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"David did an excellent job working with our team. He absolutely delivered with great results." Jared, Lead Developer, REACH Alert
The company's specific goals for the redesign were:
I began my process with research. I interviewed existing users to learn about their successes and pain points connected with using the application. I cross checked this research with an evaluation of the issues most frequently reported to the support team.
Based on this research, I developed profiles of the application's users. These profiles provided a snapshot of the users' needs and motivations. From my research I learned that one group of users that had the most difficulty with the application were "New Network Administrator." With this profile in mind, I developed a customer journey map to help guide discusssions about the design of the updated application.
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Insight: New users needed an interface that was easier to learn.
Over the course of the interviews, I found that legacy users spent a significant amount of time teaching new users within their organization how to use the application. This time could be saved by updating the user interface in a way that makes tasks easier for new application users to learn, thus decreasing the demand placed on the time of other users.
Leveraging insights from research, I created a new user interface that preserved the utility and efficiency that users had come to value while also giving the application a clean and elegant new look.
I tested and validated the designs using a high-fidelity prototype. The participants in these usability tests included both experienced as well as first-time users. Based upon the users feedback, I iterated on the designs using the data from testing as well as feedback from the developers
To support the growth of the application over time, I created the company's first design system and component library. These assets would allow new and existing features to smoothly integrate and assure consistency in the design. I assisted the company’s developers in becoming familiar with the design system.
The project met all three of its key goals. Participants in the usability study found the prototype to be organized, clean, and easy to use. The developers were pleased with the component library and the design system, indicating that it would accommodate future growth of the application.
An early version of the application interface was based on a two-panel concept that, based upon feedback, proved to be too disruptive for existing users to easily adopt. We pivoted to the current design that was eventually approved. In retrospect, getting sooner the type of feedback that led to the pivot might have helped us reach the final design earlier and more quickly.
