Ebana
Designing support around the moments that make work fragile for single mothers.
Ebana is a support-and-opportunity platform concept for single mothers with limited support. It connects practical help, reciprocal exchange, and flexible pathways forward, so a missed pickup, sick child, transportation issue, or urgent errand does not have to become a threat to income or stability.
My Role
I led Ebana as an end-to-end service design capstone, from research synthesis and concept development through prototyping and implementation planning. My work included the mental model and system map, service concept and brand, clickable prototype, and a service blueprint.
The Outcome
Problem reframed
From flexible work to sustainable support.
Direction validated
7/7 positive response from early reviewers.
Implementation
Prepared roadmap for
a nonprofit-led pilot.
The Problem
For single mothers with limited support, a job is never just a job.
A job may look workable on paper: the pay is better, the commute is manageable, and the schedule appears possible.
But before accepting it, a mother often has to calculate everything around it.
Who handles school pickup?
What happens when a child gets sick?
Can she leave during an emergency?
Will transportation hold?
Will asking about flexibility make her seem less committed?
For mothers carrying both financial and caregiving responsibility, work is not evaluated in isolation. It has to fit within a much larger system of childcare, transportation, benefits, schedules, health, and support.
1 in 5
single-mother families in the U.S. lives below the poverty line.
$12k
average yearly full-time infant childcare cost in Georgia.
32%
of survey respondents identified flexible work as their hardest issue.
The Research
I started broad to understand what makes stability so fragile.
25+
survey responses
3
local non-profits involved
2
co-creation workshops
10+
in-depth interviews
I began by exploring how single mothers with limited support in Savannah navigate the daily trade-offs between caregiving, work, and stability.
Mapping the System
Work does not exist in isolation.
The map revealed that when one part of the system breaks down, the consequences often show up at work first.
A flexible job is not enough if the life around the job has no flexibility.
The Synthesis
I used a mental model to understand how mothers think and decide.
Instead of using a traditional affinity map, I created a mental model to synthesize what mothers were thinking, feeling, believing, and protecting as they navigated work, caregiving, financial pressure, and support systems.
Across the research, mothers’ decisions clustered around recurring tensions: securing stability, holding everything together, protecting a better future, and seeking support without losing dignity.
Design Decisions
The solution needed to support stability, not just job search.
The research shifted the design brief from “help mothers find flexible jobs” to “help mothers access the support systems that make flexibility sustainable.” These principles shaped Ebana’s service model and prototype.
Make support actionable
A mother should be able to turn an urgent need into a simple, specific request.
Build trust into the service
The service should be shaped by verification, clear expectations, and local moderation.
Create more opportunities
Practical help should not be disconnected from flexible work or future opportunities.
Reduce cognitive load
It must feel straightforward for people already managing multiple responsibilities.
The Solution
Ebana turns isolated moments of stress into supported exchanges.
Ebana is a platform that helps single mothers request practical help, offer support, and explore work pathways that better fit their lives. It is inspired by Eban, a Ghanaian Adinkra symbol associated with safety, security, love, and the protection of home.
The Core Scenario
When life interrupts work, help should be one request away.
A mother learns about Ebana through a trusted community or nonprofit touchpoint.
She creates a simple profile so Ebana can understand her needs, and support preferences.
A child’s need, schedule conflict, or urgent responsibility creates pressure before or during work.
Instead of solving it alone, she opens Ebana and looks for practical support.
An Ebana member accepts her request, helping her feel relieved and less alone.
The task is completed, trust grows, and one stressful moment becomes a supported exchange.
The Blueprint
Ebana is designed as a service system, not just an app.
The blueprint maps what mothers see and what must happen behind the scenes: outreach, onboarding, support requests, matching, moderation, trust-building, and future work or income pathways.
Validation
Early feedback confirmed the direction and clarified what needs refinement.
7/7 positive signal
All seven early reviewers described Ebana as useful, user-friendly, straightforward, or something they could see themselves using.
4/7 valued community
Four reviewers saw the strongest value in receiving help, offering support, connecting with other mothers, and expanding support.
3/7 refinement signal
Three reviewers wanted clearer distinctions between flexible income, work opportunities, and partner-backed jobs.
The strongest response was not to Ebana as another job platform, but to its ability to make support feel easier to access and more community-driven.
The next iteration would keep that support-first experience at the center while clarifying the Work section and testing the model through a small nonprofit-led pilot.
A good platform to offer and receive support but also to create community.
Early prototype reviewer
Reflection
Designing for stability meant looking beyond the job.
I began this project focused on flexible work. Research and co-creation showed me that even the right job can become unsustainable when the systems around it fail. It reinforced the importance of letting research shape the direction of the solution, rather than designing a strong solution to the wrong problem.
The project also changed how I synthesize research. Building a mental model pushed me beyond simply grouping themes. It helped me step into the users’ perspective, understand the tensions behind their decisions, and practice empathy more intentionally throughout the design process.
Up Next
What if every part of the hospital experience worked together?
Discover how I contributed to reimagining a hospital experience across spaces, services, and digital touchpoints.
