Introduction
ROLE
Product Designer - Led Community feature design
TEAM
1 Product Manager, 1 Design Manager, 6 Product Designers, 3 SLM Stakeholders
IMPACT
• Built a trauma-informed posting flow from scratch
• Balanced youth voice with staff safety needs
• Designed & delivered a scalable MVP with handoff docs
The Challenge
Silver Lining Mentoring (SLM) supports youth in foster care with long-term mentorship. They needed their first mobile app. I designed the peer-to-peer Community feature within strict safety constraints.
What We Heard
We conducted interviews and focus groups with mentees, mentors, and SLM staff. Three key insights emerged:
My Focus
The Community feature I led focused on Insight #2, creating balance between youth expression and staff safety needs.
Guardrails Before Freedom
We replaced open posting with a guided flow:
• Choose a topic
• Pick a subtopic
• (Optionally) use a templated prompt
Beyond Celebrating Wins
Celebrations were the focus early on, but I pitched a resilience section for those facing challenges. SLM loved the idea and coined the name: #StillHere
Where We Landed
We delivered:
• Templated post flows
• Category/subtopic logic
• A flexible structure that could scale with trust
Looking Ahead
After handoff, I designed a future version of the #StillHere - one that introduced 7-day resilience challenges.
Each challenge was built around small daily actions:
• Journaling
• Reframing thoughts
• Acts of Kindness
A Note on Visuals (Updated)
The designs shown in this case study reflect the version I created after the official project ended.
The original design system didn’t reflect SLM’s brand or meet accessibility standards. Icon sizes varied, and hierarchy needed improvement.
So I reimagined my section using:
• SLM’s brand color palette
• Improved contrast and type hierarchy
• Consistent icon sizing and spacing
