Introduction
As a product designer at a network cloud provider B2B2C company, I had the opportunity to work on a groundbreaking project aimed at revolutionizing network solutions. The platform we developed provides a comprehensive and innovative way for users to connect their company systems to our solutions. The challenge was creating a visually intuitive platform that would cater to IT managers' needs while accommodating the complexity of the product. Initially, my role focused on maintaining the existing platform, introducing new features, and managing stakeholder feedback to improve the user experience.
However, as the project progressed, it became evident that a complete redesign was necessary to realize the platform's potential fully. In the upcoming section, "Project Background," I will explore the project's state and the factors that drove the decision to undertake a comprehensive redesign.
Project background
The platform had reached a stage where it was being sold to customers, but it had yet to be fully unveiled to the world. Therefore, our stakeholders met with customers to gather feedback and insights.
Valuable feedback emerged from these discussions, indicating that the platform was perceived as overly complex for users and may require additional training to navigate effectively. However, this feedback presented a challenge as it needed to align with our company's goal of providing a user-friendly solution.
In light of these concerns, our team faced a significant dilemma. To address the situation, my team leader initiated a design-thinking workshop. The primary objective of this workshop was to develop a user-centric design that would seamlessly meet the needs of our target users.
The platform before the re-design.
Design thinking workshop
During the design thinking workshop, my role was as the right hand of my team leader, serving as the facilitator. In addition, the workshop included vital participants such as the product team and the VP of product, ensuring diverse perspectives and expertise.
The workshop had several crucial goals to achieve:
Product Vision & Roadmap: We aimed to establish a clear product vision and roadmap for the future, outlining the direction for the platform.
Team Formation and Consolidation: We focused on building a solid and cohesive team, fostering effective collaboration and communication among participants.
Utilize User-Centric Thinking: We emphasized placing the user at the center of our design decisions, ensuring their needs and experiences drive our design choices.
To facilitate the workshop, we used various exercises that encouraged creativity and open thinking:
Double Diamond: This exercise helped us explore different possibilities and diverge our thinking before converging on the best solutions.
Product Vision Alignment: We defined a clear platform motto, guiding our discussions and decisions throughout the workshop.
Edge Personas: Leveraging our collective knowledge and experience, we defined the platform's end users and created detailed persona maps for each.
Journey Map: We focused on understanding the users' feelings, behaviors, and pain points in their current flow without our platform. By empathizing with their experiences, we gained insights that informed our design decisions and helped us identify areas where our product could provide value and alignment with their needs.
Idea Generation: Building upon the pain points identified in the journey map, we generated ideas and solutions that directly addressed those areas of user concern. This phase allowed us to think creatively and brainstorm innovative approaches to improve the user experience.
ROI & Task Board: Through a collaborative voting process, we selected the most promising ideas and prioritized them based on their potential return on investment. We then organized these ideas on a task board, outlining the timeline for implementation.
The workshop process was carefully structured to ensure we deeply understood our users' pain points, enabling us to create solutions that directly addressed their needs.
User research and personas
We conducted thorough user research as part of the design process to comprehensively understand our target users. Our product team comprised individuals with diverse technical backgrounds, many of whom had worked closely with potential users in the network industry. Additionally, within our company, we had access to IT managers representing our potential user base.
We delved into the user's mind through collaborative sessions with the product team and discussions with our IT managers. We needed a detailed understanding of our users, allowing us to establish a shared understanding and alignment throughout the company. The user research process involved gathering insights into our users' day-to-day activities, pain points, and goals. We sought to uncover their motivations, behaviors, and preferences to inform our design decisions.
So Let's meet our users.
Roadmap and MVP user flow
To ensure a structured and manageable timeline for development, we divided our MVP implementation into a four-month roadmap. This roadmap was divided into Short, Mid, and Long phases. This phased approach allowed us to prioritize features and allocate resources effectively. Additionally, it allowed us to adapt and incorporate feedback throughout the development process, following an Agile methodology.
Following the roadmap, we proceeded to create a comprehensive platform map. This map served as a visual representation of the platform's structure. It allowed us to prioritize and organize the user flow based on the timeline. Focusing on specific platform sections during each phase, we delivered meaningful and impactful features for our MVP.
As you can see in the accompanying visual, highlighted yellow, we present the user flow corresponding to our MVP's priority areas. This visual representation offers a clear overview of the user journey.
Design process
During this phase, we focused on improving how services were presented to users and finding the most effective visual translation.
To tackle this challenge, we used our personas. We created relevant use cases to understand how users perceived and interacted with services. By aligning with stakeholders, we ensured our design decisions met their expectations.
With a clear understanding of users' perspectives, we visually translated the services concept. Our goal was to simplify it and create visuals that resonated with users.
In the visuals provided, you can see how we explored services through users' eyes, refining our designs iteratively to meet their needs.
Collaboration with cross-functional teams
Collaboration with cross-functional teams was integral to our design process. We worked closely with product managers, developers, architects, and QA to ensure a cohesive and successful outcome. Through effective communication and agile methodologies, we fostered a collaborative work environment.
To streamline collaboration, we utilized Figma to organize our design files by epics. This allowed all team members to access the necessary assets and maintain alignment.
Results and Impact
The project's impact was evident through the positive reception and engagement from clients exposed to the new design. In addition, the company received numerous compliments and expressions of satisfaction from clients, highlighting the success of our efforts.
The new design brought significant improvements and enhancements compared to the previous version. A visual comparison between the old and new designs demonstrates our strides in aesthetics, usability, and overall user experience.
The results achieved through our design endeavors not only elevated the visual appeal of the platform but also made it more intuitive and user-friendly.
In conclusion, the journey of redesigning the complex network solutions platform was an incredible experience as a product designer. We started by addressing the challenges of a platform perceived as too complicated for users, which led us to embark on a transformative design-thinking workshop. Through collaborative sessions, user research, and persona development, we gained valuable insights into our users' needs and expectations.
