Case study · 2021 to 2023 · Under NDA

One entry point for a whole family of planning products.

A supply chain and retail planning SaaS had grown into a family of products with inconsistent UX. I led the full design program: discovery, design strategy, and the design team through Discovery, Design, and Hand-Off.

The design system hand-off video: how the team connects the library, foundations and patterns. Turn the sound on.
DomainSupply chain planning SaaS
Years2021 to 2023
My roleDesign Program Lead
ProductsDesktop web app, design system
Design system foundations: colour styles with WCAG 2.1 contrast ratios
Design system foundations: colour styles documented with WCAG 2.1 contrast ratios, the base of the unified experience.
Problem

Many products, many logins, one frustrated planner.

For the business
  • Many products with inconsistent UX and UI
  • Dated look and feel; drift across the product family
For the users
  • Users log into several different tools to complete daily tasks
  • Help and support are not available to the end user
  • Users do not learn about new functionality after software updates
Solution

A unified experience layer, an embedded academy, and a design system.

Discovery research fed a design strategy that the team executed end to end. We delivered a unified experience layer as a single entry point across the product family, plus an embedded academy with in-product tutorials so users learn new functionality where they work.

A design system (foundations, components, patterns) prevents the inconsistency from re-emerging as the products evolve.

MethodsStakeholder interviews · user interviews · usability testing · CJM · Lean UX · Figma branches · design system · WCAG 2.1
Process

From a two-week discovery to a hand-off the team ships from.

The program ran as a sequence of documented phases: a discovery kick-off in late 2021, research and workshops, a written design strategy, then a six-month design phase with a team I led: a senior and a middle designer, a project manager, and me as the lead.

Product vision: engaging user experience, single entry point, collaborative process orchestration
Inception: the product vision we aligned on with stakeholders. One engaging experience, a single entry point, and collaborative process orchestration across the product family.
The Double Diamond model framing the discovery and design phases
The kick-off framing: discovery first, design second. Nothing moved to design until the problems were named and agreed.
Collaborative approach: Miro boards for meetings and workshops
The collaborative engine: stakeholder and end-user interviews, workshops, a customer journey map, mind maps and a story board, all on shared boards that became the design backlog.
The design system overview: component sheets and foundations
The design system at hand-off, v 1.3.0: 250+ global styles, 10,000+ components and variants, 200+ ready page examples, 100+ icons. Delivered with annotations and two demo videos.
"You have been a great value add and taught us a lot. I would recommend these UX design services to my contacts."Client exit interview, August 2022
Full case

The detailed story is shared on request.

Client names, process artifacts and outcomes stay within NDA. Ask, and I will walk you through the full case.

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