Kindness Trail
Building Volunteer Communities
Befriend Cow is a nonprofit that helps people connect with animal sanctuaries. Their app, Kindness Trail, allows parents and volunteers to easily discover and plan outdoor activities together. For this project, I led the end-to-end UX design and research, running studies with over 120 participants and usability tests to refine key flows. Our team created a polished, user-validated prototype that improved NPS from 32 to 55 and is ready for launch.
Role
Product Designer
Team
I collaborated with 4 designers and 2 managers under the guidance of a mentor.
Deliverable
20+ interactive prototypes, User journey maps, Stakeholder and survey insights, Competitive benchmark, Usability testing reports
Timeline
May - Aug 2025
Problems
Finding and joining socially conscious outdoor activities is scattered and time-consuming.
Non-profits offering outdoor activities need a tech solution to reach more people.
The Solution
A mobile app that lets users seamlessly discover, explore, and plan outdoor and volunteer activities in one integrated platform.
PRD Validation
Before we began, our client Preethi had a feature list for the app. We worked together to refine the scope and finalize the PRD. Then we conducted research to measure user behavior and identify pain points, distributing 100 surveys and conducting 23 interviews.
We collaborated with the client to identify our target users and finalize the top 4 use-centered features for the PRD.
Analysis of 23 interviews and 100 survey responses validated the need and priority of these proposed features.
Prototyping
We mapped the user flow, prototyped divergent concepts, and finalized low-fidelity designs for four core features after team reviews.
I refined prototypes to improve accessibility and consistency, integrating the design manager’s feedback over two review cycles. I standardized button states, icon styles, and spacing to enhance usability and visual coherence.
The high-fidelity prototype emphasizes intuitive navigation and clear visual hierarchy, making it easy for users to find and join volunteer activities.
User Testing and Iteration
I led two rounds of user testing with 8 participants each, focusing on onboarding, browsing, and itinerary flows.
We introduced quick-filter chips and reorganized advanced filters by user priorities, which improved the speed and ease of activity discovery.
We highlighted the “Add to Itinerary” button as a prominent CTA to resolve confusion and streamline user flow.
We added map and calendar views to support location- and time-based decision-making, aligning the app with users’ key selection criteria.
Feature Details Presentation
After multiple design iterations and feedback sessions, we presented our final design for Kindness Trails to the client.
Onboarding:
The onboarding flow introduces users to the app's main features and value propositions.
Browsing:
Users can view activity details and reviews before signing up to participate.
Activity details:
Users can view activity details and reviews before signing up to participate.
Itinerary:
The itinerary feature helps users plan both individual and group activities.
Final Takeaway & Feedback
After the final design presentation, our team reflected on our takeaways from designing Kindness Trail.
Our design also received feedback from 8 product, design and engineering professionals from Bloomberg and Cisco.
