01 · THE PROBLEM
ASU’s food support was built for students in Arizona. Most food-insecure online students we surveyed lived elsewhere, and testers struggled to find food help on ASU’s site at all.
02 · WHAT I DID
Led a 5-person research team as project manager: survey, interview and usability tests. Then I designed a redesign of ASU’s student services site on my own.
03 · THE RESULT
A clear path from ASU’s main menu to food pantries near any student’s ZIP code, designed within ASU’s existing brand, plus a test plan for the next step.
01 · Problem
Problem: Online students were left out of ASU's food support
ASU asked our class to research food insecurity among online, part-time students. As project manager, I led a team of five through a survey, an interview and usability tests of ASU's student services site. When online recruiting stalled, I went to Starbucks stores in person: through Starbucks' partnership with ASU, many baristas attend ASU Online.
What we found:
3 of 5 food-insecure survey respondents lived outside Arizona, yet every food resource on ASU's site was in Arizona.
None had ever searched ASU's site for food help or contacted ASU staff.
All 6 qualified respondents used the web on their phones often.
The challenge: help an online student find food assistance near where they live, on a site they already use.
02 · DESIGN Decisions
Three choices that bring help to where students already are
Redesign the site students already use, not a new app
Option I considered: a standalone app or new website.
What I chose and why: a redesign of ASU's existing student services site. An app adds a download and an account before a student in a hard spot gets any help. I brought the live pages into Figma and designed within ASU's brand, so the changes fit what students already know.
What I gave up: app-only features like saved pantries or reminders.
Search by ZIP code to find the nearest pantry
Option I considered: choosing a state from a list.
What I chose and why: a ZIP-code search. It's familiar from other location searches, and a student without a car needs the nearest pantry, not just one in their state.
What I gave up: a little typing, compared with picking from a list.
Lead with the two actions students need most
Option I considered: four equal options, as in my first sketch: find a pantry, apply for food stamps, contact faculty, learn more.
What I chose and why: two main actions up top, finding a pantry and applying for SNAP benefits, with background in a short FAQ below. A stressed student should see what to do first. I kept ASU's existing Student Care Report on the page as the way to ask for help.
What I gave up: equal visibility for the other options.
Every decision traces back to research
Research report: I packaged our findings into the final report.
Proto-personas (built by teammates): I designed around Jackie, a part-time barista who needs a pantry near home.
Sketchboard: four screens mapping the path from the menu to pantry results.
Affinity map: I grouped our survey findings by experience, behavior and attitudes.
Storyboard (illustrated by a teammate): Jackie, a part-time barista and parent, looks for food help on a work break.
Research plan → Survey → Interviews → Usability Tests → Affinity map and proto-personas → Sketches → Wireframes → High-fidelity mockups → Design recommendations
03 · TESTING
Food help was buried where students didn't look
I ran usability tests of the existing ASU site. Asked to find food resources from the student services page, testers rated the task 3 and 6 out of 10. One looked under "Food safety and health." Testers often turned to search instead of the menus, and searching "free food" didn't work.
Before: food resources sat at the bottom of a long "Basic Needs" page, under menus students didn't expect.
After: "Food Insecurity Assistance" sits directly in the Resources menu and leads to its own page.
04 · Final Design
The Happy Path from the menu to finding a nearby pantry
Resources menu: food help in a menu students already use.
Food Insecurity Assistance: the two main actions first, the Student Care Report to ask for help.
Find a Food Pantry Near You: one ZIP-code field.
Results: nearby pantries with address, phone, hours and website, next to a map. A sample search from a California ZIP shows a student outside Arizona getting local help.
Without access to ASU's analytics or pantry data, I designed from our research and filled the results with real pantries near a sample ZIP code.
05 · Reflection
A clear path to help, with more to test
We delivered a research report and recommendations, and I delivered a redesign that fits ASU's existing site and brand. It gives online students outside Arizona a direct path to local food help. The redesign wasn't tested; I wrote a test plan for it, which is my first next step.
What I'd do differently:
Test the redesign with five students, using the plan I wrote, including how well search works.
Design for stigma, not just findability. One respondent said, "I felt so embarrassed at first." I'd use softer wording and make it clear no login or proof of income is needed.
Design mobile-first, since every respondent used the web on their phone often.
Show the distance on every result, so the nearest pantry is obvious at a glance.
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