Clear, accessible resource discovery for PHLASK
Making community resource mapping easier to explore, contribute to and scale.
- Discoverability of resources through clearer navigation
- Friction in core tasks like finding and filtering resources
- Confidence and ease when adding new resources
An open-source map for free resources across Philadelphia
- RoleUser Research, IA, UX and UI Design
- Timeline2021 to 2022
- TeamPM, Designer, Devs
PHLASK is an open-source platform developed with Code For Philly to help people find publicly accessible free resources, such as water, food, bathrooms, and foraging locations across Philadelphia. I joined as a volunteer UX/UI designer in 2021, partnering with cross-functional volunteers and contributors.
Grow beyond water and food without losing clarity
The core challenge was to expand the platform to support new resource types (beyond water and food) while maintaining clarity and usability.
Early work uncovered deeper issues:
- Inconsistent UI and unclear information architecture made navigation and contribution confusing.
- The central map interactions and primary call-to-action (finding the nearest resource) were not intuitive.
- The design lacked a systematic visual language, making it difficult to scale with new resource types.
These issues limited the platform’s ability to grow its user base and support community participation.
Before
- Users struggled to interpret the central button and map functions without clear affordances or feedback.
- Visual inconsistency and lack of component structure made contributions and onboarding feel ad-hoc.
- Usability issues (tiny icons, unclear filters, missing location feedback) created friction in core flows like finding and adding resources.
Scale the resource types, keep the core flows simple
Redesign PHLASK to support:
- Scalable inclusion of new resource types without redesigning major screens for each addition.
- Clear, intuitive interactions for finding, filtering, and adding resources, especially for first-time or casual users.
- Consistent UI patterns and design systems to reduce cognitive load, improve usability, and help contributors feel confident when adding resources.
- Discovery
- Information Architecture
- Visual Design
- Development
Structural clarity first, then discovery and consistency
I approached the redesign by addressing both structural clarity and information discovery, starting with navigation and scaling outward into usability and consistency.
Key design decisions:
- Established a flexible information architecture that accommodates multiple resource types without overwhelming menus or map controls.
- Created a style guide (styles, components, icons) to ensure visual consistency and scalability as new categories are added.
- Simplified core interactions such as resource filtering, contribution flows, and map exploration to reduce confusion and unintuitive behaviors.
- Iteratively refined based on usability tests, prioritizing issues that affected core tasks like finding nearest resources and adding new ones.
As the redesign progressed, usability insights informed feature refinements, onboarding improvements, and interaction clarity improvements across both mobile and desktop.
Unified resource discovery
Selected screens from the redesigned app.
- Unified resource menu and interactive mapAllows users to switch between resource types (water, food, foraging, restrooms) while keeping spatial context and clear visual feedback.
Issues found, fixes confirmed
Initial UX audit: Identified accessibility issues, unclear affordances, low contrast, and interactions that required prior knowledge to understand or use.
Post-redesign usability testing: Confirmed improved clarity around core actions such as finding the nearest resource, switching resource types, and understanding map controls.
A coherent, accessible journey for everyone
A simplified, accessible journey that makes discovering and contributing resources easier for everyone through clearer onboarding, intuitive navigation, and inclusive design.
Easier to find, easier to add, ready to grow
- Discoverability of resources through clearer navigation
- Friction in core tasks like finding and filtering resources
- Confidence and ease when adding new resources
- Scalability through a coherent style guide
- Redesign effort for future resource expansions
Iterate with intention.
By validating ideas through usability testing, I was able to focus iteration on the moments that mattered most to users.