Overview
ROLE
UI/UX designer
TOOLS
Figma
TIMELINE
October 2025 - November 2025
TEAM
5 consultants
BACKGROUND
Three teams under the Luskin Undergraduate Student Association (LUSA) identified a solution for the Philanthropy Hub, a UCLA College Honors initiative to promote philanthropy amongst students on campus.
Given a little under a month, my team worked to identify outreach strategies with a student-focused approach. As the sole designer on the project, I developed the website design and visual identity that the Philanthropy Hub might embody.
At the end of the project, we presented our strategic plan to three members of the UCLA College Honors program.
PROBLEM
Students don't know how to engage with philanthropic opportunities
Philanthropy is often seen as inaccessible to many students, due to the presiding belief that only those with access to money can truly interact with philanthropy.
However, there are many different avenues that students can explore to "give" back to their community, ways that don't require money.
RESEARCH
Synthesizing goals
We compiled all of our ideas into three overarching goals, which guided further research when developing our final deliverable.
1. Digital look
Create a platform that allows for accessibility, ease of navigation, and presents a recognizable brand.
2. Value proposition
Identify what the hub can offer to students through the incentivization and provision of resources that allow students to engage with philanthropy meaningfully.
3. Outreach and community partnerships
Explore partnerships with organizations on and off campus in order to facilitate enhanced opportunities for users of the hub.
I primarily focused on the first goal—the digital look of the platform.
FEATURE IDENTIFICATION
Must-have features
I developed a comprehensive list of aspects that need to be addressed through the Philanthropy Hub.
USER FLOW
Navigating layers of information
The hub primarily serves as a platform full of lengthy resources. Keeping this in mind, I took a restrained approach, so that the user can digest layered amounts of information.
The user flows helped in guiding this process, in when determining what kinds of information to provide and how one would navigate to more content. This created a structured and intuitive user journey.
User flow for the About page.
User flow for the Get Involved page.
User flow for the Events page.
User flow for the Give Now page.
LOW-FIS & DESIGN DIRECTION
Balancing information and engaging visuals
My biggest consideration was how to layer information visually.
Originally, I envisioned overlays for displaying card information, based on my original user flows.
However, I settled on a vertical layout to accommodate more complex information, with separate pages instead of overlay for the most simple and responsive design.
When determining the Philanthropy Hub’s visual identity, I incorporated UCLA’s standard website branding–blues and yellows with a clean design.
I included graphics of greens and doodles to distinguish the Philanthropy Hub whilst also maintaining a consistent brand.
This serves to make the Philanthropy Hub a bit more memorable for students who may come across it.
FINAL SOLUTION
✦ A centralized platform for philanthropy resources.
The Home page serves as the entry point to the Philanthropy Hub, encouraging exploration by introducing each section of the hub with a preview. The involvement spotlight at the bottom provides students a preview of future involvement.
The About page provides a brief overview of the faces behind the Philanthropy Hub, and outlines the three overarching goals to communicate clearly to students its mission.
FINAL SOLUTION
✦ Philanthropy within organizations, clubs, courses, and programs.
The Get Involved page allows students to explore resources on how they can interact with philanthropy.
This includes four areas of involvement: organizations, clubs, courses, and programs that students can partake in. In each section, students can filter by their respective categories to find opportunities tailored to their interests.
FINAL SOLUTION
✦ Discover philanthropy happening nearby and how to give.
Through the Events page, students can filter events by location, date, or category, in order to find an event that suits their schedule and preferences.
The Give Now page serves as a platform for prospective donors to contribute towards the Philanthropy Hub’s goals, and what they'll be supporting.
REFLECTION
Key takeaways
This project allowed me to explore the design of a website within the constraints of a pre-existing brand, which served as a creative challenge. Additionally, I had the opportunity to create a design entirely solo, within a team of non-designers.
✧ Don't overwork a design too much.
While the design part of my brain wanted to create a more complex design of the hub, I knew that simplicity was necessary in order to align with UCLA's existing brand identity. The importance of making the design cohesive with UCLA's standards was important in order to create a consistent theming.
✧ User testing is essential.
Due to the time constraints of the project, I didn't have time to conduct a survey or user interviews. If given more time, I would research more deeply into the user's perspective and perform additional user testing to ensure that the Philanthropy Hub is able to satisfy on student needs.
Fall 2025, group 2 consulting team.
