Business engine is an cutting-edge software with the sole purpose of streamlining operations and management within an organisation. By integrating all of the necessary modules “Business Engine” attempts to automate many of the time consuming tasks & costs that it takes to run a company.
User Interface Design
User Research
Design Systems
Update the UX to allow for better usability and functionality. To redesign Business Engines UI in line with brand guidelines. Create a design system to establish guidelines, enabling the team to maintain product consistency.
I began by immersing myself in the product and industry by analysing competitors, end users and interviewing stakeholders on the products main features.I worked closely with the team to summarise requirements & restraints to ensure early efficient timeframes.
I lead and designed 100+ wireframes, developed Business Engines brand and first design system.In addition I addressed major usability issues that helped to strengthen the accessibility and credibility of the platform.
I interviewed ten stakeholders and asked about their prior experience using Business Engine, all of which are employees of an kiosk supplier called Card2Cash looking to streamline their operations. *Card2Cash exploits loopholes, enabling users to withdraw cash from kiosks without being registered as ATMs, thus venues avoid the excessive fees associated with using ATMs.
From the research, I gathered that:
1. Multiple external tools are used to run the business which are prone to human error and can often be very time-consuming.
2. Usability issues paired with the clunky outdated UI hinders the users ability to complete tasks and enjoy the experience.
3. Managers waste time explaining how to use the system to employees or end up having to perform the tasks themselves.
This led me to ask the question:
How might we streamline business management and operations by consolidating tools to improve efficiency, create a better experience and improve overall user/stakeholder satisfaction with Business Engine.
As this project had been in the pipeline for over two years and in addition to being the sole designer within the company, it was imperative that my design process should be efficient and work within the constraints of the company. The approach is as follows.
1. Goal - Create an MVP that could be shipped quickly to satisfy both user and business needs. With no prior UXR’s I quickly conducted user and stakeholder interviews to understand restraints, capability and major use cases.
2. Structured workshops - Intensive collaborative workshops were held with stakeholders and the dev team to identify problems and solutions. Prioritising features, creating flow charts, collating data all helped to define our product roadmap and limit the risk of scope creep.
3. Rapid sketching - With the allotted time left, I began producing rapid sketches and wireframes that would map out the user flow and give stakeholders the opportunity to critique and raise any concerns.
4. Hi-fi mockups - Finally we had a visual representation of our product and user flow. At this stage the only task left for me was to build a design system containing all documents of design guidelines and components assisting in the dev team handover.
Problem: Usability issues, complex systems and time consuming user journeys.
Solution: Updated UI. Simple layout and onboarding experience. Introduced modules to merge systems and improve task-flow.
Reiterating the importance speed due to client pressures, it was important that we tackled the most important features decided in the workshops. A prototype was created in figma using the hi-fi mocks and a usability test was conducted. The feedback was an success with stakeholders+users scoring a 88% increase in user satisfaction and ability to complete tasks.
The project has been handed over to the dev team to tackle the big remodel. When we have a working system and reach more end users, we will conduct more research and iterate the system.
So far we know the areas for improvement are:Improve training - wizards, documentation or live chats are all features that would be helpful in the onboarding experience of the platformResponsive screens so users can use across all devices.Personalisation - makes complex data more visually appealing by changing colours, fonts, styles of widgets etc.
Business needs are constantly changing needing more systems to streamline their operations, I cannot wait to further develop this system and push the boundaries of innovation and style!!
Ready to handover to the dev team, the only thing left was to create Business Engines very first design system containing all components and variables on the new UI. This proved to be very handy to the developers and made for more efficient working.
