Kylee Jade Designs logo

Freedom Summer Mobile Website

How I Collaborated With A Design Team to combine historical research with meaningful storytelling

About The Project

What is this project?

This project started as a classroom assignment and grew beyond classroom walls. It’s main focus is to connect current Miami University students to the local history and legacy of Freedom Summer, with the end-goal of an interactive storytelling website.

Who worked on this project?

Myself and my good friends, JoJo Peregrina and David Shuppert, from the 2025 Communication Design cohort at Miami University, under the guidance of our professor Zack Tucker.

A picture of David Shuppert (left), JoJo Peregrina (middle) and Kylee Halter (right) posed in front of Hiestand Hall at Miami University

What is Freedom Summer?

Also known as the Mississippi Summer Project, Freedom Summer was a 1964 civil rights campaign aimed at increasing voter registration among African Americans in Mississippi, a state plagued with prevalent racism and discriminatory practices (e.g. literacy tests, intimidation against Black voter participation, etc.).

Why is this project important?

Oxford Ohio, where once stood the Western College for Women and now stands the campus of Miami University, has a rich civil rights history, including the Freedom Summer training. However, awareness of this on campus is limited. We wanted to grow awareness, and as a result, empower Miami University students, as they are the same age as the Freedom Summer volunteers.

The Final Presentation

Presented in May of 2025 was our final prototype, with real archival documents and images, a second person storytelling script, consistent branding, thoughtful structure and other elements contributing to a full storytelling experience.

Timeline

Classroom

Empathize

Our professor, Zack Tucker, took us to the Freedom Summer memorial site located on Miami University’s campus. This was my first time hearing about it.

An image of the Freedom Summer memorial site located on Miami University's campus.
An image of the Freedom Summer memorial site located on Miami University’s campus.

Define

Our assignment officially began. I joined a group with David Shuppert and JoJo Peregrina and we decided we’d come up with a design solution that uses ‘Interaction’.

2024 Prototype

Our team dived into research to create a mobile website prototype that utilizes primary documents from the Miami University archives and storytelling techniques to tell Miami University students about Freedom Summer.

Poster

To summarize our work and end the class, our team created a poster to display our work, research and process.

Undergrad Research Forum

Undergraduate Research Forum (First)

The Undergraduate Research Forum was an extended study where my peers and I worked with our professor, Zack Tucker, outside of class to further our project.

JoJo and I posed in front of our display at our first presentation of the Undergraduate Research Forum.
JoJo and I posed in front of our display at our first presentation of the Undergraduate Research Forum.

Interview

During the Undergraduate Research Forum, we had a great opportunity to participate in an interview about our project and our experience with the Undergraduate Research Forum. It was a great opportunity to practice speaking about our work.

Here is a clip from my portion in the interview! I’m pleased to see my progress and growth in speaking about my projects from this interview to now—how much more confident I am, and how much better I can speak.

National Civil Rights Conference Application

Part of our Undergraduate Research Forum work was applying to present at the National Civil Rights Conference. Our application was accepted.

Showcase

We refined our previous poster and presented our mobile website prototype at an end-of-the-year showcase.

National Civil Rights Conference

National Civil Rights Conference

JoJo Peregrina, David Shuppert, and I traveled to Huntsville, Alabama with the assistance of our professor, Zack Tucker, to present our work. We had some great conversations and it was a great experience.

A picture of my team—JoJo Peregrina, David Shuppert—and myself, along with our professor Zack Tucker and Judge Penny Brown Reynolds at the National Civil Rights Conference. It was an honor to meet her!
A picture of my team—JoJo Peregrina, David Shuppert—and myself, along with our professor Zack Tucker and Judge Penny Brown Reynolds at the National Civil Rights Conference. It was an honor to meet her!

The Legacy Museum

As we were in Alabama, we took the time to go visit the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. It was a wonderful experience and very inspiring.

Senior Capstone

Research Proposal Party

David, JoJo and I continued this project as our senior capstone—the only collaborative project in the class. We spent the early half of the semester doing deep research, with an IRB approved survey, interviews, annotated bibliography, archives dive, card sorting, and more. This all led up to a research proposal party where we presented our project to the public.

2025 Prototype

After our research, our team reworked our prototype based on new insights and user research. This new prototype was cleaner and incorporated refined writing and consistent design elements.

A mockup of our 2025 prototype.
A mockup of our 2025 prototype.

Undergraduate Research Forum (Second)

In 2025, with our new prototype, we presented our project again at the Undergraduate Research Forum. Here we got to be interviewed about our project and present our research to the public with all the significant updates since the previous forum.

Learn more about our second URF presentation by checking out this google site here.

A picture of my team and me presenting for the second time at the Undergraduate Research Forum.
A picture of my team and me presenting for the second time at the Undergraduate Research Forum.

BFA Showcase

Our semester concluded with a showcase in the gallery of Hiestand Hall. We mounted designed posters on the wall along with an iPad featuring our most recent prototype, and were able to talk about our design as the gallery was opened to the public.

A picture of me (Kylee) standing in front of our BFA showcase display prior to the opening.
A picture of me standing in front of our BFA showcase display prior to the opening.

Process Work & Design

An example of digital notes written by me for the website script. I like to use color as an organizational tool.
An example of digital notes written by me for the website script. I like to use color as an organizational tool.
A quick sketch of a hand dropping in a voting ballot. This image directly reflects a Freedom Summer image. I made sketches like these to match some sketchy assets my peers were putting into their designs.
A sketch used in our 2025 prototype.
An example of early analogue notes written by me during the early ideation and concept stage of our project.
An example of early analogue notes written by me during the early ideation and concept stage of our project.
A quick sketch of a volunteer talking to a citizen about voter registration. This image directly reflects a Freedom Summer photo. I made sketches like these to match some sketchy assets my peers were putting into their designs.
A sketch used in our 2025 prototype.
The beginning guide our group used as we began to work on our earliest prototype. This eventually evolved to include more detailed elements, such as our red line motif.
The beginning guide our group used as we began to work on our earliest prototype. This eventually evolved to include more detailed elements, such as our red line motif.
A quick sketch of a woman holding up a protest sign in a crowd. This image directly reflects a Freedom Summer photo. I made sketches like these to match some sketchy assets my peers were putting into their designs.
A sketch used in our 2025 prototype.
An early draft for a research poster from 2024, designed by me. This was later scrapped for a more successful concept of my peer's.
An early draft for a research poster from 2024, designed by me. This was later scrapped for a more successful concept of my peer’s.
A quick sketch of a hand filling out a form. This image directly reflects a Freedom Summer based photo. I made sketches like these to match some sketchy assets my peers were putting into their designs.
A sketch used in our 2025 prototype.

Our Prototypes

2024 prototype
2025 prototype

Get To Know Me Through My Work

Insight & Reflection:

I am an Enthusiastic Collaborator

This project is a highlight for me in my undergraduate education, in part because it was such a great collaborative experience. In this project we undertook far more than the initial project called for, and were able to break beyond time constraints and achieve well-researched and well-designed deliverables. In addition, we got to work with so many other wonderful people outside of our design team, reaching out to campus partners. We learned how to communicate our vision with people outside of the project through various presentations and partnerships, and got to see the excitement of others experiencing our prototypes. There are many reasons I believe collaboration is essential to good design, but this project epitomizes that belief. I want to extend the biggest shoutout to JoJo Peregrina, David Shuppert and Zack Tucker for their contributions to this project—without all of their effort, this project would not be possible.

Want to know more about my work? Let’s Connect!