MANAGEMENT
Client management system for social housing
CLIENT
Inner City Visions
MY ROLE
Product Design Lead
TEAM
2 PMs
3 designers
5 developers
Context
The start of a world-changing collaboration
Inner City Visions (ICV) is an LA nonprofit that supports people with housing insecurity by connecting them to shelters and services.
Problem
Overloaded and high drop-off rates
ICV wants to improve their client retention but their team is stretched thin by their current client operations that span multiple touch points.
Objective
Research, design, and build an end-to-end system that consolidates ICV’s client operations and increases efficiency.
TImeline
I projected a design road map to ensure that we were achieving our milestones and able to hand off the project within 20 weeks.
January – June 2025
User Research
Design
User Testing
Development Collab
01. Discover
We lacked understanding in ICV's operations and weaknesses
To collect data and actionable insights, I guided my team in a 2-week research sprint to answer these 3 key questions:
What are their processes?
What do they struggle with?
How can we help without interfering with their existing workflows?
Results
Interviewed 4 users
Analyzed 5 competitors
Mapped user journey
User interviews
"Shadowing" 4 staff members through think-alouds
I drafted the interview script and used think-alouds to replicate an in-person observational study remotely.
Since ICV's staff wasn't familiar with technology, instead of directly asking ICV staff what they wanted to see in the product, I asked for walk-throughs and their emotions throughout the process
First of many stakeholder meetings!
Affinity Diagramming
Sorting and organizing
3 key takeaways:
We needed to design responsive screens since ICV planned to conduct their on-site work on tablets
Their touch points included a paper intake form, dropbox files for each client’s case notes, and an Excel database.
they measured their impact through number of check-ins and new clients in their quarter reports
Using affinity diagramming, we sorted our takeaways into 3 common groups
User Journey
How to service an ICV client
After sorting our insights, we mapped client intake, check-in, and data analysis workflows, pinpointing key frustration zones and opportunities for improvement.
ICV's client processes include intake, check-in, and analysis
3 key pain points:
Redundant form filling
Losing touch with clients
and manually calculating data
02. Ideate
We found opportunities in pain points, taking care not to overstep
By targeting each frustration, we were able to keep our problem-solving user-centric and avoid feature creeping.
Results
Feature solutions
Risks and tradeoffs
Ideating
Our ideation process
03. Define
We aligned on our project goal and scope
In this stage, we defined the product, parameters, and features. Then, we presented to the client and got approval to move to the next stage
Results
Goal
Features
Goal
Create a system that
automates
client
intake and data analysis through a
unified
database.
features
Facilitating client operations with 4 key features
1.
Intake form
Digital intake forms allowed automatic translation from input into client profiles.
2.
Calendar
Synced calendars allowed staff members to schedule client check-ins.
3.
Client Pages
Client pages housed client profile, medical history, and important documents.
4.
Database
A queryable database displayed all client records at a glance.
04. Design
I needed to pace design iterations with ongoing developer collaboration.
To pace design-developer collaboration in an agile environment, I…
Prioritize key wireframes and released in batches
Matched developer delegation when assigning designs to prevent roadblocks
Updated client on our progress through biweekly meetings
Results
Wireframes
Prototypes
Design System
Usability tests
Information Architecture
What We Built (and Why)
During our feature brainstorm, we came up with additional tools that could benefit ICV, but overstepped into other parts of their operations and stray from the project scope. To stay focused, we narrowed the product down to a client management system with four core features.
Digital intake form with tabbed navigation
Client profiles store biographical info, case notes, and documents
Calendar page tracks individual and team schedules
Client database displays all clients in a table view
Reiteration
How can I balance findability and clutter?
Each client’s profile page depicts their upcoming check-ins alongside their past check-ins. My goal was to give staff a flexible way to refer to previous case notes.
1
1
1
1
2
3
4
Ultimately, I decided a simple layout was the most intuitive and extra features only decreased usability.
My final design
1st challenge
How can I streamline 3 types of check-ins?
Issue
Client cases can only be logged into the database through a multi-step scheduling flow.
However, quick, high-volume check-ins would be slowed by the multiple fields and lead to frustration.
Scheduled check in (default)
Wellness check
Handouts
Solution
My solution was to include multiple check-in paths.
2nd challenge
How can we accurately tally the client total?
Issue
ICV inputs a client’s entire family to coordinate family services effectively and get an accurate count of total impacted people.
SPOUSE IS IN ICV
However, the development team raised an issue of double-counting family members if both spouses are ICV clients.
Count: 8
Solution
The Head of Household label determines which spouse holds the household and dependents’ information, preventing data from being duplicated. As a safety measure, we added several conditional questions that trigger follow-up questions
SPOUSE IS IN ICV
While both Williams spouses are ICV clients, Angela is the Head of Household and the children are stored in her profile.
Count: 4
SPOUSE IS NOT IN ICV
As for the Smith household, only Lucy Smith is an ICV client so in addition to her dependents, she must input her spouse as well.
Count: 3
styling
Design system
I created a simple design system with reusable elements that can be adapted to multiple elements in a database.
04. User Testing
round 1
On the field
To stimulate a day on-site, we asked 14 ICV volunteers and experienced users to perform an unmoderated user test consisting of on-site tasks on tablet screens. After analyzing the test results, we made several accessibility changes.
Mission
SUCCESS RATE
MISCLICK RATE
AVERAGE DURATION
1
76.9%
55%
737.1s
Use the intake form to create a new client profile
2
100%
72.6%
86.3s
Add 3 hygiene kits, 5 hot meals, and 2 snack packs
3
100%
65.8%
38.2s
Create a Wellness Check for Kylie Bach
Implemented changes
In response to the usability tests, we increased the button size and included a collapsible menu.
Menu collapses to allow for a bigger screen on tablet mode and expands to show the tab names
Increased button size allows better accessibility on tablet mode
60 px
Hygiene Kits
2
round 2
In the office
For the second round, we asked 10 ICV volunteers and users to perform in office tasks on desktop screens. Since our product had features unique to ICV’s processes, we wanted to examine how intuitive they were for our clients to interact with.
Mission
SUCCESS RATE
MISCLICK RATE
AVERAGE DURATION
1
90%
83.8%
67.2s
Schedule a client check in
2
87.5%
50%
17.7s
Use database filters
3
100%
23.6%
21.9s
Link a client’s spouse through their profile
05. Final Product
demos
The final prototype
Ready to explore ICV’s client management database?
Responsive screens
reflections
What I learned
Takeaways
Fully outline the project scope before diving into design to prevent feature creep and keep the team focused.
Regular check-ins with all teams—design, development, and stakeholders—help us catch miscommunications early and resolve issues before they became critical.
In fast-paced, real-world projects, I have to keep a flexible schedule that can accommodate sudden challenges. Prioritizing delivery meant letting go of some refinements to ensure the core product was functional and on time.
Conclusion
By working closely with ICV’s team, we designed a client management system that simplifies intake, tracks client progress, and generates meaningful data for reporting. Even with trade-offs, our user-centered approach helped ensure that the final product was practical, intuitive, and aligned with their mission.
This project not only strengthened my ability to coordinate across design, development, and client teams—it also reminded me of the role thoughtful design can play in supporting organizations doing critical community work.
