The City’s Office of Open Data and Digital Transformation (ODDT) has welcomed two Philadelphia-based user experience (UX) design professionals to assist the team with the redesign of phila.gov.
The fellows program provides an opportunity for socially-minded human-centered design professionals to practice their skill set within the public sector. The fellows’ contributions will help define some of ODDT’s human-centered design practices.
ODDT is excited to collaborate with fellows Kim-Thao Nguyen and Robert del Prado.
About Kim-Thao Nguyen
Kim-Thao Nguyen’s dedication to improving information accessibility is rooted in her parents’ experience as Vietnam War refugees in the United States. Since graduating from the University of the Arts School of Media and Communication in 2009, Kim has worked with local and international non-profit organizations—building awareness around complex subjects like human trafficking, foreign policy, and hunger relief through the design of digital toolkits and educational programming. Currently, she is employed at Independence Blue Cross. Through a UX lens, she streamlines access to and clarifies information about affordable health insurance for the public.
About Robert del Prado
Robert del Prado is a design research and strategy consultant living and working in Philadelphia. He is a former operations director, consultant, and Chief Design Strategist—partnering with organizations like Mastery Charter Schools and NYC Department of Education to design service strategies and implementation systems for schools opening up in Camden, NJ and New York City. His textured background in complex problem solving drives his passion for human-centered design. Robert studied UX at General Assembly’s UX Design Immersive program. He holds a B.A. in English from Fordham University and an M.P.A. in Public Policy Analysis from New York University
The fellows’ collaboration with the City
ODDT is currently redesigning phila.gov, the City’s primary service channel, in the open through a pilot site. When possible the team is experimenting with human-centered design methods to develop an online service experience that better meets the needs of Philadelphia residents, City employees, and other stakeholders.
Within that context, the user experience design fellows are helping ODDT: 1) plan and facilitate usability testing and design research with Philadelphia residents and City employees; 2) design iterations of the new phila.gov based on insights distilled from research; and 3) start to define the team’s human-centered design practices through independent projects, which might include language accessibility and public participation playbooks.
ODDT is thrilled to collaborate with Kim and Robert as the City’s first user experience design fellows. Welcome!
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[For more information, visit the UX fellow opportunity posting on Big Ideas PHL.]