The City Tutors Web Audit

The City Tutors is a NYC nonprofit helping underserved learners succeed through free tutoring and mentoring. But despite strong community interest, their website unintentionally made it difficult for people to get involved:


  • 94% of visitors left without taking action

  • Volunteers messaged staff directly instead of using the sign-up process

  • Students missed events due to unclear navigation and dead links

  • Visual and accessibility issues blocked mobile and assistive tech users


If people can’t sign up, they can’t benefit or help others.


“We need people to understand what we do… and stick around long enough to sign up.”

Stakeholder Interview


That’s where I stepped in.



Role

Lead UX Researcher,

Product Manager

Team

Product Manager,

UX Designer, UX Researchers,

Stakeholders &

Security Expert

Tools

Figma, Figjam, Slack,

Miro, Zoom,

Bubble Notetaker &

Google Suite

What I did

Product Strategy, Team Management,

Produced Audit Report,User Interviews,

User Research, Usability Testing, and

Wireframing

Timeline

March 2024 - Aug 2024

The Problem

Critical UX and navigation issues were causing:

  • Major drop-offs on sign-up pathways

  • Confusion between Tutor vs Mentor roles

  • Lost engagement due to hidden Events

  • Accessibility failures (WCAG 2.2 issues)

  • Decreased volunteer retention from lack of information clarity

These barriers reduced the organization’s impact and directly affecting student support.

Project Goals

To address these challenges, we defined clear goals that would directly improve user engagement and support successful volunteer sign-ups.

  • Improve signup usability & reduce drop-offs

  • Clarify volunteer roles & pathways

  • Enhance accessibility & inclusivity

  • Increase event discoverability and engagement

To accomplish this, I led the team in understanding what was really breaking the user journey.

Research Stratergy

To understand where the experience was breaking down, we recruited a diverse mix of users aged 20–50 that reflected the platform’s real audience. All sessions were conducted through The City Tutors’ Zoom account to ensure consistency and transparency.

Participants

  • 4 Mentors, 4 Tutors, 4 Students, 4 Non- Users

Method

  • User Interviews (16 participants)

  • Moderated Usability Testing

  • Analytics Review

  • Competitive Analysis

  • Affinity Mapping

Purpose

  • Identify motivation, needs & frustration

  • Observe errors & behavioral breakdowns

  • Validate high-impact problem areas

  • Benchmark UI patterns & best practices

  • Identify recurring pain points & themes

Key Insights

With user feedback, testing observations, and analytics combined, clear patterns began to emerge. These insights revealed the most critical barriers preventing users from successfully engaging with the site.

Navigation Breakdown

“I don’t know where to click.”— Tutor

Users struggled to reach eventssign-up, or program info quickly.

Role Confusion

“Am I supposed to mentor? Tutor? What’s the difference?”— Prospective Volunteer

Lack of clarity led to decision paralysis → abandonment.

Accessibility Failures

“The text blends into the background. It’s hard to read." — Mentor

Lack of clarity led to decision paralysis → abandonment.

Motivation Blocked

“I don’t know if I’m making a difference."

— Mentor

Mentors felt disconnected due to no feedback

loop.

User Persona

Based on our research findings, we developed three user personas: Andrew, Robin, and Sara. These personas highlight the unique needs, goals, pain points, and technological usage of different user groups interacting with City Tutors. However, I’m presenting one persona here to illustrate our findings.

ABOUT

Andrew is a retired professional in his 60’s with a passion for giving back to the community. As a volunteer mentor, he bring decades of experience and wisdom to help guide and inspire the next generation. His goal is to empower students and young professionals, sharing insights and support to help them navigate their careers and life choices. Mentorship is his way of staying connected, contributing meaningfully, and continuing to learn from the bright minds of tomorrow.

GOALS

Make a positive difference in the lives and careers of his mentees

To enhance his knowledge and skills through the process of teaching others

To enhance his knowledge and skills through the process of teaching others

NEEDS

Have a support system or network of fellow mentors for collaboration and inspiration

Receive feedback on the impact of his mentoring to understand it’s effectiveness

Obtain more information about his mentees to tailor session to their needs

PAIN POINTS

Rarely receives feedback, and hence struggles with not knowing the impact of his mentoring efforts

Unable to find the event section of the website

Faces frequent technical issues, which can hinder him from accomplishing task

Cannot find student names on the portal, making the clock-in clock-out process frustrating

TECHNOLOGIES

Google Chrome

Zoom

Gmail

Andrew

AGE

65

JOB TITLE

Mentor

STATUS

Married

LOCATION

New York City, NY

COMMITED

CURIOUS

EMPATHETIC

PASSIONATE

“I find joy in helping students learn and grow, but I often wonder about the impact I have made on their journey...”

Usability Score

2.2 / 5 — Very Poor

Largest task failures:

  • Find “Events” → failed by most

  • Complete sign-up → high error rate

  • Identify service offerings → unclear

→ Clear evidence that users couldn’t succeed on the current site.

Accessibility Audit

The website meets 65% of evaluated WCAG 2.2 AA standards. We identified the following key barriers impacting users who rely on accessible design:


Key Barriers

  • Low color contrast affects readability

  • Missing form labels make sign-ups difficult

  • Inconsistent headings limit screen-reader usability

  • Vague link text reduces clarity of navigation


Improving accessibility will help ensure all users can participate fully and complete essential tasks without frustration.

Top Recommendations (Prioritized for Business Impact)

Once we identified the key barriers affecting navigation, clarity, and accessibility, the next step was to translate those insights into action. I focused on solutions that would remove friction, support decision-making, and ensure every user could engage confidently with the platform. These recommendations were prioritized by impact and directly addressed the issues we observed during testing.

No

1

2

3

4

5

Focus Areas

Clarify Mentor vs. Tutor Pathways

Reorganize Navigation & Clear CTAs

Improve Event Discoverability

Enhance Accessibility & Readability

Better Content Hierarchy & Service Clarity

Why It Matters

Users struggled to choose a role or understand

the difference

Users got lost or backtracked to find

basic tasks

Many participants couldn’t locate events

on their own

Low contrast + missing labels blocked

users on assistive tech

Unclear messaging on who qualifies and

what is offered

Expected Impact

Reduced decision friction → More

completed sign-ups

Faster task success → Lower bounce rates

Increased attendance → Higher

volunteer engagement

Inclusive access → More users able to complete key tasks

Greater trust → Fewer drop-offs and inquiries


Why does these changes matter?


These improvements focus on real human needs. They help students access the support they are seeking and help volunteers feel confident and engaged in their contribution. Most importantly, they ensure the mission of The City Tutors is clearly communicated, so more visitors understand how to get involved and complete the steps needed to participate. By reducing friction and improving clarity at every touchpoint, the redesigned site will increase engagement and allow more people to benefit from and contribute to the program’s impact.

Lo-Fi Event Flow


To help stakeholders clearly visualize how a simplified experience could improve engagement, I created a low-fidelity user flow focused on one of the most important tasks: discovering and registering for events. This flow demonstrated how fewer steps, clearer pathways, and stronger calls-to-action could significantly reduce drop-offs and encourage users to take action.


Proposed Flow

  1. User arrives on the landing page

  2. User selects Events from a prominent button or navigation item

  3. User browses upcoming opportunities and chooses one

  4. User taps Register Now on the event card

  5. User completes a streamlined registration form


This visual and strategic approach helped stakeholders understand the power of restructuring key task flows. It showed that by simply removing friction and improving clarity, more students and volunteers would successfully engage with City Tutors programs.


Based on these findings and the demonstrated potential of the redesign, leadership aligned around a full site overhaul to ensure the platform better reflects their mission and supports community participation at scale.

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Projected Outcomes

With these solutions in place, we can anticipate measurable improvements in how users move through the site and successfully take action. The projected outcomes below outline the specific impact these changes are expected to have on engagement, accessibility, and volunteer sign-ups.

Projected Business Impact - After Redesign

Landing Page Drop-off

Before

32%

Goal

↓ to < 40%

Signup Success 

Before

Low

Goal

↑ +30%

Usability Score

Before

2.2 / 5

Goal

↑ ≥ 4.0

Event discoverability

Before

1 / 5

Goal

↑ 4 / 5

Leadership & Reflection

As the lead on this project, I directed the research approach, coordinated the team’s workflow, and turned complex findings into clear priorities that informed the organization’s next steps. I ensured that every decision stayed focused on user needs and accessibility, while aligning closely with The City Tutors’ mission and goals.


This experience helped me strengthen my ability to communicate insights in a way that drives action and supports collaboration. It also reinforced the importance of clarity and inclusivity in creating experiences that empower users and remove barriers to participation.


Most importantly, this project deepened my passion for using UX to expand educational opportunity. By improving this platform, more students can receive the academic support they deserve, and more volunteers can confidently contribute to their communities. That is the kind of impact I strive to create in every product I work on.