Overview
Our intention with this project was to show what a totally revamped interface
would look like
and what kind of capabilities we could give to our carrier users. It was one of
those instances
where you’re jumping into a blank canvas and starting from scratch. The
stakeholder requirements
were as simple as “just wow us”.
This project was a great way to really push the limits on every single aspect of
the design.
From creating a new set of components to circumventing every existing asset in
our style
library, this was a great way to go back to the drawing board. It showed so many
flaws in our
existing components and library which allowed us to see where we could make
future improvements.
My Responsibilities
This was another project where I had to take on various roles. I would say that
my primary
responsibility however was strictly user interface design. It was the key area
in this project
where I spent a majority of my time. Countless hours digging deep into Figma and
trying to think
“outside the box” while using the best design practices.
Apart from the interface design portion of this project, I was also in charge of
gathering
requirements, setting up stakeholder meetings, developing opportunity
statements, and conducting
internal user testing with the final prototype.
Challenges
The most challenging aspect of this project was the fact that there was very
little direction. I
saw this as both a negative and a positive. The positive being an endless
allowance for
creativity where anything goes. And the negative being the sheer difficulty of
coming up with a
revamped user interface while creating new features from scratch.
The best way I could think of to deal with the challenges of this project was to
gather as much
information as I could early on. I did this by interviewing our executive,
customer experience,
and design teams. Through this process I was able to gather invaluable feedback
on what our
application was lacking and what users would love to see in future iterations. I
used this data
as my northstar throughout my entire design process. It also helped add some
definition to what
we were looking to achieve with this project.
Expectations
As I touched on earlier the expectations were very cut and dry. Take our existing carrier platform and reimagine it with a fresh new interface and loads of new features. This was all in hopes of shaking up some creative juices and allowing the organization as a whole to see and test our capabilities. It was also a way for us to bring existing ideas to fruition. I can truly say I enjoyed having such limited expectations on this project because it allowed me to really ‘wow’ everyone involved.
Feedback & Revisions
The feedback that I received for this project was a true confidence booster! It was one of those situations where you’re presenting your work and all you hear is “Woo’s” and “Aw’s”. Seeing a fresh new interface was an eye opener for various internal stakeholders and in turn gave them a north star to chase. Many of them stated that this was the future. This was the interface that they envisioned and the functionality that they felt our users would truly be able to utilize. It was a really great feeling being able to bring something so new to the table. It was also a great chance for me to push both myself and the tools that I used throughout this project.
The Future is Bright
One thing was clear with this project. It shed some new light on what we could achieve through our carrier platform. It also showed us as an organization that if we invested the time to revamp our user interface and implement additional features it would help position us for the future. Apart from that it also helped our product management team establish a timeline on how long this interface overhaul and feature add would realistically take. It was interesting that a project such as this one could help drive the direction of the company and push us to implement changes to our application that were long overdue. That alone made me realize how much of a success this project actually was and how excited it made everyone within the organization especially integral stakeholders.
Summary
This was an extremely fun project to be a part of. It was an opportunity for me to break out and not be confined to various criteria and requirements. It was a project where mistakes didn’t exist. An anything goes type of situation that allows me to wow our stakeholders and users alike. I think it’s amazing to take an existing application and push it to a whole new level. It helped open the minds of our design team and push us to make important changes to the way we build our interfaces.