2024-2025
UX/UI + Service Design | Web App
Web App Design
Kind Loans
end-to-end app & service design of microlending web app for Ugandan nonprofit
ROLE
Team Lead (cross-functional team of ~10 designers + developers)
TOOLS
PROBLEM
Murphy Charitable Foundation (MCF) is a nonprofit serving rural communities in Eastern Uganda. To support women's economic empowerment, MCF started a program, Kind Loans, that provides interest-free loans to women entrepreneurs who are excluded from traditional banking.
To scale their impact, MCF decided to create an app that enables lenders worldwide to directly fund loans to individual women. They needed a team to design an app that would be secure, culturally-relevant, and scalable to other countries.
SOLUTION
As the Design Team Lead, I defined the vision for the product and guided a cross-functional team through all stages of the design process.
Through close collaboration with the CEO and research with 50+ lenders, borrowers, and MCF staff, we designed a mobile-first app that simplifies the lending process.
In doing so, MCF can expand its microlending initiative from 40 women to the 2K+ women they serve.
FINAL DESIGNS
As a lender, find and fund a loan, then get direct updates from the borrower on how your funding is making a difference. Get repaid in app credit that you can withdraw or use again.
As a staff (admin), easily set up, track, and directly manage borrowers’ profiles and loans throughout their loan journey.
Discover | COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Direct competitors don't offer interest-free loans in Uganda
To understand the existing landscape of competitors, my team and I conducted research on 6 digital microlending/donation platforms. What we found helped inform our strategic direction:
Successful platforms have transparent processes, direct communication channels with recipients, and authentic borrower representations
Many apps had underwhelming and/or confusing interfaces or privacy concerns
No competitors had a focus on providing interest-free loans and/or targeting rural women entrepreneurs
Discover - USER INTERVIEWS
Borrowers have no smartphone experience and require additional support, while lenders need trust & transparency
We conducted surveys and virtual interviews with lenders (primarily N. America) and rural women in Uganda and synthesized findings into personas and journey maps.
Our top findings:
Lenders emphasized the importance of transparency and personal connection to borrowers' stories
Borrowers operate in collective community groups, have no prior smartphone experience, and are used to tracking funds manually
There are multiple critical touchpoints where borrowers need help navigating the lending process
Define - HMW's
HMW design a digital lending process that...
….minimizes errors and is easy to navigate for those unfamiliar with smartphones?
…builds trust for lenders of year-long loans?
Define - FEATURE PRIORITIZATION
We balanced the CEO's request for comprehensive features with MVP realities
In a conversation with team members and nonprofit leads about feature prioritization for an MVP, we ultimately landed on Must-Have features, along with a few solutions to address the gaps identified from our research:
Add a "Staff" user role. MCF staff have smartphone familiarity and direct contact with women and can support women throughout their borrowing journey
Add a "Super Admin" role (held by CEO) with oversight and approval capabilities for all borrower and staff actions. This helps prevent security issues and addresses potential language/calculation errors.
Implement regular borrower "news updates" to keep lenders updated on loans. This builds trust and connection without a two-way conversation.
Develop - USER FLOW MAPPING
User flow mapping and service blueprinting helped clarify our multiple layers of governance
With our user needs and feature priorities defined, we created user flows and corresponding wireframes for the app, drawing inspiration from Kiva's approach.
To illustrate the connectedness of user actions, I mapped out a service blueprint to illustrate handoff between the multiple layers of users in the ecosystem (lender > borrower > staff > Super Admin > app).
Develop - WIREFRAME TESTING
When 25 women showed up for wireframe usability testing, I quickly pivoted my research approach
After creating initial wireframes, we planned individual usability tests with lenders, staff, and borrowers. However, I encountered an unexpected situation when testing with borrowers — instead of a select few women showing up, 25 of them showed up all at once!
I quickly pivoted, converting the session into a group prototype walkthrough and feedback session with the CEO acting as translator. Rather than have the women interact directly with the prototype, I talked through each step and observed their reactions.
This experience reinforced my understanding that the app's interface needed to be as simple as possible to both interpret and teach in a group setting.
Design - DESIGN SYSTEM
The Material UI design system helped us streamline developer handoff while honoring the existing brand
When moving into high-fidelity design, we chose to use Google's Material design system to streamline the development process and handoff. We incorporated the MCF blue as our primary color and an accessible version of the MCF green for our brand colors.
Design - HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPING & TESTING
Based on 2 rounds of testing, we added additional trust signals for lenders and accessibility features for staff
INTERACT WITH THE FINAL PROTOTYPE
Outcomes & Reflections
Working with a local nonprofit and volunteer tech team required flexible leadership & awareness of cultural contexts
Our designs are currently in development and due for initial launch by end of Q3 2025. While our approach is mobile-first, we're building out responsive elements to accommodate users (especially lenders) entering the site via desktop and tablet.
Challenges & My Learnings:
Working with a volunteer development team meant shifting team membership and inconsistent technical leadership — this meant creating and maintaining a common source of truth was essential. In maintaining the Product Req's Document and organizing team files, I was able to keep members (new and old) informed of the product vision and progress from design for handoff.
The dynamic nature of MCF's operations also impacted the process of gathering requirements. Rather than an upfront once-and-done activity, it's an ongoing and flexible dialogue with the CEO and MCF stakeholders. In establishing this open communication, I was able to validate assumptions and adjust designs as circumstances evolved (e.g., as a new partnership with a mobile money partner developed, or as new funding priorities shaped the CEO's approach).
