OVERVIEW
The humans behind the lunar rover.
CMU Moon Miners is brand new: first year in the NASA Lunabotics competition, first year as a club at CMU. The website had to do two main things: make sponsors feel confident enough to sponsor the mission, and make students excited enough to follow our journey.
Follow our journey here ⏾⋆
AN INTERDISCLIPINARY TEAM
72+ Members
COMPETING AGAINST
58 Universities
MY ROLE
During my time on Moon Miners, I:
Researched and evaluated the needs of students and potential sponsors
Working closely with developers to support the launch of the website
Supporting the branding process and aligning with the brand identity
Worked on print and other materials for the team
Boosted outreach initiatives through the website, helping the team bring on 8 new sponsors, including Ford, Lockheed Martin, Gecko and more
PROBLEM SPACE
How might we craft a compelling narrative of CMU Moon Miners' technical achievements and human story for prospective students and sponsors so that they trust the team's potential?
As a first-year team, CMU Moon Miners had no reputation to lean on — the website had to build one from scratch. The objective of the website was to earn enough credibility to secure sponsorships, and generate enough excitement to grow the club's presence on campus. In order to achieve this, after stakeholder and expert interviews, the most fundamental parts to this is establishing trust. This should come from showcasing the team's capability and independence as well as proof of both credibility and of technical proficiency.
SOLUTION
A website for the CMU Moon Miners team
A website to showcase what CMU Moon Miners stand for:, our goal, team as well as capabilities.
Home page
Building credibility and interest through essential information about the team
Team & Mission
Give users an overview
Milestones
Letting users know where we are
Current Sponsors
Create credibility based on proof
Time-sensitive
Letting users know what we are up to
Visualizing time & technical achievements
Displaying information in an engaging way
DISPLAYING TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
A TIMELINE SHOWCASING KEY EVENTS
Sponsors look for proof of independence, a credible plan, and validation from existing partners
The sponsor page has to signal trust before asking for support, while keeping detailed information and next steps accessible at all times. This means we prioritize showcasing what we have to offer as a team.
Credibility & Plan
Showing what Moon Miners can offer
Validation
Existing sponsors as social proof
Tiers + Details
Show overview & link to full document
Information that provides insights into the team
To have those who visits the website feel like they are a part of our journey, we decided to have the moon miners team page detailed, with filters to showcase the sub-teams, which helps demonstrate the team's scale as well as professionalism, and The News & Updates page uses big hero imagery.
INTRODUCING THE CMU MOON MINERS TEAM
LIVE PROGRESS & UPDATES
Helping users learn about Moon Miners
If the Home Page helps give users a glimpse into the process, then this page introduces users to what Moon Miners stand for in more detail. In order to not overwhelm users, information that are still core but less essential are presented here, such as the showcasing, in detail, what the team has achieved in terms of engineering.
The Team
Introducing the team's demographic
The Challenge
Diving deep into what we are trying to solve
Engineering feats
Showcasing technical achievements
Milestones
Informing users of where we are
Creating a responsive website
To ensure that the website will be informational while also maintaining its' visual and interactive drive, we make sure that structured components are created in a responsive manner, and that more visual heavy components are designed to be fitting for desktop, tablet and phone.
RESEARCH
Understanding what makes sponsors choose to sponsor
To build a solid foundation for the site, the goal was to identify what sponsors like Ford, Gecko, and Blue Origin look for when evaluating outreach. I interviewed 5 people with firsthand experience, from directors of grant-giving divisions to outreach leads who have successfully secured multiple sponsorships.
Trust is key to the process.
Trust is built from different things, but it consistently comes down to three factors: what you've already done, who you have on your team, and what you plan on doing next.
Fit also matters. Some sponsors can offer exactly what the club needs (materials, subscriptions,…), and the team has to be able to demonstrate that alignment.
PROCESS
Information Architechture
Low-fi wireframes
Based on the information from the interviews, I started with laying out key content on the screen, including how core pages with high-priority like the Home Page would look, as well as starting to think about layout patterns (ie. bento layout) would be used in the site.
HOME PAGE HERO
BENTO LAYOUT
INITIAL SPONSORS TIER LAYOUT
OUR TEAM
IMPACT
Helping the team acquire sponsors
Building the website has helped CMU Moon Miners secure sponsorships from industry leaders like Ford, Gecko Robotics, Xsens, and more — strengthening the club's reputation on campus and contributing to a cohesive team brand identity.
Learn more about those backing us here ⏾⋆
AQUIRING
8 new sponsors
INCLUDING
LEARNINGS
Bringing the human touch to a technical space
I was initially hesitant to join CMU MoonMiners — the team operates in a deeply technical space, and the design challenges around the website felt straightforward and numbers-driven. But working with the team taught me that behind every technical story, there's a human one. I'm genuinely inspired by the hours everyone pours into the rover and the caliber of work happening across the board. This project also pushed me to advocate more confidently for my ideas — justifying design decisions, arguing for how and why things are presented the way they are, all while picking up fascinating technical knowledge from incredibly talented engineers.
Follow CMU MoonMiners on our journey at NASA Lunabotics this year, and in the future ⏾ ⋆.˚