Responsive design across devices
Modernizing employee engagement & social impact programs for HR teams
As Lead UX/UI Designer, I led the redesign of Epoch’s platform to help HR teams simplify corporate event planning, improve reporting, and increase employee engagement through community-based programs.
Epoch partners with top nonprofits to deliver curated social impact events—but before this redesign, HR teams struggled with scattered workflows across multiple tools, making it hard to measure engagement and demonstrate value to stakeholders.
The Challenge
HR professionals spent too much time planning, coordinating, and gathering feedback on events using disconnected systems. The key design challenges included:
• Building a dashboard that balanced simplicity with robust functionality
• Making reporting actionable and data-driven
• Designing a responsive experience usable across desktop, tablet, and mobile
The Approach
I set out to design an all-in-one employee engagement platform that:
• Centralized event creation, communication, attendance tracking, and reporting
• Scaled across devices with a mobile-first UI
• Automated key workflows to save HR teams time
Design principles focused on clarity, accessibility, and progressive disclosure to reduce cognitive load. A clean, professional visual style supported trust and ease of use.
Discovery & Research
To validate the concept and features, I:
• Conducted stakeholder interviews with HR managers, recruiters, and community engagement leads at companies like North and Asana
• Analyzed tools like Eventbrite and Meetup to identify gaps in workplace-readiness
• Created a comparative feature analysis of leading HR platforms (e.g., Benevity, Five to Nine)
This research defined core user needs: intuitive event dashboards, mobile accessibility, and visible metrics to show impact.
Design Leadership
I led a cross-functional team through end-to-end product delivery—from discovery to high-fidelity UI. This included:
• Prioritizing features based on user pain points and testing feedback
• Building a flexible design system in Figma for consistent UI patterns
• Mentoring junior designers and aligning product, design, and engineering in weekly workshops
Research & Key Insights
To understand HR pain points and define the opportunity space, I conducted stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis, and usability testing.
Personas Identified:
• HR Admins
• Event Planners & Coordinators
• Community Engagement Managers
• Lead Recruiters & Talent Acquisition Managers
• Employees
Key Insight #1: Workflow Fragmentation
“We use 3–4 tools just to create one event.”
💡 This led to the decision to centralize everything—event creation, communication, tracking, and reporting—into a single dashboard.
💡 This led to the decision to centralize everything—event creation, communication, tracking, and reporting—into a single dashboard.
Market Landscape: Workplace vs Consumer Tools
Market Positioning
Epoch stands out by offering a workplace-ready, streamlined workflow, unlike most consumer-first tools like Meetup and Eventbrite.
Epoch matches or exceeds feature coverage compared to established players, especially in:
Epoch matches or exceeds feature coverage compared to established players, especially in:
• Reporting & Insights
• Event Engagement
• Volunteer Integration
This confirmed product-market fit and helped us align UX priorities with unmet industry needs.
Key Insight #2: Event Visibility & Metrics Were Lacking
HR teams needed better ways to view upcoming events, monitor participation, and export results for reporting.
Solution: I designed a dashboard with real-time calendar views, quick-edit capabilities, and Excel-exportable reports.
Solution: I designed a dashboard with real-time calendar views, quick-edit capabilities, and Excel-exportable reports.
Key Insight #3: Mobile Usability Was Critical
Through mobile testing, we found key pain points:
Through mobile testing, we found key pain points:
• Buttons were hard to tap
• Event filtering lacked clarity
• Info hierarchy was overwhelming
Solution: I refined spacing, simplified touch targets, and restructured filtering to boost clarity—resulting in a 20% increase in task completion on mobile.
Key Insight #4: Social Responsibility Drives Retention
Employees responded more positively to companies offering meaningful volunteer opportunities.
Solution: I embedded volunteer cause visibility and top-organization metrics directly into the dashboard to support culture-driven engagement.
Solution: I embedded volunteer cause visibility and top-organization metrics directly into the dashboard to support culture-driven engagement.
Competitive & Comparative Analysis: Where Epoch stands out
UI Design Process
To translate research insights into an intuitive product, I defined Epoch’s visual language using:
• Inception Sheet: Framed a vision of modern professionalism and open space
• Mood Board: Captured the event planning journey with imagery reflecting clarity, positivity, and purpose
• Style Tile: Established color palette, iconography, CTA styles, and type hierarchy for a cohesive, scalable interface
I then translated this visual foundation into scalable components using Figma’s auto-layout and component system, ensuring:
• Consistent UI patterns across screens and device types
• Faster collaboration and handoff with developers
• Flexibility for future iterations and feature growth
I also built interactive prototypes for real-time validation, conducting stakeholder reviews and making refinements based on direct feedback.
Final Design
After validating structure through mid-fidelity wireframes, I applied the final visual layer—introducing brand colors, typography, iconography, and photography to bring clarity and warmth to the interface.
Interaction Enhancements
To improve engagement and reduce friction:
• Real-time feedback for event sign-ups
• Animated loading indicators for reports
• Microinteractions such as hover states, dropdown transitions, and input highlights
• Touch-friendly design across mobile, tablet, and desktop
These enhancements made interactions feel responsive and human, aligning with the goal of improving employee engagement through intuitive, purpose-driven UX.
The Solution
To help HR teams better manage engagement programs, I designed a centralized, responsive dashboard that consolidates key tools into a single streamlined experience.
Key Features Delivered
Smart HR Dashboard
• Overview of volunteer hours, events held, and employee experience
• Visual KPIs (graphs, charts, meters) for quick performance insight
• Customizable to show only what each HR user needs most
Events Management
• Create, schedule, and manage events from one page
• Filter by date, type, or location; view by calendar or list
• Automate communication via Slack, email, or calendar invites
• Track attendance, volunteer hours, and social impact per event
Organization Directory
• Browse nonprofits and partners linked to events
• View impact areas, contact info, and upcoming event collaborations
• HR teams can add/edit organization profiles
Analytics & Reporting
• Export custom reports in Excel or PDF
• Track engagement trends over time
• Identify top causes and optimize future programming
Responsive UI
• Mobile-first design with adaptive layouts
• Side navigation becomes hamburger menu on tablet & phone
• Ensures HR teams and employees can engage anywhere
Feature Inspiration
I reviewed tools like Meetup and Eventbrite for best practices like:
• Automatic reminders
• Calendar registration
• Exportable reports
These were incorporated to create a seamless HR experience tailored to workplace needs.
Conclusion & Impact
Epoch was designed to enable seamless, self-service HR workflows—bringing together event discovery, communication, and reporting into a single, intuitive platform.
By aligning user needs with business goals, we delivered a system that:
Reduced event planning time by 30% for North
Boosted employee satisfaction at Asana and Udemy
Empowered HR teams to make data-driven engagement decisions
Tangible Results
North
• Saved over 30% of planning time through automation
• Improved internal coordination and impact tracking
Asana
• Reported a measurable increase in employee participation
• Strengthened company culture via curated engagement programs
Udemy
• Saw improved satisfaction thanks to easy event access and centralized communication
• Enabled employees to engage in meaningful social impact initiatives
Platform Highlights
• Responsive Design: Mobile and desktop optimized
• Reporting & Analytics: KPI dashboards, exportable reports
• Social Impact: Non-profit organization tracking and employee cause alignment
• Event Management: From creation to attendance tracking, feedback collection, and communications—all in one tool
Adoption & Growth
Since launch, Epoch has been adopted by leading organizations including:
Salesforce, Reddit Inc., Asana, Udemy, Stack Overflow, Instacart, Zynga, Datadog, Hinge, Affirm, Miro, and Glassdoor.
Salesforce, Reddit Inc., Asana, Udemy, Stack Overflow, Instacart, Zynga, Datadog, Hinge, Affirm, Miro, and Glassdoor.
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