We Make Omaha, a part of the City of Omaha's comprehensive development strategy, sought to create a digital platform that would actively engage the community in shaping the city's future. This case study explores the journey from understanding the client's goals to design and implementation.&nbsp;&nbsp;Let's get into it!

My role involved creating the website's visuals from start to finish collaborating with Abhishek (Founder of Team Codesign), Jim Dolinski (Application Architect at DOTComm), Rumana (Senior Designer), and our development team.

We Make Omaha is a community engagement initiative launched by the City of Omaha to gather public input for a new comprehensive master plan. This plan aims to guide the city's growth and development over the next 20 years, addressing the needs and challenges of the community.

We Make Omaha needed a website to align with its mission of involving residents in shaping Omaha’s future. The goal was to create a website that would reflect their branding and provide an interactive experience for users.

The project began with meetings to understand the client's needs. We created wireframes to visualize these ideas, focusing on highlighting upcoming events and encouraging site visitors to get involved in Omaha's future.

To ensure a consistent look across the website, we established a style guide for colors, typography and reusable components, carefully selecting these from We Make Omaha’s brand palette.

With the groundwork laid, we moved to high-fidelity designs, transforming the wireframes into UI designs.

After creating an initial homepage variation, we consulted with the stakeholders. In our conversations, we understood that they wanted a design that closely matched their branding and social media presence. So, I conducted further research into their brand elements and incorporated them into the design.

With the brand logo, I created a pattern for the background and I spread these elements across sections. This new homepage variation received approval both internally and from the We Make Omaha team.

These pages provide details on We Make Omaha's workshops, events, and other interactive opportunities.

This page outlines the vision for Omaha’s growth over the next 20-25 years.

We ensured the design was responsive, knowing that over 60% of Omaha citizens would visit the site via mobile devices.

The final designs were presented and approved during a Google Meet with the stakeholders, who praised the alignment of the website with their vision for Omaha.

Once the designs were approved, the development team brought them to life, turning the digital blueprint into a fully functional website.

The website launched on June 10th and was featured in several news outlets, including WOWT and KETV. This established the website's importance in engaging the Omaha community and shaping Omaha's future. Read the news here:

<a href="https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-website-feedback-comprehensive-plan/61061333">'We Make Omaha': City launches new engagement website to help guide development</a>

<a href="https://www.wowt.com/2024/06/10/omaha-rolls-out-website-citys-new-master-plan/">Omaha rolls out website for city’s new Master Plan</a>

<a href="https://www.cityofomaha.org/latest-news/1108-new-website-encourages-citizen-input">New Website Encourages Citizen Input - City of Omaha</a>

“OMG, I’m so excited to see what you’ve come up with. Dude that design turned out soooo cool...” —&nbsp;Rumana, Senior Designer

"You did such an awesome work. The lovvvveeeeeddd it!" —&nbsp;Abhishek, Founder (Team Codesign)&nbsp; &nbsp;

"Well done Rachel, you did an swesome work. I love it!" —&nbsp;Sydney Embray

"I really love it too. The way she included our brand elements makes the website beautiful. Great job, Rachel!" —&nbsp;Lynsey

Working on a website that would shape the future of a city reminds me of the power of design and how it can drive meaningful changes in society.

I'm grateful to my team at Team Codesign for their support. Collaborating with stakeholders, getting constant positive feedback and the website getting media recognition are fulfilling experiences.

<a href="https://wemake.omaha.gov/">​Explore We Make Omaha's Website</a>🎉

We Make Omaha is a community engagement initiative launched by the City of Omaha to gather public input for a new comprehensive master plan.

Creating a User-Centric Platform to Empower Omaha's Future

● Collaborated with the founder and engineers to interpret product requirements and establish visual direction for Speech to Note, an AI note-taking tool.

● Led design by creating user flows, wireframes, design systems and engaging user interface resulting in a successful MVP launch, $10,000+ in sales from AppSumo within 2 weeks, and 3rd Product of the Day award on Product Hunt.

● Collaborated in a fast-paced agency setting with designers, developers, and marketers for project execution and intuitive product flows. Ensured seamless collaboration with engineers for design handoff.

● Designed interactive user flows, wireframes, design systems, and high-fidelity solutions for clients such as WARP, The City of Omaha Parks & Recreation, Talfoundry, and We Make Omaha enhancing customer satisfaction.

● Produced visually engaging user-centered brand assets, deck presentations, and email marketing assets effectively partnering with marketing teams.


● Led the website design for Herlure Studio, implementing user-centered design principles to enhance customer connectivity and increase online visibility while ensuring technical feasibility.

● Produced pixel-perfect social media graphics for diverse projects contributing to increased sales and user engagement.

Speech to Note is a powerful AI tool that instantly transforms spoken words into concise and informative summaries saving people’s valuable time and effort. This is aimed at streamlining note-taking through AI.

As the Visual Designer, I led the creative aspects of the project, from interpreting the product requirements to designing the UI, creating the logo, and establishing a retro-themed design.

I worked closely with Abhishek, the Founder of Speech to Note, and the experienced team of UX Designers, Full-stack Developers, and Digital Marketers at <a href="https://teamcodesign.com/">Team Codesign</a>.

Our goal was to focus on the MVP with a user-friendly, retro-themed interface, ship it, spread it, and learn from it. We narrowed our focus on one single feature— Audio to summaries. Only speak your thoughts and get summaries instantly!

The project kickstarted with research and user interviews led by Abhishek. Key pain points were: tedious manual note-taking, difficulty summarizing information, and time constraints. These were documented and used in mapping out user journeys.

I began by interpreting the product requirement document and creating the user flow. Collaborating with Abhishek, we crafted wireframes while focusing on solving the key problems for our MVP.

On the homepage hero, the user can start recording with a single click on the record button and get their summaries.

In alignment with Abhishek’s vision, I developed a retro-themed design system starting with the logo creation and UI components that resonated with the target audience.

I incorporated these retro elements into the UI design prioritizing a one-click recording experience. The overall design is aimed at creating a nostalgic and fun experience for users.

As soon as the designs were approved, we developed and shipped it. To validate the idea, we created retro-themed ad designs and pushed out content on social media pages.

User testing and Ads on social media provided valuable feedback and insights for us. The focus then shifted to the Pro version of Speech to Note.

We saw that our initial design was no longer consistent with the vibe we created on social media. So, I re-designed the landing page incorporating the retro aesthetic in social media designs to ensure brand consistency and smooth user experience across platforms.

We also included new sections to showcase the new features, FAQs, and use cases.

We designed the dashboard for Pro users to allow for efficient recording and management of summaries. And we introduced features like customizable summary styles, longer recording times, and audio file upload.

Speech to Note Pro launched on November 3rd with the new advanced features. We continued to test and gather user feedback to refine and enhance the user experience. While implementation is still ongoing, we have recently pushed some updates: Retro-themed dashboard, Summary language selection, and multi-note selection.

After months of building and improving Speech to Note's user experience, we decided to launch it on Product Hunt. This launch required a dedicated landing page, specifically crafted to compel people to try out Speech to Note. 

The new page showcases special offers, key features, FAQs, and our major milestones, all designed to make a strong first impression.

"Hey Rachel, STN is live on Appsumo and the response is really good. People are appreciating the product... You've done amazing work on it and (once again) we're extremely blessed to be working with you! ❤️"

Working on Speech to Note made me understand:

Contributing to a successful product launch was fulfilling. A big thanks to Abhishek, the driving force behind this product, and the entire team at TeamCodesign for making it a fun experience.

<a href="https://speechtonote.com/">Explore Speech to Note and Try it out</a> 🎉

<a href="https://www.producthunt.com/products/speech-to-note">Speech to Note on Product Hunt&nbsp;🎉</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;

<a href="https://speechtonote.com/product-hunt">Landing Page for Product Hunt</a>&nbsp;🎉

<a href="https://appsumo.com/products/speech-to-note/">Speech to Note on AppSumo</a> 🎉

Speech to Note is a powerful AI tool that instantly transforms spoken words into concise and informative summaries saving people’s valuable time and effort

Streamlining Note-Taking through AI

Rachel, your attention to detail is unimaginary, over 15 designers in the team and yet you stood out, you worked so well with us (developers) to the point we had to add you to the developers private group, smiles! All because you made the workflow so easy and understandable. You didn't ask for a recommendation but please permit me to as I am willing to work with you on future projects.

Ikenna Ikegwuonu

Having worked with Rachel for 3+ months, I can attest that her UI Design is out of this world, she has a knack for it. She goes above and beyond; for instance, she crafted the UI of a Space Booking App inspired by SpaceX. Rachel leads gracefully; She won't shun any idea and will even explore the craziest suggestions. One thing about Rachel; She's fun to be around and that makes work much more delightful. I'd recommend her to any high-spirited team/client that would love to have a super-creative partner in their projects and digital products.

Creating a User-Centric Platform to Empower Omaha's Future

Rachel Johnson