Lucy Wu
2018
Just Click,
Don’t Call
Redesigning exalt Youth’s Provider
Experience for Action
About the
Project
My Role: UX/UI Designer
Team: Caroline Berry, UI Designer
Year: 2018
Duration: Six Months
exalt Youth is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit connecting previously incarcerated youth with meaningful internships. By partnering with local businesses, exalt aims to empower young people through real-world opportunities.
The Problem
exalt’s only onboarding coordinator was overwhelmed with phone call inquiries from businesses trying to get involved. A single, static web portal on Internship Partnerships offered little clarity or guidance. exalt knew the site lacked clarity but hadn’t yet identified what was missing or how best to present it.
The Solution
By identifying the gaps behind repeated inquiries, my teammate and I built new site pages that gave providers the clarity they were missing. We uncovered missing information that was causing an influx of inquiries to the Onboarding Coordinator and made sure to include that content on newly designed site pages.
Stakeholder
Interviews
and User
Research
To understand the problem deeply, we began with stakeholder interviews. exalt knew providers were calling because the site lacked key information, but it wasn’t clear what was missing. We spoke with past and prospective internship providers and asked:
What they thought of exalt Youth and the organization's mission
What information they expected to find online (What information felt unclear or missing?)
What made them hesitant to move forward (What concerns did you have before committing to an intern?)
Problems and
Opportunities
After conducting interviews with five providers (three potential and two past) and synthesizing insights through affinity mapping, my teammate and I identified recurring concerns around intern matching, job readiness, and transparency into interns’ prior experience and legal history. We found that returning providers had no clear online way to extend placements and were required to call for next steps.
Research Insight
“I would ideally like to
see intern resumes”
- Business Provider
Providers need reassurance before committing to an intern
We asked
How might we give providers enough clarity to
take action on their own?
Research Synthesis
Key Research Themes
Providers needed more process transparency
Signals of intern readiness and reliability not clear
Affinity mapping helped surface recurring provider concerns around
transparency, readiness, and next steps.
Personas
Based on our interviews, we created two core provider personas that capture the key needs and frustrations we heard most often. These personas guided design decisions around content clarity, trust-building, and how to provide self-serve actions.
Potential
Partner
Brett Swanson
Team Development
Director at First Born
“ I want to help — I just need
clarity on what’s expected of us. ”
Background
Hands-on manager interested in mentoring youth,
but short on time.
Goals
Empower youth through mentorship
Balance agency demands
Key Frictions
Unclear intern vetting and skill fit
Undefined supervision expectations
Needs
Clarity around intern readiness and a simple, documented process.
Past
Partner
Yosara Trujillo
Founder/Owner at Sweet Water Dance and Yoga
“ I shouldn’t have to call to confirm, or to extend an internship. ”
Background
A community advocate who mentors interns and supports youth, but needs clearer partnership support.
Goals
Provide a safe, welcoming space for youth
Mentor interns with confidence and support
Key Frictions
Unclear process and lack of guidance
No visibility into post-cycle next steps
Needs
A clearly defined process with timely communication.
Competitive
Analysis
Having better insights to aid our design strategy, we analyzed how mission-driven platforms onboard new partners across nonprofit and youth employment space, taking a look what worked and why. We looked a total of three online platforms, There were a few patterns that consistently stood out:
Clear guided steps
Trust-building content (FAQs, testimonials)
Action-forward CTAs (Sign Up)
These insights helped inform both the structure and content strategy for
our redesign.
Visual
User Journey
I created a storyboard mapping proposed solutions directly to research insights. This artifact demonstrated how the redesigned experience would clarify expectations and transition onboarding into a self-guided process.
The Need
Overwhelmed by daily work tasks, Brett learns about exalt Youth through a colleague.
The Discovery
Exploring intern and provider success stories on exalt Youth’s website, Brett sees the value for both businesses and interns.
The Need
Reviewing Rashel’s profile, he assesses fit, Once approved, both benefit.
Wireframing
Building on the storyboard, we restructured the original single-page portal into two purpose-driven experiences: a provider-focused page detailing process, expectations, and past partnerships, and a newly introduced intern page centered on intern stories and testimonials. Previously, intern content was absent from the portal entirely, a missed opportunity to build trust and context for prospective providers.
Early Concept Sketch
Mid-fidelity Wireframes
Provider landing page (primary flow)
Internship request or extension form
Added: Self-serve “Request or Extend Internship” CTA.
Addressed: Manual staff email coordination that created delays and friction.
Added: Online internship submission form.
Addressed: Manual back-and-forth staff coordination.
Added: Clear onboarding steps overview.
Addressed: Provider hesitation due to process ambiguity.
Prototyping
and Testing
Taking our low-fidelity wireframes, I then created a clickable prototype for user testing, testing with 3 users, right off the bat, despite having different content, the similar layout and visual hierarchy created uncertainty. This insight prompted a key pivot: low fidelity wireframes didn’t communicate the difference between the pages, the intern page and provider page should be distinct.
Key Usability Insight
The intern and provider pages were visually too similar, making it difficult for users to recognize they were looking at distinct experiences.
Provider Page
Intern Page
Early usability testing exposed ambiguity between intern and provider views, informing layout differentiation.
Final Designs
The final designs clarified roles, reduced friction, and guided past and potential providers to action. Key improvements included restructuring the landing experience, dedicated Intern and Provider pages, A structured onboarding flow, a digital internship request form, and extension request pathway.
AFTER
BEFORE - Landing Page
AFTER - Split Page
BEFORE - Single Page
AFTER - Supporting Pages
The
Outcome
Our final designs enabled providers to:
Complete onboarding through a guided, step-by-step flow
with clear calls to action.Find answers to common questions upfront, reducing friction
and coordinator dependency.Request and extend internships through self-serve workflows.
Reflections
exalt Youth responded positively to the increased clarity and autonomy, noting the potential to significantly reduce provider phone calls and streamline onboarding.
Conducting follow-up usability testing after implementation
Tracking reduction in inbound calls post-launch
Measuring conversion from page visit to internship request
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