2021 UI / UX Design

Cordino App Product Design

Collaboration your way.

Project Context

We were originally contracted to craft a social platform for structured organizations for internal company use. We built a design language and product to be prepared to sell commercially, and then were requested to retroactively design a version of new commercial product that would work for a specific client use case. The end product was to design an internal social tool to facilitate effective communication of 30,000 users within 10 months.

Client / Privately Held

Team / Worked Independently

Role / UI/UX Design

Tools / Adobe XD

Duration / February – October 2021

Page Contents

01. The Problem Statement

02. The Roadblocks

03. Persona Development

04. Story Mapping

05. Information Architecture

06. Low-Fidelity Wireframes

07. The Solutions

Reflections

01. The Problem Statement

At the start of this project, the company was utilizing a social platform intended for cross-functional and lateral company transparency among employees. Their development team created plugins to silo the platform engagement appropriately, while retaining the interaction functionalities. Our agency provided support for this platform, so using our insight of common issues within the platform we were to create an internal social system to allow control of a multitude of organizations from a single login and control panel, when the organizations were technically separate from each other.

02. The Roadblocks

1. I operated as a single person design team with conceptual support from a single person documentation team. I was required to fill the role of a product design lead, lead UI/UX designer, and client point of contact on a condensed timeline.

2. I was required to design a set of feature to allow for user journeys to have different experiences within different organizations, while remaining in the same user session without any concrete data inputs or technical specifications from the development team.

Specific design reviews were not allocated. I reviewed all new flows weekly with the stakeholder team and any feedback that was provided was implemented concurrently with the new initiatives.

3. I developed a complex design language using an ADA compliant color scheme for an initial contract client. This project was scheduled to be released as a commercial version with features modified for the client however was retracted and fit with the client color scheme below.

03. Persona Development

For this product, we were asked to solve the problems of two types of users at the same time. The standard users wanted an frictionless experience for consuming content and the admin users wanted a streamlined way of managing content. In order to accurate address each user’s needs, we developed two personas within this organization.

Standard Users

Persona development was limited to two roles within the organization for known user types. I did not need to conduct user researcher or delve deep into persona types.

Admin Users

Persona development was limited to two roles within the organization for known user types. I did not need to conduct user researcher or delve deep into persona types.

04. Story Mapping

As an agency, we provided customer support for a platform that the client was using. Through this, we had empirical insight into what the user journey was and namely the key problems they were facing.

05. Information Architecture

Due to the pace and budgetary constraints of this project, I took a holistic approach to compiling an information architecture by utiziling the structure of the document to display to the client how feature sets would work together. The client had access to this file to view and make requests throughout the project. Any feature that would creep would be added to an icebox in the project story map to be able to work towards a complete version of the product.

06. Low Fidelity Wireframes

This project was unique in the sense that the contract did not allow hours for low fidelity wireframes. All screens and user action went directly from a verbal concept meeting to high fidelity prototypes. To minimize the room for error, I relied on text placeholders on anticipated screens and further on the pasteboard to capture all growing requirements for the client. Each “Details” and “Dev. Notes” section could be cross referenced with the feature sets before and after to ensure all user touchpoint loops were effectively closed.

07. The Solutions

I had three main focus sections for the product in mind – the home page, content management, and platform permissions. It was essential that the consumption experience was streamlined in a way that features can be layered in order of priority.

Amplify the Home Page
For the home page, I focused on adding a dynamic and visual filter bar to bring the two elements that a standard user utilizes most to the highest level. In other platforms used by this organization, a large stress point was having to navigate into nested menus to access the main features throughout the day. To add further customization, it was important that the users could organize their groups and organizations based on their perceived priority.

Simplify the Consumption Experience
To address this issue, I intentionally minimized the features in this platform and the ways in which they can be accessed. I nested features only when a necessary distinction was needed between user roles in which that page would not be enabled for a standard user.

Streamline Management Permissions
We brought the basics of common social platforms over and tied them in the backend in a way that centralized all permissions into three high level categories. At multiple points within the platform, an admin view would give access to a filtering bar to allow an admin user to modify all settings from a single destination within the application at an “Organizational” level, a “People” level, or a “Groups” level. Cascading prinicples would keep the platform consistently inline with company practices.

*Generic images and names have been inputted for client confidentiality.

Amplify the Home Page

Simplify the Consumption Experience

Streamline Management Permissions

.Reflections

How to Get Creative on Data Collection: This project was unique in the sense that the client was adamantly against research in the claims that they knew the intuitive nature of their user. I worked with minimal data and had to collect key decisions conversationally. Since the completion of this prototype, user research surveys have been conducted to better understand the true user needs and know what features to continue working on.
Controlling Appeal & Importance: The client was well-versed in how their organization ran, and therefore the elements that pulled their attention strongly had significant value to them. However, oftentimes this minut details that were imperative to them did not hold much weight in the functionality of the product. In this project, I gained experience on how to mold what the client wanted in specific moments to work better for the product long term.
Adapting my Workflows: In preparing for my transition to design, I dove deep into user stories, information architecture diagrams, low fidelity wireframe verbiage and how the design process should work as a whole. The fast nature of this project gave me experience in how I can stay organized and proper, without inhibiting the client expectations.

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