Brightlines
UX Research · Business Strategy · Workshop Facilitation
Duration: 8 week consulting sprint
Role: Design Strategist (team of one)
Location: Remote
Client: Brightlines is working toward a society where anyone can serve the community without fear of retaliation.
Project completed through Trestle Collaborative, a non-profit team of expert engineers, designers, and product managers who partner with leading movement groups and campaigns doing critical organizing work nationwide.
Challenge statement
Exploring opportunities to better build trust, security, and agency for clients in a smooth Brightlines experience by gathering client and team feedback on the Brightlines service
Discovery
Brightlines is a team of security experts launching a security audit and recommendations report service for progressive political candidates and election officials who want to protect themselves and their families from online and offline harassment campaigns. While Brightlines was defining and piloting aspects of their service ahead of their beta launch, they sought recommendations on incorporating customer feedback to improve their service.
Defining success for Brightlines in early startup growth stage includes both product and business success as well as employee success.
Success as defined by CEO Shauna Dillavou.
Overview of key recommendations presented to the CEO across various levels: strategy, process, and user experience.
1. Strategy: market differentiation
Problem
Who is Brightlines’ target client and how can we better reach and serve them?
Research
Shadowed 2 intake interviews & 3 first report follow-ups with Brightlines clients
Gathered feedback & pain points from early users in 1:1 interviews
Solution
Identified 2 main client personas
Developed concise differentiation statement
Gathered client testimonials for sales & marketing team
Team to provide clients greater transparency on what to expect from the experience
2. Process: sustainable, values-aligned startup growth
Problem
How might Brightlines grow the team sustainably while minimizing burnout?
Research
1:1 interviews with team members
Shadowed product team meetings
Facilitated Jobs to be Done, user journey mapping, and ideation session with Brightlines team
Solution
Improved transparency & delegation
CRM system
Regular anonymous temp checks
Clear team & individual priorities
Recruiting & onboarding strategy
“Wow! It really helps to see everything we’ve been doing mapped out in one place. No wonder we’ve been feeling overwhelmed.”
— Brightlines product team member
3. Experience: dedicated service
Problem
How might Brightlines provide a more smooth and empowering experience?
Research
Feedback from early users
1:1 interviews with team members
User journey mapping, identifying client pain points
Solution
Dedicated service model (assigned point person short-term, case managers long-term)
Prioritized checklist for client (spreadsheet short-term, dashboard long-term)
CRM system
Insights from the research
"There are so many folks who need this service. But you can't always trust the people who do the background search work who protect the perpetrator."
— Brightlines client, council member candidate
“The user journey map is a super helpful resource! The team has been returning to it to add more post-it notes.”
— Shauna Dillavou, Brightlines CEO
“Once you see what private information is out there, you can’t pretend to not know. But it feels better that something’s being done about it.”
— Brightlines client, racial justice activist
“It’s isolating to be burning out and working entirely remote. Everyone really cares about the work we’re doing but it leads to extra pressure. It’s currently our biggest challenge—everything else, we can figure out.”
— Brightlines Product Lead
Impact of design strategy sprint
My recommendation to prioritize a dedicated service experience confirmed ideas the Brightlines team had been considering as part of iterating their service. We co-created what this might look like and actionable steps forward in the near term and long term.
The Brightlines Product Lead incorporated user feedback gathered during our sprint into the ongoing development of a new client dashboard including: a prioritized checklist, surveys for regular user feedback, and a roadmap of the overall experience so the client could know what to expect next in the process.
The Brightlines CEO affirmed that the research findings and recommendations helped focus the Brightlines vision and strategy during an exciting yet overwhelming startup growth phase. The leadership team immediately applied the user journey mapping, client personas, and market differentiation frameworks in business development and strategy discussions.
Trust is at the heart of Brightlines’ work, and this design strategy sprint revealed how integral trust is in the Brightlines user experience, market differentiation, and growth strategy.
Brightlines clients seek out this service often at their most vulnerable, such as after a security breach or with fear of retaliation during a campaign.
In crafting an experience of trust, Brightlines clients can feel a sense of care, agency, and courage to continue serving their communities.
Sprint shareback
A final slide deck was presented to Brightlines CEO Shauna Dillavou and Trestle Collaborative Partner Xena Ni including research findings, recommendations, and tools & resources. A copy of the presentation can be shared as a work sample upon request.