Lightful is a tech-for-good company aimed at providing impactful fundraising and marketing tools for a variety of non-government, government and business users around the world. It was now looking at adding AI tools to its suite of tools. In my role as Head of Design at Lightful, I led a Design Team of 4 (5 including me) to articulate the product vision and design the core experience for AI tools to enhance their offering. Over the course of 3 years I led the team, and provided UX Leadership for, for this AI offering, known as "BRIDGE AI".
Client
Lightful
Role
Head of Design
Direct Reports
4
Lightful AI Social Platform
I led a team from vision to execution of a unique AI-powered suite of tools for fundraising and marketing
I led a team from vision to execution of a unique AI-powered suite of tools for fundraising and marketing
Lightful is a tech-for-good company aimed at providing impactful fundraising and marketing tools for a variety of non-government, government and business users around the world. It was now looking at adding AI tools to its suite of tools. In my role as Head of Design at Lightful, I led a Design Team of 4 (5 including me) to articulate the product vision and design the core experience for AI tools to enhance their offering. Over the course of 3 years I led the team, and provided UX Leadership for, for this AI offering, known as "BRIDGE AI".
Lightful is a tech-for-good company aimed at providing impactful fundraising and marketing tools for a variety of non-government, government and business users around the world. It was now looking at adding AI tools to its suite of tools. In my role as Head of Design at Lightful, I led a Design Team of 4 (5 including me) to articulate the product vision and design the core experience for AI tools to enhance their offering. Over the course of 3 years I led the team, and provided UX Leadership for, for this AI offering, known as "BRIDGE AI".
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The Challenges
Lightful’s early platform lacked a vision on how to utilise AI for it's offering, though there was a strong sense it could help. In terms of users, they had a very wide range of abilities, especially when it came to AI powered tools. It wasn't clear precisely what tools we need to improve fundraising and marketing for non-profits and non-govermental organisations. To create a usable and valuable set of AI tools for a global audience, I established a series of initiatives to better understand both our users and business goals. I used a problem/solution discovery with hypotheses to direct these activities.
Lightful’s early platform lacked a vision on how to utilise AI for it's offering, though there was a strong sense it could help. In terms of users, they had a very wide range of abilities, especially when it came to AI powered tools. It wasn't clear precisely what tools we need to improve fundraising and marketing for non-profits and non-govermental organisations. To create a usable and valuable set of AI tools for a global audience, I established a series of initiatives to better understand both our users and business goals. I used a problem/solution discovery with hypotheses to direct these activities.
The Process
To start, I planned a series of structured user research programmes and facilitating cross-functional workshops, including user interviews, diary studies and user testing sessions. We found that our users wanted to reduce the time required to build their confidence in social media, get quick feedback on their fundraising abilities and generate content to publish. We also found that users had widely varying skills levels in terms of AI. I then worked with the C-Suite and Product Leadership to ideate on AI features that addressed these needs. We also worked with the dev and partnership team to understand how we could use a user's resources to generate beneficial content. We found that we could use MCP servers to cross-pollenate content from other tools to generate useful outputs - such as using personas to create campaigns. We also did research on AI design patterns and Prompt patterns.
To start, I planned a series of structured user research programmes and facilitating cross-functional workshops, including user interviews, diary studies and user testing sessions. We found that our users wanted to reduce the time required to build their confidence in social media, get quick feedback on their fundraising abilities and generate content to publish. We also found that users had widely varying skills levels in terms of AI. I then worked with the C-Suite and Product Leadership to ideate on AI features that addressed these needs. We also worked with the dev and partnership team to understand how we could use a user's resources to generate beneficial content. We found that we could use MCP servers to cross-pollenate content from other tools to generate useful outputs - such as using personas to create campaigns. We also did research on AI design patterns and Prompt patterns.
To start, I planned a series of structured user research programmes and facilitating cross-functional workshops, including user interviews, diary studies and user testing sessions. We found that our users wanted to reduce the time required to build their confidence in social media, get quick feedback on their fundraising abilities and generate content to publish. We also found that users had widely varying skills levels in terms of AI. I then worked with the C-Suite and Product Leadership to ideate on AI features that addressed these needs. We also worked with the dev and partnership team to understand how we could use a user's resources to generate beneficial content. We found that we could use MCP servers to cross-pollenate content from other tools to generate useful outputs - such as using personas to create campaigns. We also did research on AI design patterns and Prompt patterns.
I integrated AI into our workflows by vibe coding prototypes to generate fast feedback on prototypes which were incorporated into the design.
I integrated AI into our workflows by vibe coding prototypes to generate fast feedback on prototypes which were incorporated into the design.
The Solution
First, my team created an AI pattern library based on best practices and fast feedback from users. We also did a great deal of research on prompting, and creating a prompt "best practices" guide which we used to power out tools. For each tool we ran hundreds of prompts tests - testing outputs with different inputs and prompts. We then created an entire suite of AI tools. One tool we created was the Keystone Story tool, which generated organisational narratives by scraping the web using only a user’s email address. Another tool, the Persona Tool, created and evaluated organisational personas to support campaign planning. These tools gave users what they wanted: quick results from minimal input, learning through quick feedback tools, and useful content generated from their pre-existing resources. They also provided 'leveling up' - with basic explanations for begginers and advanced features for experienced AI users.
First, my team created an AI pattern library based on best practices and fast feedback from users. We also did a great deal of research on prompting, and creating a prompt "best practices" guide which we used to power out tools. For each tool we ran hundreds of prompts tests - testing outputs with different inputs and prompts. We then created an entire suite of AI tools. One tool we created was the Keystone Story tool, which generated organisational narratives by scraping the web using only a user’s email address. Another tool, the Persona Tool, created and evaluated organisational personas to support campaign planning. These tools gave users what they wanted: quick results from minimal input, learning through quick feedback tools, and useful content generated from their pre-existing resources. They also provided 'leveling up' - with basic explanations for begginers and advanced features for experienced AI users.
First, my team created an AI pattern library based on best practices and fast feedback from users. We also did a great deal of research on prompting, and creating a prompt "best practices" guide which we used to power out tools. For each tool we ran hundreds of prompts tests - testing outputs with different inputs and prompts. We then created an entire suite of AI tools. One tool we created was the Keystone Story tool, which generated organisational narratives by scraping the web using only a user’s email address. Another tool, the Persona Tool, created and evaluated organisational personas to support campaign planning. These tools gave users what they wanted: quick results from minimal input, learning through quick feedback tools, and useful content generated from their pre-existing resources. They also provided 'leveling up' - with basic explanations for begginers and advanced features for experienced AI users.
The Outcome
There's too much to go through in this portfolio - but my team built and iterated on 6+ full and distinct AI features, which provided an end-to-end solution that enabled organisations to schedule social content, build campaigns, and receive guidance. Over 10,000 users regularly used the platform with a NPS score of higher than 70. Users continue to use and enjoy this platform. New AI tools increased usage of the tool in the last year by 200%.
There's too much to go through in this portfolio - but my team built and iterated on 6+ full and distinct AI features, which provided an end-to-end solution that enabled organisations to schedule social content, build campaigns, and receive guidance. Over 10,000 users regularly used the platform with a NPS score of higher than 70. Users continue to use and enjoy this platform. New AI tools increased usage of the tool in the last year by 200%.
There's too much to go through in this portfolio - but my team built and iterated on 6+ full and distinct AI features, which provided an end-to-end solution that enabled organisations to schedule social content, build campaigns, and receive guidance. Over 10,000 users regularly used the platform with a NPS score of higher than 70. Users continue to use and enjoy this platform. New AI tools increased usage of the tool in the last year by 200%.
I led a team from vision to execution of a unique AI-powered suite of tools for fundraising and marketing
Client
Lightful
My Direct Reports
4
My Role