A Digital Overhaul for the Wego Mountain Program
01. Preface
Project Overview
Project Type
Personal /
Solo Conceptual Project
Responsibilities
User research, Wireframing,
Prototyping, Usability testing
Timeline
1 week sprint
The Case Study
This case study showcases how I balanced user-centered innovation with cultural integration within outdated workflows to streamline communication and enhance efficiency. Explore this personal project to understand my UX design process and approach to problem-solving in a real-world context.
The Design Challenge
Design a cohesive digital platform to streamline operations, enhance staff efficiency, and champion Wego's eco-friendly mission, while strategically integrating with their existing LINE communication culture.
02. The Company
What is Wego?
Nestled in the Zhuzihu area (竹子湖) of Yangmingshan Mountain in northern Taipei, the Wego Mountain Program delivers experiential education for K–12 students through immersive outdoor learning. Focused on teamwork, environmental stewardship, and physical growth, its staff is divided into Physical Team (high ropes/adventure courses), Nature Team (ecology/animal care), and the Administrative Staff. All collectively guiding students through hands-on mountain safety, wilderness exploration, and collaborative challenges.
03. The Problem
To many tools, No Consistency
The Wego Mountain Program's mission is inspiring, but internal operations are a source of frustration for staff. The core problems are, Urgent announcements lost in the staff's LINE chat feed. Communication gaps due to language barriers; (Mandarin & English). Inefficient reporting, and tracking for daily class evaluations. Restricted Dropbox resource access due to plan rate limits. While reliance on printed schedules undermines sustainability goals due to constant reprints.
Current Stack
Google Forms
Daily class evaluations
Google Sheets
Check class evaluations
Dropbox
Staff teaching materials
LINE
Staff communication
04. The Solution
A Centralized Digital workspace
A digital platform consolidating schedules, urgent alerts, resources, and evaluations into one intuitive workspace.
Prioritized Feed
No more lost updates in LINE. This Announcement Feed provides prioritized, translated alerts for schedule changes emergencies, and staff updates. Staff now have a clear, controllable hub to confidently stay informed.
Problem
Urgent updates buried in LINE chats.
Solution
Dedicated feed with visual urgency icons and one-tap translations.
Impact
Critical alerts (e.g., emergencies, repairs, schedule changes) became instantly visible.
Digital Schedule
The Digital Schedule empowers both admin and staff: admins can update schedules in moments, and staff gain instant access to the most current version. This real-time, eco-conscious solution eliminates paper waste, supports sustainability goals, and streamlines daily workflows.
Problem
Paper schedules requiring constant reprints.
Solution
A front facing digital calendar for staff that gives real time updates, while admin can easily edit and adjust on the backend.
Impact
Eliminated paper waste and ensured accurate, accessible schedules.
Streamlined Evaluations
Automates repetitive data entry for fields like name and date, and provides instant, mobile-optimized access to past submissions. By simplifying the evaluation process, the aim was to reduce teacher frustration, fostering a more efficient, user-friendly workflow for inputting and reviewing daily class feedback.
Problem
Manual data entry for every detail that is obvious like (name, date etc.). To find and view the submission, was challenging.
Solution
Auto-filled class/date/name based off of the schedule. A simpler class report, where teachers focus on the details of the report itself
Impact
Reduced repetitive tasks, staff can now access their own submissions instantly.
05. Process
Pre-game Warmup
06. Research
Understanding the Mountain
of Chaos
Discovery
To understand the challenges faced by the Wego Mountain Program staff, I employed a mixed-methods approach, combining in-depth interviews with a communication audit. My primary goal was to identify pain points in their daily workflows, focusing on information sharing, schedule management, and resource accessibility. A secondary goal was to understand the staff's cultural relationship with technology, specifically the ingrained use of LINE.
Methods
10 In-Depth Interviews
Participants:
10 Wego Mountain Program staff members (4 Admin, 3 Physical Team, 3 Nature Team). This deliberately includes representatives from all key roles to capture a holistic view. They were of both Taiwanese and foreign citizenship.
Interview Process:
Structure: Semi-structured interviews
Duration: Interviews were conducted in person and lasted approximately 15-30 minutes each.
Highlighted Quote: “Translating urgent alerts mid-task is like trying to read a map in the dark.” – Foreign Teacher (LINE)
Communication Audit
Data Source: Analyzed message history within the primary LINE group chat over a one-week period.
Focus: The audit focused on identifying the frequency of critical updates versus non-critical messages, the average time to acknowledgment for different message types, and any patterns indicating communication bottlenecks.
Key Findings
Missed Announcements and Language Barriers Hinder Critical Update
Highlighted Quotes
Quote 1: “When urgent updates were posted in Chinese, I often had to wait for a colleague to translate, or I'd spend precious time manually copying text into Google Translate. This created delays in receiving crucial information."
Quote 2: "I think either we dont use it or use it. or find another way to post these notifications, or create a group for only notifications. I like that we use the LINE group messaging for staying together and camaraderie but I don't like it for the notifications aspect."
Message interpreted
Data Points
Data Point 1 : Analysis of the Wego main company Line chat revealed that, on average, urgent announcements were buried under non-urgent messages daily.
Data Point 2 (Language Barrier): Interviews with 5 of the current foreign staff members revealed that manual translation using tools like Google Translate added an average delay of 2 minutes to their comprehension of urgent messages posted in Mandarin.
Findings
Implication: Delays in receiving and understanding critical information, exacerbated by the language barrier and the chaotic nature of the LINE group chat, pose a significant risk to operational efficiency and, most importantly, staff and student safety. These are also increased by staff using methods to communicate information and or tasks to only people with the right language proficiency, thus disconnecting teams.
Paper Schedules Create Inefficiency and Conflict with Eco-Values
Highlighted Quotes
Quote: "I don’t like paper scheduling, I feel like its outdated and editing it can be messy."
-Wego Staff member
Measurable
Quantified: 7/10 Staff members reported frustration with paper schedules. Staff also reported reprinting or editing schedules on average 1-4 times per month due to changes.
Weekly schedule. Including details of class and location
Full schedule for the semester
By the end of the semester
Fidnings
Implication: Paper-based schedules undermine Wego's sustainability goals, waste resources, and cause confusion due to outdated information.
Dropbox Login Roulette
The program’s Dropbox plan allowed only 3 concurrent logins. Staff needing SOPs or teaching materials faced a disruptive cycle, Users were forced to log out teammates to access files, disrupting others’ workflows. Forgotten passwords required combing through LINE chats or interrupting colleagues.
Highlighted Quotes
Quote: "Dropbox... if more than 3 people are logged in... I have to log someone out..." -Wego Staff member
Findings
Implication: The current Dropbox setup creates bottlenecks, restricts collaboration, and forces staff to interrupt colleagues' work.
Class Reports (Evaluations) are Tedious
Submitting a daily evaluation requires staff to focus less on the report itself and more on filling out repetitive information like (Name, Date, Class, Activity). Also to even check and see if you submitted one, or to refer back to one it requires hunting for links and scrolling through 100+ entries of the entire staff.
Highlighted Quote
Quote: "Daily evaluations waste time of manually input for date, the weather, the location of class, and class name, things that should be automatic" -Wego Staff member
Class report (Evaluation) submission
Employee scrolling to find the submission for the day.
Affinity map
To synthesize the data gathered from interviews and the communication audit, I created an affinity map. This process helped me to identify key themes and pain points.
07. Define
Bringing Everything Together
Design Principles
My research revealed a consistent set of challenges across the Wego Mountain Program staff: communication breakdowns due to LINE chat overload and language barriers, inefficiencies caused by paper-based processes and limited resource access, and a disconnect between the program's environmental values and its operational practices. These findings pointed to the need for a unified, streamlined, and accessible digital solution. To achieve this, I guided the design process by the following core principles:
Prioritize Safety, Critical, and Time-sensitive Communication.
Streamline & Optimize Daily Tasks
Align with Wego's Eco-Friendly Values
Guiding Principles
01.
Urgent alerts shouldn’t compete with cat memes.
Prioritize Safety, Critical, and Time-sensitive Communication.
Synthesis:
Interviews highlighted that crucial information, like emergency alerts and schedule changes, was often lost within the high volume of messages in the LINE group chat. Foreign teachers also faced delays due to the need for manual translation. This posed risks to both staff and student well-being.
Goals & Opportunity:
Dedicated Announcements Feed: Provide a separate, focused space for critical updates, preventing them from being buried.
Visual Urgency Indicators: Use of clear icons and color-coding to immediately signify the importance of a message.
One-Tap Translation: Integrated translation directly within the feed allows all staff, regardless of their primary language, to instantly understand crucial information.
02.
Streamline & Optimize Daily Tasks
Synthesis:
Staff consistently expressed frustration with the current course evaluations process inGoogle Forms, and the cumbersome process of managing/editing paper schedules and accessing files in Dropbox. These inefficiencies detracted from their primary focus: providing a quality outdoor educational experience.
Goals & Opportunity:
Digital Calendar: A dynamic, real-time schedule, accessible on any device, replaces paper-based updates and eliminates version control issues. This reduces paper consumption (in-line with another of Wego values: Sustainability), allowing access from any registered
staff account.Automated Evaluations: Pre-populating fields like date, location, and class (as shown in your design) reduces tedious data entry and lets staff focus on substantive feedback.
Centralized Resource Hub: Provides a single point of access for all program documents, eliminating the login issues and organizational challenges of Dropbox.
03.
Align with Wego's Eco-Friendly Values
Synthesis:
The program's commitment to environmental sustainability was undermined by reliance on paper schedules, handouts, and other printed materials. Staff expressed a desire to "practice what they preach" and align their daily operations with Wego's core mission.
Goals & Opportunity:
Paperless System: Create a digital platform which drastically reduces (with the aim of entirely removing) paper dependence for schedule, supporting Wego's sustainability goals.
Mobile-First Design: Encourages access on personal devices, reducing the need for office printing and physical document storage.
07. initial Design
Let's Move Some Pixels
Lo-Fidelity
Following the research phase, I began translating the identified needs and guiding principles into tangible design solutions. The initial design phase focused on creating low-fidelity wireframes to rapidly explore the core structure and information architecture of the "Wego Workspace" application. The emphasis was for mobile, based on the on the go access the current and intended job requirements demanded.
Feedback:
Preliminary feedback was gathered from informal discussions with a small group of Wego staff. This early feedback was crucial in identifying potential usability issues and refining the design before moving to higher fidelity.
07. Design
Trust the Process
Moodboard
Prior to final design a moodboard was created to define aesthetic direction and used as a visual reference throughout the design process. I gathered references of minimalist app designs, Ui designs with bold typefaces, and green color palettes that represented the outdoors as initial guidance.
Typography
Color Palette
08. Final Design
Bridging Tradition & Innovation
Introducing Wego Workspace. A centralized platform that respects LINE’s cultural role while modernizing workflows for convince, safety and sustainability.
It Starts at The Onboarding
The initial screen invites staff to select their preferred language (Mandarin or English), immediately addressing the program’s bilingual needs. This intentional first step reduces friction for foreign teachers while respecting Taiwanese staff’s comfort with Mandarin—setting the tone for a platform designed around clarity and cultural belonging.
Safety has no
Language Barrier!
The Announcement Feed's integrated real-time translation ensures all staff, regardless of language, have immediate and direct access to vital safety information, without relying on external translation tools.
From Paper Chaos to
Digital Clarity
The Digital Calendar transforms Wego Mountain Program scheduling by delivering clear, real-time information directly to staff. This feature consolidates previously fragmented paper schedules into a single, mobile-accessible platform, ensuring all team members have instant access to up-to-date schedule changes. This shift not only eliminates persistent paper waste and reduces scheduling confusion, but also empowers staff to operate more efficiently and sustainably in their daily tasks.
Resources Without
Login Wars
Moving beyond Dropbox's limited collaboration capabilities, the Resources Hub feature provides unified and scalable access to essential resources. This solution overcomes Dropbox's access restrictions, ensuring all teachers can seamlessly access SOPs and lesson plans, while search filters streamline file discovery.
Evaluations That Empower, Not Exhaust
The evaluation feature directly addresses a core pain point identified in user research, the tedious and time-consuming process of submitting daily class feedback. This change allows staff to focus on providing qualitative insights, not repetitive data entry.The interface provides immediate access to current and past submissions, eliminating the need to navigate
external spreadsheets.
Before
After
Selected UI Shots
06. Closing
The View is Much Better at The Top
My thoughts
Stepping into the shoes of the Wego Mountain Program staff for this personal project, what resonated most was the opportunity to apply user-centered design to a real-world problem, even in a simulated setting. This wasn't about a client brief or pre-defined metrics; it was about identifying a genuine need and exploring how UX principles could create meaningful improvements.
What I learned
This case study, at its heart, is about people. It's about understanding the daily frustrations of the Wego Mountain Program staff – the language barriers, the lost announcements in endless chat feeds, the paper schedules that became outdated the moment they were printed. It's about recognizing that technology isn't just about features, but about making people's lives easier and more effective, while respecting their existing ways of working.
Matthew
heard