Redesigned Haven to simplify and humanize refugee-host connections.
Haven
Responsive Web Re-design
3 months
Freelance UX Designer
Background
Impact
Created a high-fidelity prototype that enhanced Haven's volunteer English tutoring and refugee outreach platform, resulting in expanded consulting engagement with their product team.
My Role
Leveraged my role as both Haven volunteer and UX designer to collaborate with product/ engineering leads to identify and solve key platform issues.
Setting the project scope and context first
Haven is an online platform connecting Canadians with refugees for personal support across multiple services including English tutoring, career coaching, hosting, and free items. Given Haven's two primary user groups (volunteers and refugees) and diverse service offerings, our team prioritized improving the volunteer experience within English tutoring.
Challenges I noticed first hand as a Haven volunteer
As a user of Haven, I noticed these gaps were directly affecting the experience for both volunteers and refugees.
Lack of structured tools led to mismatched connections
Limited communication support hindered relationship building
Lack of volunteer support systems affected engagement and impact
The problem I wanted to address:
Without the right tools, volunteers struggled to help effectively—causing delays and mismatches in refugee support, and ultimately weakening Haven’s impact.
External research: Comparative study of international exchange and government refugee support models
I closely examined platforms like the O-Canada app and University of British Columbia's international exchange programs, which revealed a common set of support areas.
Many other programs seem to provide the same support as Haven:
Language acquisition
Cultural integration
Employment services
Housing support
Financial literacy & budgeting
How they actually differ from Haven
Focus on educational or directive content (referring a refugee to readings etc.)
Lack hands-on personalized support
Bureaucratic eligibility requirements (proof of permanent residency, employment)
This research highlights Haven’s competitive advantage:
Haven's ability to provide timely, hands-on assistance without the usual red tape.
Human-centered, action-oriented approach — something that should be further emphasized and integrated throughout the user experience.
We know what Haven's good at, but what does the business actually want?
Kickoff meeting with product team revealed main two main business goals:
Increase the number of Canadian-Refugee matches
Improve sign up for the English language program
How do we help the business achieve their goals? By first talking to the users
What I learned from the recurring theme during our conversations:
The fulfillment these professionals felt helping individuals grow became a key emotional driver for my design solutions.
Cultural barriers volunteers faced with students highlighted the need for universally clear and simple product design.
User interviews with refugees posed its own challenges
My challenges with interviewing refugees
The refugees I spoke with had experienced significant trauma and faced ongoing challenges adjusting to Canada—navigating unfamiliar systems, language barriers, and family responsibilities. Recognizing this sensitivity, I prioritized building trust and creating safe spaces for them to share their stories before discussing Haven.
User pain points highlighted
Lack of info to filter search to find a compatible match
Language barrier, hard to get conversation going
Inactivity and long wait times from refugees
Lack of booking tool, meetings often forgotten or timezones mixed up.
Lack of support once the match was made
Creating personas to help us picture who we are actually helping
Based on information gathered from user interviews, I created two personas that best represent user goals, motivations, needs, and pain points.
With both business and user goals clarified, let's align on our direction moving forward
My researched showed business goals differ from user goals
Realigning the problem statement
I developed separate problem statements, then identified design opportunities that addressed both—ensuring the final solution delivered user value while advancing Haven’s mission.
User problem statement:
How might we streamline operations so that the most urgent refugees get help in the most effective way possible?
Business problem statement:
How might we increase the number of Canadian and refugee matches?
Aligning user needs with business goals:
How might we streamline operations so that we can increase the number of impact matches?
With clear objectives established, we can now determine what to improve and how to enhance Haven's platform.
But how do we decide what and how?
With a Customer Story Map, we were able to effectively prioritize our efforts
What came of the journey map:
The exercise revealed numerous areas for optimization
Visualizing the journey allowed the team to clearly identify and prioritize high-impact areas.
We aligned on focusing efforts around the matching, communication, and English program process—specifically refining the browse refugee page, dashboard, booking functionality, and chat interface.
Before optimizing, let's clarify which site content we're focusing on
Organizing features' content in a sitemap
Haven Site Map
Designing the Browsing, Booking, Lesson Activity flow
Usability Testing
I wanted to answer these questions:
Can users find a refugee more quickly and effectively?
Are matches more compatible?
Do volunteers feel a sense of accomplishment with the match?
Do volunteers have the right support tools to help refugees?
Test findings
Time savings of 3 DAYS from scheduling improvements and lesson tracking tool
Saved 2 hours per refugee search on the browsing page
100% more compatible refugee to volunteer match
From Testing to Transformation: Evoling to higher fidelity
Conclusion and Key Takeaways
This project accelerated my growth as a UX designer through cross-functional collaboration and balancing user needs with business constraints.
A highlight was being asked to consult on Haven's English program conversions outside my original scope—the team valued my approach and trusted my customer journey mapping to identify key friction points.
The main challenge was pace—waiting for interviews and feedback taught me patience and flexibility. I also learned that user needs don't always align with business priorities, shifting my focus from lesson improvements to increasing successful matches once I understood the core goal.
I stayed grounded through user testing, maintaining a roadmap, and regular team alignment.
Key takeaway: Don't rush research. Strong early insights drive smarter design decisions.
