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San Francisco UXD

Building a community for design thinkers and doers

MY ROLE

Founder & Executive Director

TEAM

Core Lead and Support Team

SERVICES

01

Strategic Direction & Leadership

Repositioned SFUXD to meet evolving post-pandemic needs, aligning community vision with sustainable operations.

02

Service & Community Design

Designed an ecosystem of events, programs, and engagement structures grounded in research, community input, and core values.

03

Facilitation & Sensemaking

Guided participatory processes to surface insights, clarify purpose, and inform priorities based on community feedback synthesis.

CONTEXT

San Francisco UXD is a volunteer-run design community based in San Francisco, dedicated to empowering designers with the skills, connections, and confidence to create greater impact in their work and careers.

Process

User Interviews

Research Synthesis

Strategic Prioritization

Problem Definition

Goals & Objectives

User Archetypes

Solution Ideation

Solution Prioritization

Business Model

Operational Framework

System & Blueprint

Success Metrics

Initiatives Launch

Performance Analysis

Impact Assessment

Challenges

Successes

Next Steps

Discover

In the discover phase, my goal was to thoroughly understand the evolving landscape of the design community post-pandemic, identify the core challenges limiting designer growth, and uncover strategic opportunities for community impact. Rather than making assumptions about what designers needed, I conducted systematic research to map the problem space and understand the interconnected nature of community challenges.

Research Phase Approach

01

Landscape mapping

Conduct interviews across experience levels to understand UX experiences and the shifting design landscape.

02

Strategic prioritization

Narrow focus to top problem areas based on impact, prevalence, and organizational feasibility.

03

Deep validation

Validate problem depth, understand user experience, and uncover underlying systemic factors driving each challenge.

Phase 1: Landscape Mapping

Methods:

Subjects:

Role: 

Experience: 

Interviews

15 members, 5 non-members

Varied

Varied

"Companies just want deliverables.

It’s like everyone wants solutions — but no one wants to invest in understanding the problem."

- Shane P.

AFFINITY MAP

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PROBLEM AREAS & DEFINITIONS

1.

Strategic design devaluation

Design is often seen as pixel pushing rather than strategic problem-solving, undervaluing designers’ expertise in research and human-centered thinking.

2.

Employee market challenges

Designers face a saturated job market and broken hiring practices that favor visuals over strategy, creating a mismatch between their skills and employer expectations.

3.

Career uncertainty

Many designers feel unclear about their career direction and struggle to position themselves confidently in a shifting landscape.

4.

Professional growth barriers

In-house designers often lack mentorship, feedback, and leadership pathways, limiting their growth and impact.

5.

Capability-application gap

Designers’ talents often go underused, while businesses fail to engage them effectively—wasting potential on both sides.

6.

Knowledge and education access

Access to quality design education and mentorship remains uneven, leaving many without the tools to grow.

7.

Community support deficit

Designers often lack a supportive peer network for feedback, inspiration, and shared growth—leading to isolation.

8.

Leadership understanding gap

Leaders often undervalue strategic and human-centered design, limiting its influence within organizations.

Phase 2: Strategic Prioritization

Method:

Framework :

Prioritization matrix

  • Community demand

  • Program fit

  • Experiment feasibility

STRATEGIC RATIONALE

​Our selection balances two "sweet spot" problems (high demand + high program fit) with one strategic stretch problem (employee market challenges) that's worth tackling despite lower program fit because of high community demand.

3-AXIS PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

3 axis prioritization (1).png

SELECTED PROBLEM AREAS

01

Strategic Design Devaluation

High demand

Perfect program fit

Easy experiments

02

Community Support Deficit

High demand

Perfect program fit

Easy experiments

03

Employment Market Challenges

Highest demand

Worth the program fit challenge

Phase 3: Deep Validation

Method:

Subjects:

Role: 

Experience: 

Interviews

9 members (3 per area)

Varied

Varied

While limited in scope, the interviews surfaced valuable insights into designer needs, though leadership and employer perspectives remain underrepresented.

SCOPE & LIMITATIONS

HIGH-LEVEL INSIGHTS

Strategic design devaluation

  • Organizations lack awareness of strategic design's value

  • Structural barriers prevent designers from business discussions

  • Misalignment between design incentives and other business units

  • Need for stronger stakeholder relationships and evidence of strategic contributions

Employee market challenges

  • Crowded job market with similar candidate qualifications

  • Skills-expectations mismatch creating frustrating hiring process

  • Need for tailored opportunities and clearer job descriptions

  • Lack of hiring process support

Community support deficit

  • Lack of meaningful professional connections for growth and feedback

  • Isolation during career transitions and job searches

  • Limited collaboration opportunities for freelancers and remote workers

  • Clear demand for structured support systems

"Design is trapped as a 'make it pretty' function, not a strategic one. We're fighting a lack of awareness, silos, and misaligned incentives."

"One of the biggest barriers is not having enough exposure or the right network. I want to feel inspired and be part of something"

"Being the only designer on my team, I feel super isolated. I really miss having someone to bounce ideas off of, or even a second pair of eyes."

THE OPPORTUNITY

How might we create community experiences that simultaneously address strategic devaluation, professional isolation, and employment challenges while building sustainable infrastructure for long-term impact?

Define

In the define phase, I established a clear strategic direction by synthesizing research insights into user archetypes, and solution opportunities. This phase transformed broad problem understanding into a focused strategic framework through systematic ideation and prioritization that would guide solution development.

User Archetypes

USER TYPES

BEHAVIORS

NEEDS

Job Seekers

Designers impacted by layoffs needing portfolio support and market navigation

  • Applying daily to many roles

  • Asking for portfolio/Interview feedback

  • Joining job search support groups

  • Actively netwoking online & at events 

  • Stronger portfolio & positioning

  • Interview prep & practice

  • Peer support for long searches

  • Realistic market insights

  • Working solo with little team interaction

  • Looking for external validation

  • Joining virtual events for connection

  • Following design communities online

  • Consistent collaboration

  • Structured feedback or advice

  • Sense of belonging

  • Exposure to varied design perspectives

  • Advocating for design's strategic role

  • Seeking high-impact projects

  • Learning to speak the language of biz

  • Grow leadership skills or mentorship

  • Practice & visibility for strategic thinking

  • Peer feedback & advice

  • Intermediate-advanced strategic skills

  • Ways to share and connect

Isolated Designers

Remote/solo practitioners lacking community, collaboration, and feedback

Strategic Designers

Mid-senior practitioners frustrated by limited strategic influence and impact

Ideation

PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

High-level solution

Feasibility

Impact 

Priority

Strategic Design Devaluation

Build strategic design skills and confidence

High

High

High

Increase opportunities to apply and showcase strategic design

High

High

High

Strengthen connection between design and business leadership

Low

High

Med

Foster communities of strategic design practice

High

Med

Med

Community Support Deficit

Foster meaningful connection and relationships

High

High

High

Provide targeted career transition support

Med

Med

Med

Deliver professional development and skill-building offerings

Med

Med

Med

Foster meaningful connection and relationships

High

Med

Med

Employment Market Challenges

Improve designers' understanding of the job market

High

Med

Med

Align design skills with evolving employer needs

Med

High

Med

Educate employers on design roles and effective hiring practices

Low

High

Low

Support designers in exploring alternative career pathways

High

Med

Med

Facilitate peer-to-peer feedback, sharing, and support

High

High

High

SOLUTION DESIGN PRINCIPLES

1

Strategic Impact

Every idea had to advance at least one core priority:

​

  • Help designers build strategic skills

  • Create ways to apply and showcase those skills

  • Enable connection, reflection, and peer learning

2

Feasibility & Sustainability

We focus on lightweight, low-cost ideas that:​

​

  • Could be run by a small volunteer team

  • Require minimal prep

  • Are flexible enough to test and iterate

SOLUTIONS & DOT VOTING

Ideation Phase (1).png
Develop

In the develop phase, we designed the architecture and operational framework for our selected community programming, focusing on creating sustainable systems that could deliver consistent value while maximizing impact across multiple user needs.

Business Model - The Golden Triangle

Customer Segment

  • Emerging Designers

  • Practicing Designers

  • Strategic or Senior Designers

  • Design-Curious Professionals (optional)

Value Proposition

​​A space for designers and design-curious professionals to find their people, explore big ideas, share experiences, and strengthen design's impact in the world.

Revenue Streams

  • In-kind and financial sponsorships

  • Ticket sales (select events only)

  • Donation-based contribution model

  • Future: Paid membership tiers

Offerings Alignment Map

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Operational Framework

Processes
  • Event planning & run-of-show

  • Content development workflows

  • Volunteer onboarding and toolkit

  • Partnership cultivation & outreach kits

Team Structure
  • Core team

  • Support team

Technology & Tools
  • Collaboration & planning (Notion, Figjam)

  • Communication (Slack, Google Meets)

  • Event & business ops (Luma, Google Drive)

  • Design tools (Figma, Canva)

Performance Measurement
  • Event attendance & engagement rates

  • Attendee satisfaction surveys

  • Partner and sponsor feedback

Programming Service Blueprint

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QUICK INSIGHTS

Progressive engagement model

Community journey moved from low-risk discovery to high-value participation, reducing barriers to entry

Backstage complexity varies

High-engagement touchpoints (Design Jams, Workshops) require significant behind-the-scenes preparation vs low-barrier events

Platform dependencies

Service relies on Luma, WhatsApp, and venue relationships for delivery

​

Volunteer capacity bottleneck

Frontstage and backstage actions primarily depend on core organizer capacity, limiting scalability

Community driven value

Customer actions become increasingly collaborative, with memberes providing value to each other (peer feedback, Whatsapp community)

Success Metrics Framework

Primary Engagement Metrics
  • Event RSVPs, attendance rates, and growth rates 

  • New member sign-ups

  • Member satisfaction scores (target: 4.0+) & feedback

Community Health
  • Observed peer connection and sense of belonging

  • Anecdotal signs of repeat attendance and referrals

  • ​Format-specific community feedback

Value Validation Metrics
  • Willingness to to pay (free vs. paid)

  • Member feedback themes and quality

Operational Sustainability
  • Resource requirements per event

  • Event planning and execution efficiency

  • Volunteer capacity and workload distribution

Deliver

After implementing our initial programming strategy, we needed to understand what was working and why. This analysis of our first six months of events reveals which strategic assumptions proved correct, where we missed the mark, and what these insights mean for sustainable community building.

Implementation Rationale

Why did we start with our current solution set?

Community-first Model

These solutions addressed the most critical immediate need—peer support and genuine connection.

Low Barrier to Entry

Simple formats like book clubs and coworking could launch quickly without complex setup.

Multi-purpose Design

Each event type could tackle multiple problem areas with a single format.

Sustainable Foundation

These formats could run repeatedly without burning out volunteers or requiring major resources.

Key Results (Q1 - Q2)

PERFORMANCE METRICS

Event Type

Avg. RSVPs

Avg. Attendance

Attendance Rate

Avg. Satisfaction

Design Jams

21

66%

4.6/5

32

Portfolio Reviews

43

18

42%

4.0/5

Professional Growth Workshops

54

20

37%

4.7/5

Book Club

35

12

34%

N/A

Design Socials

120

20

17%

4.0/5

Coworking Sessions

57

12

21%

4.8/5

HIGHEST GROWTH

Design Jams

120% growth (20 → 44 RSVPs over quarters) despite $5-10 pricing

MOST IMPROVED COMMITMENT

Portfolio Reviews

Attendance rate jumped from 63% to 89% over the quarters

BEST SATISFACTION

Professional Growth Workshops

4.7/5 rating with strong RSVP and attendance rate numbers

COMMUNITY VOICE

Belonging & Inclusion

Multiple members describe feeling "instantly welcomed" despite being first-time attendees, validating our community-first approach over skill-first programming.

Professional Impact

Members credit SFUXD with meaningful career connections and inspiration they actively share with their teams, proving impact beyond social networking.

Peer Learning & Feedback

Members specifically value gaining "insider knowledge," "practical advice," and "constructive feedback" from diverse industry professionals.

Mike T.

"You made me feel instantly welcomed and I really enjoyed meeting you [...]. A big portion of my presentation [...] is about what I learned from this amazing community you have here."

Anna K.

"If you're hesitating about attending these events (especially solo), trust me—the design community is more welcoming than you imagine [...] what remains are meaningful connections and fresh perspectives..."

Tatiana M.

"Conversations at events like this help you gain insider knowledge and sometimes even uncover job leads that aren't publicly listed. Plus, engaging in these spaces helps build confidence over time."

Piram S.

"I heard stories from in house designers at big companies, startup founders, and designer at design agencies which all have given me so much insight on my own work + trajectory as a designer in 2025!"

Christina C.

"Thank you for the invaluable feedback on my case study! [...] I've made some key updates: Added a dedicated section to highlight project impact, improved headers for better readability."

Tany C.

"If you've never participated in a Design Jam, I highly recommend it. It's not just about the end result - it's about the process, the learning, and the connections you make along the way. Can't wait for the next one!"

Quality Recognition

Consistent praise for event organization and thoughtful details validates our investment in high-quality experiences over quantity-focused programming.

Jochen W.

"Great location, very well prepared/organized, plenty of useful supplies [...] Can't believe I haven't engaged with SFUXD previously. Looking forward to upcoming events!"

Franklin C

"It was a lovely event with amazing people! I'm grateful to have been part of it and to share the experience with some of my friends. A big thank you to San Francisco UXD for organizing such a fantastic gathering!"

Outcome & Impact

Achievement

Outcome

Impact

Validated market need

535% member growth (6x) in 6 months 

Proves our community-first approach addresses real gaps in the Bay Area design ecosystem

​

Balanced quality and scale

Averaging 4.4 satisfaction scores across all event formats while scaling membership 6x

Shows member experience remained strong despite rapid growth — critical for sustainable service or business design

Designed multi-problem solutions and experiences

Members report professional growth, skill development, and social connection from individual community experiences

Demonstrates that experiences delivered layered value across personal and professional goals

Delivered high-impact,
low-lift offerings

27 events designed and run by volunteers in 6 month span

Shows ability to launch and sustain lightweight, high-value programming with limited resources

​

535%

Member growth in 6 months

3,099

New members in 6 months

27

Events in 6 months

4.4

Avg. satisfaction score

Reflect

Relaunching SFUXD required balancing ambitious vision with pragmatic constraints—a challenge that ultimately became our greatest strength. What began as a pivot from a global network to a local community evolved into a deeper understanding of how strategic research can inform organizational design. The process revealed that building community isn't just about bringing people together; it's about creating the conditions where human-centered thinking can flourish and spread beyond individual designers into the broader world.

CHALLENGES

SUCCESSES

Limited-perspective research across problem areas

Gathered deep insights from the design community but lacked perspectives from the other side of each challenge - executives, HR leaders, and organizational decision-makers who influence the systemic issues we identified.

Resource constraints vs. impact ambition

While structured planning helped maximize volunteer capacity, the scale of solutions needed to address the core problem areas uncovered far exceeded what a volunteer-run community organization could realistically tackle.

Measurement limitations in community impact

Basic attendance and feedback metrics provided some validation, but lacked the depth of measurement needed to truly understand behavior change, career outcomes, or long-term community health given our resource limitations.

Exceptional growth while maintaining quality

Demonstrated that volunteer-led operations could scale without sacrificing member experience or event quality, proving that authentic community building can achieve sustainable growth when grounded in real user needs.

Research-driven market success

Interview insights directly informed community approach, creating programming that resonated deeply with member needs as evidenced by sustained growth, satisfaction scores, and positive member feedback across diverse event formats.

Sustainable systems under volunteer constraints

Built operational frameworks and processes that enabled consistent, impactful programming across diverse event formats while managing all-volunteer teams, creating scalable systems that could maintain excellence despite resource limitations.

Next Steps

01

Deepen the impact

Move beyond surface-level support toward more intentional, layered experiences — creating space for deeper learning, reflection, and design growth.

02

Partnerships and revenue

Develop sustainable, mission-aligned partnerships and explore diverse revenue opportunities to support consistent growth while maintaining our volunteer-led ethos.

03

Design for what's next

Create space for future-facing dialogue — through speculative events, expert-led talks, and programming that helps designers think systemically and ahead.

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