I led the service-discovery architecture for Good Help, a mobile service finder designed for a nonprofit serving 5,000+ people a year across Santa Barbara County. The work organized information for 55 programs into one navigable, offline-ready experience designed to make essential services easier to find, even with unreliable connectivity.
Finding the right service
depended on where someone looked.
There was no single place to see the full range of available support, and no shared structure connecting program information across sources.
Without a complete view of the service network, available support was easy to overlook.
Different sources organized information differently, making service discovery inconsistent.
How I approached
the Service Finder.
Our team conducted interviews and proxy testing with GSS staff. I used those findings to guide my work on service disvovery architecture, map and search discovery, accessibility, and offline behavior.
To avoid adding stress to people seeking urgent support, our team interviewed GSS staff instead of recruiting service users directly. Their knowledge of available programs helped inform our design decisions.
Larger tap targets, recoverable navigation, familiar map behavior, and three offline states kept the experience usable when conditions were unreliable.
I designed a four-level path from County → Department → Service Category → Program, with cross-listing so one program could surface through multiple paths from a single source record.
Proxy testing with GSS staff moved Call to the primary action, brought eligibility information earlier, and removed UI that competed with urgent decisions.
The Service Finder.
Good Help lets people browse by category, find nearby programs on a map, search by need, and continue using recently viewed programs and searches when they lose connection.
Switching service categories within the program list.
Map view with the same program actions used in list view.
Search results for programs matching “Jobs.”
Offline view with cached program information and connection status.
What this project
taught me.
Structuring 55 programs required a clear hierarchy and cross-listing while leaving room for new programs and services.
Clear navigation, large tap targets, and fast access to essential information became more important when designing for people who may be under stress.
Cached data, clear limits, and honest empty states had to be considered early because connectivity could not be assumed.
Working with the design manager, stakeholders, and the pod helped connect user needs, service realities, and technical feasibility.
