Nextqore Inc
Transforming Complexity into Simplicity: Enhancing User Experience
Role
UX/UI design
User research
Workshop design and facilitation
Timeline
12 weeks
Skills
UI/UX Design
Interaction Design
Overview
The Nextqore mobile application faced issues with complex design, low user ratings, and limited potential for enhancement. The goal was to revamp the app by creating a new version. As the designer, collaboration with the company's founder and head technologist was essential to launch the improved Nextqore app on the Android market.
About Nextqore Inc.
Nextqore is a hyper-scalable cloud architecture software that results in crucial decoupling of individual models (e.g. applications, simulation models and analytics) from separate source systems, reversing the unnecessary complexity established in point-to-point solution integrations.
Problem
The current User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) of the client-side Android application were developed ad hoc by developers during the development process. However, the UI lacks user-friendliness and intuitiveness, necessitating a comprehensive overhaul of its screens. To enhance the app's usability and competitiveness, a structured approach to redesigning both UI and UX is imperative.
Key Objectives
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Analyze competitors for UI/UX best practices.
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Assess the existing app to pinpoint areas for improvement.
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Refactor UX while maintaining core functionality.
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Complete redesign within two months.
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Establish a Design System from scratch.
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Create prototypes for stakeholder review.
Challenges
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Balancing significant UI/UX changes with user familiarity.
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Integrating user feedback within the tight timeline.
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Developing a Design System from scratch.
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Ensuring compatibility with existing backend infrastructure
Design process
1. Discover
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Evaluate competitors' UX/UI.
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Research the target audience to identify pain points.
3. Develop
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Design UI components with detailed guidelines.
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Prototype UI components for evaluation.
2. Define
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Formulate design based on gathered information.
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Implement best practices.
4. Deliver
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Collaborate with developers to implement concepts.
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Create a Product Requirements Document (PRD) for seamless transition to new designers.
Collaboration
Branding Team
2 Marketers
Design Team
Design System & Redesign ( Me)
1 Researcher
Development Team
2 Developers
1 Technologist
Product Vision and Strategy
Product Kickoff Workshop:
Conducted stakeholder interviews to define the project's vision, strategy, and success criteria.
Management by exception
Focus on increasing user efficiency by providing data that prompts action only when necessary.
Experience validation
Enhance user experience and business success through a smart, solution-driven application with a user-oriented interface and secure asset management.
Flexible business needs customization
Provide customers with a flexible, customer-centric web application featuring powerful customization and integration capabilities.
Competitor Analysis and Client Interviews:
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Utilized various research tools, including competitor analysis, client interviews, and heuristic analysis.
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Analyzed four main competitors to identify industry trends and best practices.
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Conducted interviews with three existing clients to gather insights into their experiences and pain points.
Key insights included:
Difficulty in Quick Comprehension:
Existing design's status notifications and data representations hinder prompt comprehension of crucial information, impacting decision-making and response times.
Desire for Simpler, More Flexible Data Management:
Customers express the need for easier and more flexible data management capabilities.
Preference for Solution-Driven Applications:
Clients valued applications that provide intelligent solutions and streamline their workflows, suggesting a focus on smart features and functionality.
User Flow
Information Architecture:
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Initiated work on app structure to understand the product's general layout.
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Developed information architecture to establish navigation, hierarchies, and categorizations.
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Considered integration of new clients with different operations within the redesign process.
Design System
During the internship, a design system was developed to ensure visual consistency and streamline collaboration. It aims to support accurate design implementation and scalability, leaving a lasting impact on Nextqore's design approach.
Final Designs
To address the challenges of complex design issues and low user ratings, the goal was set to make powerful data analysis tools, real-time reporting, and smart charts and graphs easily accessible within the Nextqore mobile application.
This goal was achieved through a systematic approach focusing on three key components:
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Create Faster Flow-building Interactions:
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By analyzing user interactions, the design aimed to streamline the flow-building process, ensuring users could navigate through tasks more efficiently.
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Prioritize Frequent Actions:
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Commonly performed actions were identified and prioritized to minimize user effort and enhance usability. This prioritization aimed to make essential functionalities readily accessible to users.
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Enable Users to Save Common Nodes:
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Recognizing the importance of user customization, the design implemented features allowing users to save frequently used nodes, enabling quicker access to vital information.
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Streamlining User Actions: From Card Sorting to Enhanced Navigation
To achieve these objectives, a methodical approach was employed, beginning with card sorting to categorize actions under shared user motivations. This process facilitated the combination of response nodes, resulting in a significant reduction in user interaction steps. For instance, a 4-click process was simplified to just 1 drag and drop action, enhancing the overall efficiency and ease of use of the application
Optimizing User Experience: Leveraging Sidebars for Seamless Navigation
In the redesign process, the inclusion of sidebars played a crucial role in enhancing user experience. By strategically placing complex actions within the sidebar, unnecessary clutter was minimized, resulting in a cleaner interface. Additionally, the sidebar served as a consistent location for editing global nodes, providing users with a familiar and intuitive navigation structure. This approach effectively streamlined the user journey, ensuring smoother and more efficient interactions within the Nextqore application.
Learning from User Testing
Navigation is the cornerstone of usability
It’s the main interaction technique on the app, especially Data oriented app. Easy navigation was crucial for Clients.
Reduce the user’s journey to the destination
Keeping the three-click rule in mind, which meant our clients were never more than three clicks away from what they were looking for.
Design for all developmental phases
As a designer, we imagine designs holistically and design the entire experience in one go, but the development happens in stages so keep in mind to design for all those stages so that our developing team was able to see the feasibility of the design without getting overwhelmed.