EQUINIX SITE INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
The equinix.com site redesign project began with a reorganization and restructuring of the site’s information architecture to address significant navigation and information finding failures identified in both qualitative and quantitative research. Card sorting and affinity mapping exercises kick-started what would become the new content organization strategy as well as the new information architecture.
EQUINIX SITE REDESIGN PAGE ARCHITECTURE
At the page level of the equinix.com site redesign project, and information architecture was also used to create a page layout that aligned with business and user goals for content consumption, intra-page navigation, and user capture.
SOLARCITY CHANGE ORDER WORKFLOW
At SolarCity, as with other very large and complicated business processes, it is often the case that the UI design of the page is not really the problem and that the lion’s share of the changes that are required to improve a workflow simply need to happen at the level of the business process itself. Creating a visual workflow mapping was very helpful in communicating proposals for new business processes using a simple legend to indicate processes, decisions, and screens. Mapping screens or new back-end procedures to specific JIRA user stories also greatly facilitated communication with engineering and front-end development.
INTUIT USER WORKFLOW COMPARISON
Part of the research project focused on understanding QuickBooks user workflows was an exercise comparing the results of five different user patterns. This was done collaboratively with key individuals who were stakeholders to the project and was quite effective at bringing cross-functional team members to a common vision and understanding. Color and shape coding for the exercise made what would have been typically design-centric exercise accessible and easy for non-researchers. Having a visual representation of the workflows enabled the team to see patterns emerge as well as identify outstanding features.
ROCKET COMMUNICATIONS DASHBOARD WIREFRAMES
During the project proposal phase, Prime level contractors to the Department of Defense typically provide a set of wireframes or wireframe with basic interaction skinned with more polished visual design to communicate design direction. These wireframes (top) were produced after 1 day with the client to understand the desired functionality and then skinned (bottom) with Rocket Communication’s “Atlas” design system.
CISCO SUPPORT COMMUNITY SITE REDESIGN
Whiteboarding and sketching is a very important part of my personal design process and is often a very useful tool when working with a group of cross-functional team members. These wireframes were produced real time during a team workshop and were used to directly inform the wireframe final design (below).
LITHIUM
Design for Lithium’s online customer community application included a strong focus on responsive design for all new features. These wireframes for a modal dialog interaction show the progression from desktop, to tablet, and finally to mobile.
SOLARCITY DESKTOP, TABLET, AND MOBILE WIREFRAMES
SolarCity operators, sales, and on-site teams all use different devices for their work. Although the data that is shared between all three groups needs to be consistent, the actual software tools are customized and optimized for each particular user. Operators use the SolarWorks desktop tool, Sales staff use SolarOne tablet app, and the on-site team members use a mobile app called Change Summary to review and compare the sales design vs. engineering design vs. actual on-site construction and request changes if necessary. These wireframes were created all at roughly the same time across all three devices - desktop, tablet, and mobile.
SHUTTERFLY CONCEPTUAL & JIRA WIREFRAMES
In order to focus product stakeholders and leadership purely on interaction and workflow details, I chose to use a lower fidelity wireframing tool at times so that my audience would not be distracted by visual design details. This was particularly successful during the redesign process of the Cards & Stationery (Shutterfly’s #1 product category) and facilitated design and product mindshare and vision. More detailed design was used throughout the entire development process in JIRA user stories to communicate wireframe interaction with final visual design.
TiVo ROAMIO 6 TUNER BOX & RF REMOTE
Design for TiVo’s new OnePass feature for the Roamio release focused on simplifying complicated and overly technical mechanisms that allowed customers to pull content in a totally source-agnostic way so that complete seasons and series could be assembled. Pairing of the RF remote and the box also benefited from a simplified approach that automatically paired the remote to the box without any complicated pairing processes.
PHILIPS WEBTV
One of the first providers of the internet-on-the-tv was for Deutsche Telekom, and included a remote control that was customized to integrate with the on-screen user interface.
PHILIPS NINO 300
For several of the applications native to this early PDA device, soft button interactions provided key features and functionality.
APPLEVISION 1710AV
This monitor was one of Apple’s first true multi-media displays. The OSD design on the front bezel to access not only the system Control Panel but also the audio controls contributed to this product’s high level of hardware/software integration
APPLE QUICKTAKE 100
Shipped in 1994, the QuickTake was one of the first consumer lines of digital cameras. The back panel allowed access to user controls for resolution, # of images, trash, and flash.
DATA DRIVEN DESIGN
Tools like Google Analytics and/or Hotjar can provide great insight into the way specific pages on a site are being used and the content consumed. During the site redesign project for Equinix we started by validating the assumptions and hypotheses we had made about site usage by overlaying performance metrics (from Google Analytics) and presented these findings to stakeholders and leadership to tie the design decisions we were making for the site to specific metrics. This was one of the most successful ways we created high level support and buy-in for the project to continue receiving funding across several fiscal quarters.
USER INTERVIEWS & PERSONAS
When a team or organization needs to adjust or expand the understanding of the people who comprise their user/customer base one of the best qualitative methods to use are user interviews. And one of the best artifacts that can be created from user interviews are personas or user archetypes.
EQUINIX.COM SITE HEURISTIC EVALUATION
When a more formal usability assessment is not possible, heuristic evaluations can provide a team with insights that help the team narrow a very wide and unmanageable scope and focus redesign efforts on the areas where the need is greatest.