My First Hackathon

About a week ago I saw a post on Facebook looking for designers for an up and coming event with Open Austin. They are a volunteer group that promotes open government, open data, and civic application development in Austin. I had not been familiar with the group or its project until this weekend. Over the course of the year teams had been formed and each were working on a different Civic Tech project. This was their last major event of the year and the focus was on getting the resources needed, together, to finish up any loose ends. I didn't really know what to expect, but my goal was to meet new people, learn new things and improve upon my skill set.  It turned out to be a huge success all around. I met some amazingly talented people and helped out with the Digital Empowerment Community of Austin. I worked side by side with a UX Designer, who introduced me to a new wireframing tool Balsamiq Mockups. Together we were tasked on making the profile page of the site much more user friendly and easier to read. Most of the focus was on creating a hierarchy of the information and finding ways to group like content in a way that would read easier and make sense to the end user. Below is a look into the process, as well as a before and after of the page. #ShipItATX15 

BEFORE

WIREFRAME

AFTER