Eradicating inequality and ending invisibility in entertainment
TIMELINE
Oct 2024 - Jul 2025
ROLE
Product Manager, UX Designer
CLIENTS
USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
LOCATION
Los Angeles
Project Overview
The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative (AII) is the leading think tank in the world studying inclusion in entertainment. While the organization’s research is widely cited, its website lacked the clarity, structure, and storytelling power to effectively communicate its mission and extensive body of work.
In 2024 to 2025, I led a complete redesign of the AII website to improve accessibility, user experience, and narrative clarity.
My Role
I acted as both Product Manager and UX Designer, leading the project from concept to final design. My responsibilities included creating the product vision and design strategy, managing a creative team, synthesizing UX research, and designing the final website in Framer.
Challenges
DENSE REPORT ARCHIVE LACKS ORGANIZED NAVIGATION
Users found it difficult to search for research reports
LACK OF EMOTIONAL RESONANCE AND STORYTELLING
Users had difficulty understanding our "why" at a glance
MISSING CURRENT EVENTS AND SOLUTIONS
Users were unaware of what current actions we are taking for our cause
Heuristic Evaluation & Initial Analysis
I led a heuristic evaluation to gather inspiration and compare and contrast web standards in the industry to our current website.
We don't have visually appealing reports covers or icons
Saw search function examples which will be helpful due to 75+ reports
Card Sorting
I went through a card sorting exercise using the full archive of reports to evaluate user expectations around categorization.
Initial website report organization is not visually engaging
Identified information overload and weak grouping in the original reports section. Led a card sorting activity to inform a more intuitive IA
User Flows & Wireframes
I led a user flow activity based on research goals. I reviewed these, giving feedback on decision points and encouraging deeper exploration of user behavior around report discovery (e.g., category selection, filters).
Provided specific feedback on flow decision points. Asked: Does a user actually choose a category first? What happens if they skip it?
Tasking team to work on subflows to explore user journey
Choosing to explore Subflow 3 in a prototype
Usability Testing
We tested early prototypes using a mix of survey links and moderated Zoom tests. I coached UX team on testing methods, emphasizing the importance of real-time emotional reactions and probing deeper into user hesitations. Insights revealed that users were overwhelmed with information and needed design to help them dictate where to click next.
Coached my UX team on improving usability tests by encouraging 'think out loud' protocols
Restructuring Reports Page
Using the testing feedback, I proposed a restructured reports page that provides the user with context and guidance for their decision to select a report or explore the page.
Research Areas
What topics we research
Signature Reports
What we're known for
Most Recent
What we're up to recently
Report Archive
What we've done
Lo-fi Wireframes
Based on feedback from UX testing, I reframed the homepage to prioritize AII’s mission, use stats and data to ground the user in our "why, and tell a compelling story of industry inequity and change
I requested key data points and mission language from leadership and began drafting homepage mockups with these priorities in mind.
