Building Community Through User-Centered Design
At MAF, we believe in the power of listening. By centering the voices and experiences of community members, we can co-create solutions that truly meet their needs. After all, they are the experts in their own lives.
When we set out to better support individuals navigating the U.S. immigration system last year, we started by listening. We conducted a survey with past clients and gathered legal professionals to discuss what they were seeing on the ground.
Based on these conversations, we were inspired to create MIJA (My Immigration Journey App), a new app that helps people navigate their unique immigration journey with more confidence and clarity.
Now, with the first version of MIJA live, we’re still actively listening to our communities and using insights from our conversations to guide ongoing app improvements. We recently invited clients to test the app live in our offices so that we could better understand how they interact with and navigate its features — a kind of research called “usability testing.” Here are three things we did to ensure our research remains firmly rooted in the needs and experiences of our communities.
1. Embrace Diversity in Testing
Serving diverse communities with technology requires thoughtful, inclusive design. The communities MAF serves include people from all over the world, and the participants of MIJA’s usability testing reflected that diversity.
Our testing sessions included folks from five different countries, who collectively brought six different languages and are pursuing four different paths to permanent residency.
By listening to the unique needs that arise from this diversity, we are able to build informational content that is inclusive and valuable to all of our clients. For example, MIJA was intentionally designed to be easily translatable into a client’s preferred language on any device.
Additionally, by including resources on a variety of immigration pathways, such as family-based and humanitarian options, we aim to support all immigrants, no matter what their path to permanent residency may look like.
2. Let People Guide the Conversation
We believe in breaking from the script. For our community-centered approach, traditional usability testing methods just aren’t enough. When sticking to a rigid script, it can be easy to find evidence to confirm what you might have already been looking for. By letting clients guide our conversations, we uncover insights we wouldn’t have found otherwise.
We start with open-ended questions about users’ immigration journeys and the strategies they employ to navigate them. We listen to their perspective on what already works well and what causes the most frustration. Then, we observe how they naturally interact with MIJA and follow up on any surprising observations.
This approach helps us identify the actual pain points users experience rather than what we assume they’ll encounter. For example, through this open dialogue, we discovered that users expected the initial version of the app to provide legal connection services (MAF is currently working on building these features). However, we also learned that while users want to remain anonymous, there is a strong desire to connect with, and learn from, others who share these experiences. Users mentioned a desire for “a forum where they can share questions.”
“Sometimes we don’t know what to ask and others do… I like to learn about the experiences of other people. [This] would help me make decisions on legal services,” said one participant.
While these community features are not something users expected to see, they indicated that such features would build on their existing strategies and provide a lot of practical value while fostering a stronger sense of belonging. Insights like these are why MAF is currently investing in building community and social features for future iterations of MIJA.
3. Value & Respect People Testing
Lastly, and most importantly, we respect others’ time. MAF clients live complex lives and we want to support them through it. We make sure our testing protocol aligns with those values.
First, we went beyond incentivizing participation. We rewarded participants $200 for their time, effort, and honesty (more than double the average for usability studies). At MAF, we believe the best way to build trust is to show we value members of our community.
Respect goes beyond compensation, though. That’s why we made sure that our participants were briefed on what they would be doing during the session and knew exactly who would be in the room with them while it was happening.
“It felt very personal and comfortable” said one of our participants. “All of [the interviewers] names were on the calendar invite, so it was a lot better than going into an interview where you think it’s one person and suddenly six people are staring at you for an answer.”
We also found that participants appreciated reminders that all feedback, negative included, was welcome and nothing they said would affect their compensation.
Lastly, we know immigration is a delicate topic and we understand our responsibility in holding clients’ information. At MAF, we believe the data we hold belongs to the people who give it to us. In service of that, we gave participants the option to delete their data after their session—an option that is live for everyone on MIJA today.
From Insights to Impact: Continuing to Transform Feedback into Action
Overall, our testing approach reflects our mission as an organization—to help people become visible, active, and successful in their financial lives. By embracing diversity, letting our users lead the conversation, and emphasizing the value of their voice, we’re able to improve MIJA while building trust and learning how technology can better support our clients.
MIJA isn’t just a one-way tool—it’s a conversation. Through ongoing feedback surveys, we invite users to actively shape the future of the app by sharing their experiences and suggestions. This continuous dialogue ensures MIJA evolves with the immigration landscape and needs of our community.
By creating this cycle of input and thoughtful action, we’re building more than just an app—we’re nurturing a supportive ecosystem where immigrants can find clarity, connection, and confidence throughout their journey.
Ready to join our community? Visit missionassetfund.org/mija to download MIJA today and add your voice to this important conversation.