Generation NYC
I helped improve the user experience for Generation NYC, produced by the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity to provide information relevant to NYC teens and young adults.
Specifically, I led a discovery workshop with the Youth Leadership Council (of ACS). Collaborators included team members from the product, content, and service design teams.
Project Type: UX Research
Role: Service Design Fellow
Organization: Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity with The Administration for Children's Services (ACS)
Timeline: 1 month
Team Size: 8 members, 15+ collaborators
[ Background ]
Generation NYC provides a wealth of information on housing, finances, education, and other helpful topics for growing up in NYC.
But product data and user feedback indicated a need to improve its usability and relevance.
We needed to evaluate the site’s navigation, page layout, as well as explore new content and features relevant to young New Yorkers.
[ Process ]
My workshop was layered, involving: 1) evaluative research to assess the current state, and 2) brainstorming to envision a better one.
Workshop Activities
Evaluative Research: Participants completed a usability test of the current site. Metrics included time-on-task, successful task completion, and qualitative insights (e.g. likes, dislikes, and recommendations on how to improve the user experience).
Brainstorming: Participants completed a card sort, highlighting what topics they most cared about (e.g. school, work, budgeting, counseling, health insurance, and LGBTQIA+ resources). They also brainstormed what details they’d want to see for certain topics, jotting down ideas on printouts of the webpages.
Key Learnings
While the site was generally straightforward and helpful, participants suggested ways to help them explore more easily and keep them engaged. Ideas included:
Highlighting the texting feature as it was helpful for staying informed, but was overlooked at the bottom.
Clarifying the headlines since users tended to browse quickly and click on more descriptive headlines.
Creating resources for life skills and mental health as users felt like those were not available in school.
Usability test of the current site.
Card sort of content topics
