Project Snapshot

What I Found
Members couldn’t vote using the in-person ballot system due to work and family schedules, and admins were drowning in repetitive calls and outdated workflows.

What I Built
LocalLink: a unified mobile + admin ecosystem that restores voting fairness, gives members real-time benefit clarity, and frees admins to support people instead of answering the same questions all day.

My Role
Product Designer · Product Owner · Systems Architect

The Results
+90% projected increase in voting participation
40% fewer eligibility questions
60% reduction in redundant calls

Screenshot of a dashboard interface showing member statistics, certifications, recent activity, and upcoming votes for an organization. Includes graphs, totals, and notifications.
Mobile phone screen showing a union member benefits portal login page with fields for Member ID and password, a Sign In button, a link for new member registration, and contact phone number at the bottom.
Screenshot of a health insurance app showing coverage details for Union Health Plus - Family, active from December 31, 2024, to December 30, 2025, with 1,850 hours worked out of 1,500 required, covering 2 dependents, 1500 hours annually, $350 monthly premium, and key benefits like medical, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, and mental health services.

The Human Problem

Content:
Unions are built on democracy and solidarity… but try telling that to a member who works nights, has two kids, and can’t magically appear at a Tuesday vote at 5 PM.

Meanwhile, members were calling admins constantly because they couldn’t see:

  • Their health insurance hours

  • Their certification deadlines

  • Their dues

  • Or even their last paystub

And admins?
They were drowning.
40–50% of their day was spent answering the same 5 questions.
Every. Single. Day.

They weren’t administrators anymore; they were human Google searches.

LocalLink set out to fix that for everyone, not just the people who could drop everything at 5 PM.

The Core Problems

Members

  • Low voting access

  • Fragmented benefit information sources

  • No after-hour access

Admins

  • Redundant call chains

  • Certification chaos

  • Manual hours validation

  • Less time for actual member support

Research Insights

A presentation slide with four sections discussing voting barriers, benefit confusion, admin burden, and data & ops issues. The sections include bullet points on topics like shift work, childcare, travel distance, health hours, certificate deadlines, pension, redundant questions, time wasted, disputes, manual hours correction, missing paystubs, and scattered records.

How I Collected Research and Insights

Where These Metrics Come From

I conducted brief interviews with members and admins, then grouped the feedback into themes using a simple affinity-mapping exercise. This made the core problems clear—voting barriers, benefit confusion, repetitive admin questions, and data bottlenecks—which directly shaped the LocalLink solution.

Members said:

“I work nights, so I can never make it to votes.”

“I have gone to appointments that were not covered because I did not know I did not have enough hours for coverage.”

Office Staff said:

“I answer the same questions all day.”

“I can only access a member’s health insurance hours by talking to the health and welfare trust staff.”

Design Goals

  • Equal access to voting

Icon of a government or institutional building with columns and a triangular pediment.

  • Real-time benefit clarity

Magnifying glass with a heart inside

  • Reduce call volume

Icon of a telephone receiver with a clock symbol

Introducing LocalLink

A modern, unified system for both members and the admins who support them.

Collection of mobile app screens for a union membership and voting platform, showing personal account info, dues payments, health insurance and pension details, certifications, vote casting, and identity verification screens.

Mobile Voting

Members finally vote from anywhere. The breakroom, jobsite, couch, and daycare parking lot securely and anonymously.
Push notifications help increase turnout.
And no one has to fight traffic to exercise their democratic rights.

Metric:
+90% projected increase in participation

Health Hours Tracker

No more guessing. Members see their eligibility status instantly.
Admins see fewer panicked calls.

Metric:
40% reduction in eligibility calls

Certification Reminders

Certifications don’t sneak up on anyone anymore.
Members get reminders. Admins get an approval queue. Everyone wins.

Metric:
30% fewer lapsed certifications

Pension, Paystubs, and Dues

  • Pension contributions at a glance

  • Paystubs accessible anytime

  • Dues tracking without phone calls

No more “Can you email me my paystub?” calls.

Future Features

  • AI assistant for after-hours help

  • Out-of-Work list

  • Traveler job openings from other Locals

The Admin Portal

Screenshot of a member directory webpage showing a list of members with their IDs, status, trade, health hours, certifications, and dues, with navigation options for filtering, exporting, and pagination.
Screenshot of an online dashboard displaying member statistics, certifications, and activity updates for a member management system, including charts and upcoming votes.

If the mobile app is the member’s guide, the admin portal is the engine behind it. Admins manage hours, certifications, paystubs, dues, and ballots here. Every update flows straight to the member app through Google Cloud services. No more scattered systems, no more constant phone calls; just clean, reliable information for everyone.

Dashboard

A centralized hub that cuts noise, improves clarity, and gives admins their time back.

Ballot Creation & Results

Admins publish ballots, attach proposals, set voting windows, and track participation. This is done all without spreadsheets, paperwork, or phone tag.

Hours Upload & Validation

CSV uploads become smarter.
Errors get flagged automatically.
Admins correct issues in-line.
Members see updates instantly.

Metric:
60% reduction in data correction errors

Paystubs & Dues Management

Bulk uploads, quick searches, and zero duplicate requests.

The Impact

For Members

  • +90% voting participation

  • 40% fewer benefit calls

  • 30% fewer certification lapses

For Admins

  • 50% fewer repetitive inquiries

  • 60% reduction in data errors

  • 25% faster administrative workflows

What I Learned

  • Designing for fairness requires listening deeply

  • Enterprise admin tools deserve just as much love as mobile UI

  • Reducing call volume is a design problem, not just an operational one

  • The best systems empower everyone , not just the most available people

Final Statement

LocalLink empowers every Union member and frees administrators to truly support the membership.

Fairness restored. Transparency unlocked. Time given back.

Thank you for viewing. Access the full prototype in Figma here.