figma Prototype

Final Presentation

TIMELINE

Oct 2025 - Feb 2026
(17 Weeks)

SKILLS

Project Management

Design Management

UX Research

TEAM

2 UX Designers

1 Program Mentor

OVERVIEW

FullCircle is a nonprofit organization aimed at creating digital spaces for members of the African diaspora.

I served as the design manager turned project manager for the Develop For Good Program working with the nonprofit organization, FullCircle, to develop a family reunion planning website for members of the African diaspora. This is the nonprofit’s first step in a for profit product which my team built the brand from 0 to 1. Final project was evaluated by industry mentors from companies such as Bloomberg, HPE , PwC, and UserTesting.

PROBLEM SPACE

Family gatherings have historically been a core anchor for black communities to establish culture and generational ties.

Family members in this current planning landscape took advantage of digital spaces and leveraged them to their disposal. But they hit pain points as they weren't just using one platform to plan reunions. They were managing details across email threads, group chats, spreadsheets, and social media simultaneously. Generational shifts, geographic dispersal, and fragmented digital tools have made family reunions harder to host and sustain.

SOLUTION

Create a digital space that connects the logistics with the joy of connection in black families.

Our clients There exists digital tools today that serves that function of planning events but the joy of family reunions especially was something we wanted to emphasize. Early testing as well as industry mentor feedback pushed the storytelling aspect as KinFinity's core differentiator.

View Figma Prototype

DESIGN PRINCIPLES & GOALS

Four principles anchored the decisions on this project.

Design For Older Generations

Design For Older Generations

Prioritize clarity, familiarity, and ease of use in every interaction, especially for our core audience members ages 45–65+

Culturally Rooted Storytelling

Culturally Rooted Storytelling

Connect back to FullCircle's mission and bring a different experience to family reunion planning than any existing tool offers

Inclusive and Sensitive

Inclusive and Sensitive

Ensure language, visuals, and interactions feel authentic and respectful across a wide range of family structures and backgrounds

Intergenerational Connection

Intergenerational Connection

Emphasize connection between generations, bridging gaps to support lasting family relationships

UNDERSTANDING OUR USERS

We conducted 10 user interviews across our target group.

Our users are aged 45–65+ who either have planned or are interested in planning family reunions. Guided by these interviews and design principles, our early research shaped the information architecture and wireframes that would carry through the rest of the project. This did not change even after our scope changed dramatically.

UNDERSTANDING OUR USERS

Government websites are often rich in data but notoriously difficult to navigate.

Our users are aged 45–65+ who either have planned or are interested in planning family reunions. Guided by these interviews and design principles, our early research shaped the information architecture and wireframes that would carry through the rest of the project. This did not change even after our scope changed dramatically.

Information Architecture

Mobile App Wireframes

SCOPE PIVOT

Midway through our project, external constraints led to a change in project direction from a mobile app to a website.

Our clients were originally partnered with an external events planning company to handle the backend while our team would design the frontend. Several weeks into the project our clients faced misalignment with our partner company in addition to the loss of multiple team members, it lead to our original mobile app to be no longer viable. We re-evaluated our scope and pivoted to creating a website from scratch guided by our previous insights.

Our clients were originally partnered with an external events planning company to handle the backend while our team would design the frontend. Several weeks into the project our clients faced misalignment with our partner company in addition to the loss of multiple team members, it lead to our original mobile app to be no longer viable. We re-evaluated our scope and pivoted to creating a website from scratch guided by our previous insights.

THE SOLUTION

KinFinity


Landing Page

The landing page serves as the entry point to communicate trust, warmth, and inclusivity while clearly showing the platform's value.

Dashboard Page

This is the main dashboard for current, future, and past family reunions. Here is where the core of the planning lies.

Timeline Page

Families often lose stories over time. The timeline page supports inter-generational storytelling & preservation of family history

Family Page

The family directory serves as the structured member database that enables users to stay informed and learn more about family members.

Onboarding Page

Our family hub is private and invite only, our onboarding experience builds trust and let members understand the purpose and value of KinFinity

EVALUATION

Our team's final presentation was evaluated by industry mentors

Our team's final presentation was evaluated by industry mentors from Bloomberg, HPE, PwC, and UserTesting, benchmarked against roughly 20 teams in our Develop for Good cohort — and scored above the cohort average across every metric, including a 9.8/10 on teamwork.

DESIGN

By the end of the project cycle, our team delivered a full design system and functioning Figma prototype that positioned KinFinity for future growth, development, and testing.

  • 10 user interviews conducted

  • Complete Figma prototype spanning Landing, Dashboard, Timeline, Onboarding, Events, and Social pages

  • Cohesive brand system and visual identity, rebuilt after a mid-project scope pivot

  • Strong stakeholder alignment through a change in project direction

View Handoff Documentation

Client Testimonials

"Working with this talented, smart, dedicated and creative DfG team has been nothing but a pleasure. We are deeply grateful!" — Julia Michaels, FullCircle Co-Founder

"The work done by this Develop for Good team has done two things. First, the talented UX/UI designers and other volunteers helped us focus on what was important. In addition, we are now positioned to pass on a beautiful, refreshing design to a development team for build-out." — Karen Routt, FullCircle Executive Director

Client Testimonials

"Working with this talented, smart, dedicated and creative DfG team has been nothing but a pleasure. We are deeply grateful!" — Julia Michaels, FullCircle Co-Founder

"The work done by this Develop for Good team has done two things. First, the talented UX/UI designers and other volunteers helped us focus on what was important. In addition, we are now positioned to pass on a beautiful, refreshing design to a development team for build-out." — Karen Routt, FullCircle Executive Director

FullCircle Nonprofit Team with Develop for Good Project Team

REFLECTION

Leading under changing constraints.

Our original plan assumed a technical partnership that never materialized the way we expected. Halfway through the project, we had to abandon a mobile app built around someone else's backend and rebuild as a standalone website — carrying forward everything our research had already taught us.

I stepped into both the Product Manager and Design Manager roles to keep the project moving through that transition. What I learned is that good research and clear design principles are what make a pivot survivable — because when the format changed, the reasons behind our decisions didn't have to. What I'm most proud of isn't that I held two extra roles. It's that the team never lost trust in the project — even when the plan changed twice — and that FullCircle walked away with something real to build on."

Our original plan assumed a technical partnership that never materialized the way we expected. Halfway through the project, we had to abandon a mobile app built around someone else's backend and rebuild as a standalone website — carrying forward everything our research had already taught us.

I stepped into both the Product Manager and Design Manager roles to keep the project moving through that transition. What I learned is that good research and clear design principles are what make a pivot survivable — because when the format changed, the reasons behind our decisions didn't have to. What I'm most proud of isn't that I held two extra roles. It's that the team never lost trust in the project — even when the plan changed twice — and that FullCircle walked away with something real to build on."

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