Problem
At UC Santa Barbara, students faced 3 challenges when trying to learn commercial arts:
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No classes and resources for commercial arts. The art program focused on fine arts with traditional mediums.
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Art classes have 20 spaces. Non-major students can't get into art classes due to the high demand from priority students like art majors.
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Lack of community during COVID-19 Pandemic. People found it increasingly difficult to make friends and feel an art community during this worldwide struggle.
Built a community of 130+ members
Hosted 20+ workshops and 3 design challenges
Provided free, easy-to-access resources to learn design
SB Creative Lab
Roles
Co-Founder
Design Lead
Duration
1 year ('20 - '21)
Team
12 People
OVERVIEW
I co-founded SB Creative Lab to overcome the lack of commercial arts resources at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Our team united a community of over 130 students and brought opportunities like professional workshops and design tournaments to learn, critique, and collaborate together.
Slide Deck by Me
Solution
My co-founder and I decided to create an inclusive design community to address these problems.
Our Impact in 1 Year
Process Example: How Might We Introduce UI/UX Tools to Beginners?
Incorporating feedback in every step made us flexible for rapid improvements and community suggestions.
Identify Needs:
UI/UX Beginners
We held an intro to Figma, a free and an industry tool
Define Solution:
Student-Led Workshop
An expert and beginner led the workshop to encourage team learning and feedback
Evaluate:
"Went Too Fast"
People got lost when the pacing was fast and premade materials were used
Iterate:
Follow-Along Guide
In our next workshop, we paused to check our pace and outlined steps in a shared file
LEADERSHIP: EFFICIENCY 🡖
Early in the year, I recognized that people had trouble finding materials outside their respective team folders in our Google Drive. For example, Marketing needed details and graphics for events from the Logistics and Design folders.
We solved this problem by switching to Notion, where I created our communal table with all details and materials in one place.
Making Event Information Accessible
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Organizing our Notion structure taught me about mapping the user journey. I created a customized table view for the Design Team to only show relevant information for designers. To improve navigation, I made commonly used links available across pages as seen below.
Actively listen and encourage discussion. Although it is important to give direction as a leader, hearing feedback is critical for success. Our organization thrived with a team with diverse perspectives and strong leadership.
Collaboration uplifts everyone. Collaboration has been fulfilling as it enables more educational opportunities for everyone. While serving our community, our team members have also grown in their own design journey and leadership skills.
Lessons Learned
The future direction of this student organization is determined by the next Co-Directors and team. My recommendations were to:
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Increase diversity within the board. Ethnic and major diversification would help us understand the students' needs better while improving our brainstorming sessions.
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Improve cross-team communication. During the last quarter, I implemented joint Design and Marketing team meetings and Team Leads meetings to keep everyone on the same page. As the team grows, it'll become more difficult to make sure everyone is heard.
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Making a projects team. We were receiving requests from organizations and clients to collaborate on projects. We couldn't properly take on all of them since we already had a packed agenda.
Next Steps
Our mascot, Finn the Fox, is our friendly face that ties into our geographic location as a Channel Island fox.
Mascot
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Mascot Design by Alex Schwartzberg
Flyer by Esther Liu
Our vibrant colors and patterns differentiated us from other organizations with their minimalistic flat style. Our design system shows that we are a welcoming art club.
Design Elements
Color Palette by Me
Flyer by Me
The typing effect cycles through our art focuses. As you scroll, the wave fills the screen to mimic the beaches around the school. I abstracted it with patterns to show our emphasis on arts.
I personalized our paper airplanes with a pen nib design and origami-like patterns to connect us to crafts. The airplanes' upward flight expresses our commitment to uplifting designers and their pursuits.
I visually communicated the difference between the disciplines through each illustration's style. We kept descriptions concise to lightly introduce the fields.
Hover interactions give users a dynamic experience by adding motion to the paper plane.
Santa Barbara landmarks like Santa Ynez mountains and Storke Tower roots our organization's location.
Leadership Testimonials
from our anonymous quarterly team feedback survey:
"I felt well informed about information during our team meetings. I also felt like Joyce was very open to hearing other's opinions and appreciated everyone's feedback."
"Joyce was great at being clear about club priorities while still keeping the conversation friendly and casual"
"JOYCE, I appreciate how you tried to make sure everyone was doing fine with their workload, as well as being understanding when people were struggling with graphics and deadlines"
My priority was to motivate our team by strengthening the relationships and making tasks a fun learning experience through these methods:
Culture
Transparency in Weekly Team Meetings
We reviewed each subteam's progress to give feedback and updates to deepen our understanding of our organization as a whole. This created accountability and transparency in the organization, leading to trust.
Flexibility to Build Portfolio
As Design Lead, I distributed tasks on a volunteer basis to give opportunities to build portfolios and practice new skills. We allocated graphics 3 months in advance for deadline flexibility.
Expanded Team to Reduce Burdens
I addressed the increasing workload by recruiting and onboarding new designers over 3 weeks. This increased the quality of our graphics and our team's capabilities.
We provided opportunities for members to meet, collaborate, and learn together:
Strategy
UI Design of Homepage
I designed the UI of the home page with our web developer to give an interactive introduction to our organization.
Branding
As the design lead, I directed and maintained our brand identity through a cohesive color palette and design elements. I also worked with marketing to establish our brand's voice and a manageable content calendar for designers.