Organization: University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Timeline: November 2024 – April 2025
Role: UX/UI Designer, Accessibility Consultant, Webflow Developer, Product Manager
Tools: Webflow, Figma, Jira, Google Suite, Penji, Canva
Project Type: Fellowship website for legal accessibility initiative
The A2J team needed a public-facing website that communicated their mission, showcased the work of current and past fellows, and provided clear pathways for applicants and partners to get involved. They were on a tight timeline to get the site live in time for fellowship promotion and stakeholder visibility, and the project needed to meet accessibility standards and present a trustworthy, polished digital experience. This project required me to:
The final site supported recruitment, enhanced public trust, and gave the fellowship a much-needed digital home to amplify their mission and impact. The site was delivered before the deadline, ensuring the fellowship's ability to operate for the next year, and all of the digital promotion products were delivered by the end of the project.
The Penn Access to Justice (A2J) Fellowship supports legal professionals working to close justice gaps for underserved communities across the U.S. At the time I joined, the program lacked a dedicated website and relied on scattered documents and event pages to convey its mission. The team needed a central hub to showcase fellows, increase visibility, and communicate impact to partners, applicants, and the broader legal community. I gathered and reviewed existing materials, including presentations, PDFs, and archived promotional assets. I also conducted informal interviews with internal stakeholders and the target audience to better understand the needs of applicants and supporters.
Key research insights:
Users appreciated that the site centered on the fellows and their work. However, the original messaging felt too Penn-centric, despite the fellowship having a national scope. Users also wanted to see more about real-world impact, statewide reach, and how the program connects across jurisdictions.
This feedback shaped our core design goals: emphasize storytelling, clarify the program’s broad reach, and present the fellowship as a growing national initiative with Penn Law at its center—not as the limit.
Based on user and stakeholder research, I established the following design goals:
Center the fellows and their work. So I:
→ Created filtered fellow profiles organized by year, with accessible layouts and photos.
Convey national reach and impact. So I:
→ Added context and visual storytelling elements (e.g., infographics, fellow spotlights) that emphasized real-world outcomes and the fellowship’s multistate presence.
Improve clarity and accessibility. So I:
→ Expanded site copy to provide clearer explanations of the fellowship’s purpose, structure, and benefits.
Build trust and engagement. So I:
→ Used a polished, responsive design system in Webflow, complemented by branded visuals for event promotion.
My UX Process:
Content Audit & Site Architecture
I mapped scattered documents and information into a streamlined site structure. Key actions were determining the main navigation, user paths, and accessibility compliance from the start.
Usability tests & interviews
I involved the stakeholders and fellows early on in the process when mapping out the information architecture and site usability. After I made changes, I validated with user interviews before moving into high-fidelity design and implementation.
Webflow development & iterative design
I quickly learned Webflow and prototyped live components, enabling faster design decisions and immediate application of accessibility best practices (e.g., heading order, alt text, semantic layout).
Major Iteration: expanded content for context & impact
Based on user feedback and stakeholder input, I significantly improved contextual copy across the site to better explain the nuances and value of the fellowship. I also designed new sections blending infographics and spotlight stories to highlight fellow impact across the country.
Product & visual design support
I created flyers, branded visuals, and digital assets to promote lectures, announcements, and fellowship milestones. These supported program engagement across both web and social platforms, and some were used in formal impact reports.
Product management & QA
Using Jira and Google Suite, I tracked task progress, coordinated with the teams of designers creating product deliverables, and audited/made imrpvements to each design deliverable. I also conducted accessibility testing manually and via tools to ensure WCAG compliance.
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Site Content & UX Architecture: Consolidated and rewrote content from multiple documents to create 14+ high-impact pages and improved user flow by reorganizing and combining redundant pages, streamlining navigation for clarity and simplicity, and validating with user research.
Accessibility: Added alt text, improved semantic structure, fixed heading order, reduced unnecessary carousels, styled buttons and accordions for screen readers, and tested for WCAG compliance.
Visual & Interaction Design: Designed fellow spotlight sections, infographic-style impact highlights, and custom visual content using Canva. Managed a Penji product team and directly led design edits, completing 100% of the projects digital assets by wrap-up.
Technical Improvements: Fixed mobile menu styling and responsive design bugs across breakpoints, set up MailChimp newsletter templates to support ongoing communication with stakeholders, improved consistency in typography, layout, and color palette across all viewports, and enhanced SEO across pages for greater visibility.
User Testing & Iteration: Conducted usability testing to guide improvements in navigation, accessibility, and messaging.
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This project combined the many kinds of work I care most about: improving access, uplifting real-world stories, creating great designs, and creating systems that empower both users and editors. I wore many hats; from UX designer and researcher to accessibility advocate and design product manager, all while navigating a tight deadline.
Key Takeaways:
Design thinking can—and should—translate to real-world equity work.
Every design choice carried weight in how fellows, mentors, and supporters would understand the mission and national impact of the program.
Editing and structuring content is as important as visual design.
Consolidating dense, fragmented documents and circular navigational paths into a clear, accessible site was transformative for usability, and critical for team collaboration and site upkeep.
Done is better than perfect, especially in fast-moving environments.
This project required me to learn Webflow on the fly and rapidly prototype while keeping accessibility top-of-mind. I got comfortable prioritizing MVPs and shipping meaningful iterations under pressure.
