Overview
Client Brief
Customer portal, MVP was released in 2024.
Objectives
Redesign and improve the overall user experience.
Project Duration
September 2021 - June 2022
+3
New product features shipped
+4
Product features redesigned
Challenges
• Due to a lack of information hierarchy and site organization, customer support team had been receiving a lot of technical support requests.
• Developers were trying to solve back-end issues with connecting multiple platforms and softwares.
• Designers were struggling to understand the high-level concept of the customer portal and the need for a redesign.
• Everyone was working on their own research initiatives, and not all the information was shared, leading to duplicate tasks.
My Role
As the Lead UX/UI Designer for this project, I led a cross-functional team that included design interns, UX researchers, business analysts, a product owner, and developers. I maintained regular communication with our scrum master to keep track of project progress and ensure a smooth development process.
1. Facilitated collaboration: developed user flows to align the team's vision and streamline project tasks.
2. Streamlined research: established a comprehensive user research task list in Confluence to ensure seamless planning for upcoming research activities, preventing unexpected hurdles.
3. Thorough user research: conducted various user research methodologies, including card sorting, cognitive walkthroughs, and benchmarking.
4. Design Delivery: produced wireframes and mockups, providing developers with precise design implementations for seamless execution.
Process
Ecosystem development is a complex project. As a UX/UI designer, I have to verify the necessity of the design tasks when they can be easily done using existing services and platforms. This can be achieved by collaborating with other team members, such as a product owner, business analysts and developers. Below is how I solved the design challenges by following the basic UX design process and adapting to the project's needs & goals:
In this project, our team was facing challenges due to the different types of users and software involved in one platform. For example, creating a login and a sign-up screens are easy for UI designers since they can follow the design patterns. However, developers might be concerned about security and looking for other solutions when more than two products are connected. Designers are expected to ask questions to understand constraints.
Define, UX Benchmarking
After collecting project requirements from the product owner, business analysts and developers, we tested usability of the current webpage to see if it was worth developing a new product feature.
The UX Benchmarking plan consisted of:
1. User issue: What are we trying to solve through a new product feature?
2. Context: Why are we focusing on this currently existing webpage?
3. Usability testing tasks: See if the participants can complete certain tasks without any issues.
As a result, we discovered issues with the current website and agreed to continue prioritizing the feature.
UX Research Planning
I created a list of upcoming user research tasks in Confluence, which helped the team collaborate efficiently and significantly reduced downtime by providing ideas for the work tasks. People started taking the initiative in research activities instead of waiting to get new tasks assigned. Now the list template has been shared with other product teams in my company.
Result
The product now has an improved information hierarchy with action buttons. The team will keep track of the effectiveness of the new design by tracking the user inquiries in the customer support team.
Reflection
1. Power of planning: in an agile work environment, the importance of planning is often undervalued. Business and technical constraints, along with new requests from stakeholders, can frequently shift the initial plan. However, effective planning is crucial for maintaining focus and driving innovation, especially when it comes to meeting user needs.
2. Insights from UX benchmarking: launching a new product feature is always exciting, and the enthusiasm to introduce brand new designs is high. However, it’s crucial to take a step back and collaboratively assess the value of these new product feature ideas with the team.
Manami Izawa
Manami Izawa 2025© UX Portfolio