Prologue
Join any thriving TimeBank, and you’ll see community in action: neighbors exchanging skills, local events buzzing with participation, and support flowing where it’s needed most.
TimeBanking thrives on connection, but managing those connections at scale? That’s where the real challenge begins.
Our mission: Redesign a platform that empowers communities across America to exchange time effortlessly—and grow stronger together.
The Problem
A powerful idea held back by scattered systems.
At its core, TimeBanking is simple: give an hour of help, earn an hour in return. It’s a system built on mutual aid, dignity, and community.
Across the U.S., TimeBanks operated with outdated tools—spreadsheets, email threads, and even paper sign-up forms. Coordinating exchanges, tracking time credits, and engaging members felt clunky and inconsistent. For new users, getting involved often meant navigating confusing processes or unclear expectations.
Organizers were overwhelmed, and potential members dropped off before they ever got to contribute.
“Why wasn’t there a seamless, scalable way to connect communities through time?”
User Validation
Listening Before Building
To ensure we were solving the right problem, the Product Manager and I conducted interviews with users and stakeholders.. These conversations uncovered deep-rooted frustrations with current website system, highlighting pain points and user end goals that shaped our product direction.
Interesting Insights
We kicked off the process with a complete review of the website
The Vision
Connect, Empower, Grow
We asked ourselves—what if giving and receiving help felt as seamless as sending a message to a friend?
What if communities could exchange time, track contributions, and build trust—all through one intuitive platform?
Our vision was to remove the friction from participation. By simplifying the process and modernizing the tools, we could help TimeBanks focus less on logistics—and more on what truly matters: human connection.
Wireframes
To create wireframes and prototypes of various fidelities, we divided our team of 10 members into four smaller groups, each consisting of two to three members. Each group was responsible for designing a specific section of the website, allowing us to tackle different fragments of the information architecture simultaneously. This collaborative approach enabled us to cover more ground in the redesign process.
Our process included the following iterative steps:
Initial Low-Fidelity Wireframes: Each group started with low-fidelity wireframes to outline the basic structure and layout of their assigned sections.
Group Feedback Sessions: We regrouped regularly to share our designs with other subgroups, collecting feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Incremental Refinement: Based on the feedback, each group refined their wireframes, gradually increasing their fidelity through three to four iterative cycles.
High-Fidelity Prototypes: In the final phase, each group created high-fidelity wireframes and clickable prototypes that showcased interactive features like event calendars and storytelling sections.
The Solution
Highlights of the final Website Redesign
Each highlight breaks down a key part of the experience—what design goal it meets, the user problem it tackles, and how the solution fits in.
