My role

When I joined the project, the existing framework was covering core use cases, but in an inefficient way. User research has demonstrated that the UI was not clear to clients, and wasn't user friendly. The framework was not consistent – more than 3000 unsystematic components were slowing down growth, blocking development, complicating communication.

My task was to own the UX, fix existing problems, make the framework consistent, user-friendly, relevant to market standards, scalable, and ready to execute feature requests from clients and internal stakeholders in an efficient way.

Product Research

To start my work on the product, I needed to define the profile of the users and the gaps of the existing solution. For that, I have conducted initial research that included:

• Business context: product distribution, place of this product in the wider product offering of the company
• Market research: competitor analysis, best practices, industry standards, solutions available on the market.
• Technical context: defining tech possibilities and limitations.
• Client needs and pain points: client segments and expectations, analysis of existing feedback, survey of clients and other user groups, collecting feedback from internal stakeholders and company managers.
  Based on research results, I've identified key problem areas and have created the roadmap of further product development.

Product Process

We have built the product development process to include the validation of each iteration from the business performance perspective. The process was adjusted to save development resources, allowing a fast test of hypotheses.

The process consisted of the following stages:

• Creating a hypothesis or a series of hypotheses;
• Business validation with an internal or external client;
• Prototype: design-only or a fully functional prototype;
• Client feedback analytics;
• Adjustments based on feedback;
• Implementation;
• Result assessment.

Team

Since Iponweb is an engineering-led company, my team was made up of developers. I was leading the team as a Product Owner and provided all designs as well, covering both strategy and implementation.

Case Study

Make Navigation Great Again

Task

Navigating to a specific element inside the framework was one of the core user scenarios. However, the original navigation experience was inefficient: it took a week of training, on average, to learn how to use the navigation inside the product. To add to that, navigation caused negative feedback and support tickets that could be avoided.

Solution

A survey of users and relevant stakeholders has surfaced that users have been spending too much time and mental effort on finding what they wanted.

Our core user was identified as the AdOps specialist. Their efficiency is directly connected with revenue generation through a wide range of AD activities: with DSPs and SSPs, BEEs, and DOOH systems. In their work, they need to switch between different elements and need fast navigation to make their work efficient.

We have identified the ‘root flaw’ of the existing navigation – there was no information architecture behind it, which made it impossible to present system elements in a structured way to the users.

Through creating the information architecture, we’ve been able to structure the resulting navigation into three layers, designed to cover three most common user scenarios:

Result

After testing the new navigation, 91,7% of users have described the new nav as simpler and clearer than the original navigation. 92,9% of users have evaluated the new nav as more preferable. Here’s to quote user feedback: "I used to spend 30 minutes on finding the needed object, now I need one minute".

Case Study

Mending the Data Gap

Problem

Through research, I've discovered that the product didn’t cover a critical step in the user journey – monitoring Ad activity. To track key metrics, users had to switch to other products. This slowed down and complicated decision making for clients, which caused problems that were fatal for certain scenarios.

Task

Create the missing experience around performance indicators, to enable clients to make data-informed decisions inside the product.

Solution

Based on feedback from clients and client managers, we have created a system of widgets that would universally cover multiple client scenarios. Using the widgets, we put together dashboards that provided instant visibility of key performance indicators and could be adjusted to the tasks of any relevant project. This enabled our clients to efficiently manage their Ad activities, in accordance with their role and scope.

Here are a few examples of project dashboards created using the widgets. In each case, the metrics are defined by business needs and are used to track certain business areas.

There are scenarios when the user needs to get visibility of a certain data set, and here the filtering functionality comes into play. The filters can be applied to lists and indicators.

Result

The feature has successfully mended the gap between adjustment and monitoring, as validated by user activity inside the product and positive client feedback. It has helped to create more articulated workflows and has improved the efficiency of day-to-day activities. The introduction of dashboards has enabled upselling existing clients and the launch of new client projects.

Case Study

Solving complex scenarios through easy-to-use UX for Targeting Management

Problem

The existing functionality of the targeting management toolset was not covering scenarios requested by large user groups and was providing a poor experience for certain more complicated scenarios.

Task

Enrich the targeting management toolset, to enable new scenarios, make the targeting functionality a smooth and fast experience for the user, despite the heavy math under the hood.

Solution

We have phased the solution so that we could iteratively collect business requirements – various types of targeting options – and implement the changes, validating them with the users. Further down, we would add new business requirements, and make sure to retain the ease of use and flexibility of the functionality, despite the underlying complexity of the targeting options. The flexibility of targeting options was maintained on both the UX and the tech architecture sides. The feature lifecycle continued past the implementation. The scope of business requirements kept getting wider, targeting options kept growing. The interface had to absorb all of the new requirements, as they appeared.

Result

The feature has enabled scaling the functionality to 10+ new targeting categories. Client feedback has demonstrated that the introduction of the new functionality has not complicated existing user scenarios, and has made them more focused on the clients’ specific needs.

Case Study

Adding UX Expertise to the Team. Creating a Flexible Design System

Problem

When I joined u-Workflow, the culture and structure of the team were engineering-led. The existing solutions were not systematic or flexible from a design stand-point. This was slowing down development and causing poor UX.

Task

My role as UX Lead was new to the team, and with it came a new layer/angle of requirements and competencies. In the long run, my task was to create and maintain a design system that would support fast product growth and ensure a consistent experience for the users. In real life, my first task was to build relationships and smoothen the communication with the development team, while introducing a new type of expertise.

Solution

I approached the solution from two perspectives: the development process and UX.

• Development process we have collaborated with the dev team to identify and optimize the range of components and modules that laid the foundation of the product. We have established a framework for growing the components library in a way that enabled scaling the product in a fast and consistent way. I've proposed to use existing libraries – this has allowed us to cut costs and resources, and speed up the development of design solutions.
• UX I’ve introduced more focus on the user needs that stand behind design decisions. For that, I’ve added research, user interviews, and validation as essential steps of the production process.

The range of business requirements kept growing – the design system had to absorb new requirements and the growing complexity of the product.

Result

Through multiple iterations, we have arrived at a flexible design system, spec'd out all the components and formal rules behind them. This system has allowed us to use existing modules in a systematic way, create new ones fast, and develop the framework systematically.

Zoom in on a fragment

u-Workflow Experience Summary

I've become the person in the team responsible for making the product better from the user perspective. In order to achieve this, I needed to have a deep understanding of the business context, technical set-up, work with user feedback, and build relationships with internal stakeholders.

The result of the whole work was the creation of the product strategy for enhancing user experience and growing the functionality. Iterating along the strategy allowed us to delight current clients with our services, upsale them to new features, close sales of new clients, and on the process level – streamline development through systematic solutions.

Business expectations kept changing, which served as the opportunity to test the flexibility of solutions. After multiple tests, it became clear that the system works holistically, is scalable, and is ready to solve incoming business tasks.

The design system has been used successfully to create new products based on the framework.

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