Design Thinking for Social Impact

This project marks the culmination of my journey as a UX Design student in Berlin—a dynamic exploration that extended beyond the classroom. While not perfect, it showcases the full UX process: research, problem-solving, and strategic thinking.

More than a project, it reflects my growth, adaptability, and commitment to user-centered design—a raw, honest snapshot of a designer in motion.

Project Context

Impact is an agency that provides design thinking workshops and training specifically tailored for NGOs and non-profit organizations. We're launching our pilot project to transform how social impact organizations approach problem-solving. Here's our story!

While contemplating my bootcamp final project, I was driven by one clear mission: create something truly useful. UX Design is often narrowly associated with digital products like apps, websites, and platforms. However, for me, design is fundamentally about impact, meaning, and helping others.

These three attributes—impact, meaning, and helping—have consistently guided my professional and personal decisions. Driven by this passion, I chose to design for a sector deeply close to my heart: NGOs and the non-profit world.

At the beginning of the project, I developed four key assumptions about NGOs

The Research

Research Goal

• Identify whether a meaningful connection exists between the NGO/International cooperation sector and the design field
• Understand the current methodologies, tools, and approaches NGOs employ at both headquarters and field levels to achieve their objectives
• Assess whether design thinking methodology could enhance the quality of their processes and ultimately improve impact for their end users

Research Methods

• Online survey where i would got quantitative insights
• Remote Structured Interviews where i would got qualitative insights
• Desktop research where i would got an overview about the context and the state of the art out there
  

Research Plan

Setting a well-structured research schedule allows you to have comprehensive control over your activities and results, and—more importantly—manage potential delays effectively. Before beginning, I carefully planned my research approach. Recognizing that quality research takes time, I intentionally dedicated the entire first week to laying a solid foundation for the project.

 
Insights 

online survey: 

63% of respondents reported that their NGO lacks both digital and innovation departments
53% were unfamiliar with Design Thinking methodology
50% rated their NGO's final results and impact as moderate (3 out of 5 satisfaction levels)

Desktop research - about NGOs and how they are structured: 

• An estimated 10 million NGOs operate worldwide
• They Operate in diverse sectors including health, advocacy, child protection, and disaster risk prevention.
• These organizations strategically divide their operations and projects between headquarters—where key decisions are made—and field locations, where projects are directly implemented.

Remote Interviews - 10 interviewees - 30 min each via Skype

• Insufficient internal and standardized processes, particularly at headquarters

• Poor communication between teams, especially at the organizational leadership level

• Reliance on outdated methodological approaches

• Current project design primarily relies on two methodologies: Project Cycle Management and Theory of Change Thinking
  

Based on my research findings, I focused the project specifically on the headquarters level, deliberately setting aside field-level considerations.

Problem Statement:

NGO workers require improved methods to enhance internal team communication and develop more consistent processes, as they currently rely on outdated methodological approaches.

Hypothesis:

We believe that through design thinking methodologies for NGO, we will help workers at HQ level to achieve the improvement of international communication between teams

so.....How might we help NGO’s workers to have a more effective communication between different teams, increasing the quality of activities and results satisfaction at HQ level?

Empathy Map

Persona

What Camilla Seeks:

• Tangibly visualize and experience improved job performance
• Make a meaningful, relevant impact in her work
• Enhance communication with colleagues to more effectively share information and results
• Despite having some knowledge of Design Thinking, she has never applied it professionally and wants to champion its internal adoption

As I realized I was developing a service rather than a product, I conducted an additional interview to map out a standard project journey. I aimed to understand the departments involved in each step, as well as those departments that might be necessary but currently uninvolved. This investigation revealed an 8-step process that tracks a project from initial need identification through to implementation.

NGO project journey 

Ideation

One of the most powerful strategies an organization can employ is to improve its processes and activities from within. By fostering education and awareness around best practices, facilitating knowledge sharing, and engaging key personnel, organizations can create meaningful, comprehensive improvements that benefit everyone.

This insight inspired me to focus my service specifically on Design Thinking trainings and workshops tailored exclusively for NGOs.

Competitive Research

• Big design firms which run also projects in developing counties like IDEO.org or Frog Design
• Companies focused on design thinking and innovation trainings especially for other companies (B2B oriented) like Board of Innovation 
• Companies which provide design services just for the public sector like FutureGov
• Big design studios like Cooper which provide trainings for big corps

Service Blueprint

Exploring the user journey from pre-service (website exploration and initial contact) through the service delivery (workshop session) to post-service (feedback and follow-up activities).
 

Digital Touchpoint - the website 

Physical Touchpoint- The workshop

This is the first IMPACT pilot project workshop. Is the service physical evidence tailored on the Camilla NGO’s needs of improve the internal communication between different teams.

‍GOAL: introduce the Design Thinking process and tools and facilitate the internal communication. This workshop should be the first of a series of event and workshop which will lead the NGO into a better understanding of internal process, roles and flow of communication and activities
 

Next Steps 

• Testing the service in a real environment. See how people would react and iterate the process
• Collect feedbacks from participants 
• Structure a Stakeholder Relationship Map and a later Service Blueprint
  

 Take Aways 

• Research is fundamental to any successful initiative. You can feel completely confident about your idea, only to realize during interviews that it might not be as strong as you thought. 
• I used Design Thinking to create a service about Design Thinking itself—which was both challenging and rewarding.
• The process is inherently flexible, allowing you to pause and return as needed
• You begin research with initial assumptions. If those assumptions remain unchanged after research, it likely indicates a lack of deep, meaningful investigation