-
About
Part of my remit as the UX designer is to look at existing functionality on the platform and propose improvements that will drive user re-engagement and improve collaboration and productivity on the platform. I identified the updates feed as being a high usage area that had the potential to provide a much greater benefit to the user.
The Goal
Customers were frustrated and confused by platform notifications, they couldn’t ‘see the wood for the trees’ and were feeling overwhelmed. We needed to provide a consistent and visually pleasing updates feed for the user that would drive platform re-engagement.
1) Requirements gathering
Through group interviews and sticker votes with the sprint team and key stakeholders, I identified and prioritised business goals. Individual interviews and observations with workers at the local council provided insight into users’ perceptions and behaviours around platform notifications. These requirements were then recorded in a living document that was used as a point of reference throughout the development.
-
2) Sketches and research
Sketching out existing updates and breaking them down into core components enabled me to identify patterns and prioritise the information being displayed. Researching the update feeds of other productivity and social media sites gave an insight into the types of patterns and behaviours users would be accustomed to.
-
3) Documentation
In close collaborations with the software tester and lead developer, we documented a comprehensive list of all updates. From this, I outlined the information architecture and standardised the language. The software tester later used this to inform her automated test scripts.
-
4) Prototype and specification
I provided a clickable Axure prototype that outlined the various templates for the updates. This enabled the development team and stakeholders to see the new architecture and the relationship the layout had with the documented list. The lead developer then used this and the documentation as the basis for re-architecting the codebase.
-
5) Visual design
Working with the head of design we produced a more visually engaging updates feed that prioritised information to allow for easier scanning and recognition of key information.Introducing user avatars to drive social relevance and surfacing the timestamp to emphasise the chronological ordering of the updates.
-
Outcomes
An aesthetically pleasing updates feed that provides visual importance to content in a consistent manor across the entire platform. The re-architecture of a high traffic area of the platform has lead to a reduction in maintenance resource, speed improvements and the ability to expand updates to incorporate future features with far greater ease.