Count Me In : Voices
A digital storytelling initiative to elevate the lived experiences of Black cancer patients, caregivers, and advocates.
Count Me In (CMI) a nonprofit initiative through the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard set to create and support, Amplifying Black Voices Across Cancer (Voices) , a digital project aimed towards sharing Black voices and stories across cancer.
Through this project, we are able shed light on the experiences and disparities that exist for Black cancer patients
Collaboration
Due to the sensitive information regarding the main users for this platform. I worked closely with community engagement managers and developers to ensure this project was represented properly.
Brand Voice & Tone
Established the voice, tone, and brand guidelines for the platform, ensuring communication felt empowering and culturally resonant for the Black cancer community.
Usability Testing
Facilitated 2 rounds of usability testing with 10 members of the community.
Stakeholder Presentations
Presented design progress and decisions to stakeholders bi-weekly, communicating rationale and incorporating feedback across the project lifecycle.
Role
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
Duration
3 months
3 months
[The Challenge]
Black/African-Americans are diagnosed with and die from cancer, including breast cancer, at higher rates than those in other ethnic groups. A key factor contributing to these disparities is low representation in cancer studies and clinical trials.
Racial disparities in health and healthcare are widespread. Black cancer patients are underrepresented in research, storytelling platforms, and digital health space, leading to limited visibility, reduced trust, and difficulty finding relatable experiences and resources.
[The Solution]
A digital website project called Voices was put into motion to create a safe space in which the voices and stories of communities across all cancers are compiled, amplified, and represented.
Three storytelling formats:
- Article
- Audio
- Video
The goal is to help spark discussions that lead to potential tangible actions that will support the ushering of equity within cancer research, which could lead to the development of better cancer treatments for Black patients.
[Gathering Insight]
Exploration of comparable platforms helped narrow the focus to three priorities: elevating patient and clinical profiles, ensuring inclusive and equitable visibility, and designing an intuitive filtering system for efficient content discovery
[Ideation]
These pages were defined by the stakeholders as “must have” features.
Homepage | About | Stories | Share Your Voice | Take Action | Contact
Through our sketches and wireframes we found that visual representation of a such a large community would be a core challenge in this project. Efficient information architecture would be key in solving this issue. We hoped to gather futher information through user testing.
[Key Features]
Disparities Highlight
The team emphasized the importance of highlighting disparities among the communities that are often overlooked.
Through the use of a carousel - users are able to easily navigate to view more facts and statistics.
Discoverability for over 13 types of cancer
A detailed filtering system showcasing different cancer types and the participants involved was created to allow the filtering of a vast amount of content.
[Speaking to community members]
Two rounds of testing was conducted with 10 members over a span of 2 weeks. After analyzing the data gathered, we made any necessary changes to the prototype.
My role during the test was to act as a notetaker and observer and occasional support if issues arose while navigating the prototype.
Changes Made:
Rewording banners and descriptions to have a clearer message on what the site’s mission was.
Added more action items to encourage visitors to potentially make a difference,
Resources > Take Action
Added “Act Now” and “Partnerships” as subpages.
Refined the filtering system to account for more specific searches.
[Launch]
Through the shared efforts of designers, developers, stakeholders and most importantly the community - Voices was successfully launched in March 2022.
Articles & Media:
https://www.broadinstitute.org/news/digital-initiative-launches-elevate-black-voices-cancer
Count Me In : Voices
A digital storytelling initiative to elevate the lived experiences of Black cancer patients, caregivers, and advocates.
Count Me In (CMI) a nonprofit initiative through the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard set to create and support, Amplifying Black Voices Across Cancer (Voices) , a digital project aimed towards sharing Black voices and stories across cancer.
Through this project, we are able shed light on the experiences and disparities that exist for Black cancer patients
Collaboration
Due to the sensitive information regarding the main users for this platform. I worked closely with community engagement managers and developers to ensure this project was represented properly.
Brand Voice & Tone
Established the voice, tone, and brand guidelines for the platform, ensuring communication felt empowering and culturally resonant for the Black cancer community.
Usability Testing
Facilitated 2 rounds of usability testing with 10 members of the community.
Stakeholder Presentations
Presented design progress and decisions to stakeholders bi-weekly, communicating rationale and incorporating feedback across the project lifecycle.
Role
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
Duration
3 months
3 months
[The Challenge]
Black/African-Americans are diagnosed with and die from cancer, including breast cancer, at higher rates than those in other ethnic groups. A key factor contributing to these disparities is low representation in cancer studies and clinical trials.
Racial disparities in health and healthcare are widespread. Black cancer patients are underrepresented in research, storytelling platforms, and digital health space, leading to limited visibility, reduced trust, and difficulty finding relatable experiences and resources.
[The Solution]
A digital website project called Voices was put into motion to create a safe space in which the voices and stories of communities across all cancers are compiled, amplified, and represented.
Three storytelling formats:
- Article
- Audio
- Video
The goal is to help spark discussions that lead to potential tangible actions that will support the ushering of equity within cancer research, which could lead to the development of better cancer treatments for Black patients.
[Gathering Insight]
Exploration of comparable platforms helped narrow the focus to three priorities: elevating patient and clinical profiles, ensuring inclusive and equitable visibility, and designing an intuitive filtering system for efficient content discovery
[Ideation]
These pages were defined by the stakeholders as “must have” features.
Homepage | About | Stories | Share Your Voice | Take Action | Contact
Through our sketches and wireframes we found that visual representation of a such a large community would be a core challenge in this project. Efficient information architecture would be key in solving this issue. We hoped to gather futher information through user testing.
Discoverability for over 13 types of cancer
A detailed filtering system showcasing different cancer types and the participants involved was created to allow the filtering of a vast amount of content.
[Key Features]
Disparities Highlight
The team emphasized the importance of highlighting disparities among the communities that are often overlooked.
Through the use of a carousel - users are able to easily navigate to view more facts and statistics.
[Speaking to community members]
Two rounds of testing was conducted with 10 members over a span of 2 weeks. After analyzing the data gathered, we made any necessary changes to the prototype.
My role during the test was to act as a notetaker and observer and occasional support if issues arose while navigating the prototype.
Changes Made:
Rewording banners and descriptions to have a clearer message on what the site’s mission was.
Added more action items to encourage visitors to potentially make a difference,
Resources > Take Action
Added “Act Now” and “Partnerships” as subpages.
Refined the filtering system to account for more specific searches.
[Launch]
Through the shared efforts of designers, developers, stakeholders and most importantly the community - Voices was successfully launched in March 2022.
Articles & Media:
https://www.broadinstitute.org/news/digital-initiative-launches-elevate-black-voices-cancer
Count Me In : Voices
A digital storytelling initiative to elevate the lived experiences of Black cancer patients, caregivers, and advocates.
Count Me In (CMI) an initiative through the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard set to create and support, Amplifying Black Voices Across Cancer (Voices) , a digital project aimed towards sharing Black voices and stories across cancer.
Through this project, we are able shed light on the experiences and disparities that exist for Black cancer patients
Role
UX/UI Designer, User Researcher
Duration
3 months
Collaboration
Due to the sensitive information regarding the main users for this platform. I worked closely with community engagement managers and developers to ensure this project was represented properly.
Brand Voice & Tone
Established the voice, tone, and brand guidelines for the platform, ensuring communication felt empowering and culturally resonant for the Black cancer community.
Usability Testing
Facilitated 2 rounds of usability testing with 10 members of the community.
Stakeholder Presentations
Presented design progress and decisions to stakeholders bi-weekly, communicating rationale and incorporating feedback across the project lifecycle.
[The Challenge]
Black/African-Americans are diagnosed with and die from cancer, including breast cancer, at higher rates than those in other ethnic groups. A key factor contributing to these disparities is low representation in cancer studies and clinical trials.
Racial disparities in health and healthcare are widespread. Black cancer patients are underrepresented in research, storytelling platforms, and digital health space, leading to limited visibility, reduced trust, and difficulty finding relatable experiences and resources.
[The Solution]
A digital website project called Voices was put into motion to create a safe space in which the voices and stories of communities across all cancers are compiled, amplified, and represented.
Three storytelling formats:
- Article
- Audio
- Video
The goal is to help spark discussions that lead to potential tangible actions that will support the ushering of equity within cancer research, which could lead to the development of better cancer treatments for Black patients.
[Gathering Insight]
Exploration of comparable platforms helped narrow the focus to three priorities: elevating patient and clinical profiles, ensuring inclusive and equitable visibility, and designing an intuitive filtering system for efficient content discovery
[Ideation]
These pages were defined by the stakeholders as “must have” features.
Homepage | About | Stories | Share Your Voice | Take Action | Contact
Through our sketches and wireframes we found that visual representation of a such a large community would be a core challenge in this project. Efficient information architecture would be key in solving this issue. We hoped to gather futher information through user testing.
[Key Features]
Disparities Highlight
The team emphasized the importance of highlighting disparities among the communities that are often overlooked.
Through the use of a carousel - users are able to easily navigate to view more facts and statistics.
Discoverability for over 13 types of cancer
A detailed filtering system showcasing different cancer types and the participants involved was created to allow the filtering of a vast amount of content.
[Speaking to community members]
Two rounds of usability testing was conducted with 10 members over a span of 2 weeks. After analyzing the data gathered, we made any necessary changes to the prototype.
My role during the test was to act as a notetaker and observer and occasional support if issues arose while navigating the prototype.
Changes Made:
Rewording banners and descriptions to have a clearer message on what the site’s mission was.
Added more action items to encourage visitors to potentially make a difference,
Resources > Take Action
Added “Act Now” and “Partnerships” as subpages.
Refined the filtering system to account for more specific searches.
[Launch]