Challenge

I am a UI/UX designer in the Bulgarian office of an Australian company which owns web platforms  for facility management and for selling services. My team’s challenge and in particular my challenge (as designer and also leading the team) is to  build from scratch a mobile product which is a combination of those different platforms. Our target  group is not all the large companies that own many buildings and need all the complexity of our  web platforms but the people who live in some of those buildings, who own one or a few flats or an  office space as well those who rent from them. Their needs are simpler - to manage their levies, stay in touch with the manager of the building and  the rest of the people in that community, buy a service they need, keep track of all the news. It sounds simple but is not, this project is huge and there are lots of cases to be resolved.

Selection

Our team is trying to work according to the design thinking approach and we have already done  some sessions and tried some tools. One that is very useful the Visualization Tool. This tool helped us a lot because I and my team of people with different expertise started to “speak  the same language” and think of the possibilities we have. The nonverbal communication made us more creative and empathetic. Sometimes it’s hard to explain just with words all the ideas and how each one of us understands the  problem we’re trying to solve. As Angela Myer said in this video: https://www.coursera.org/learn/design-thinking-innovation/ lecture/xju53/visualization-tool  “When we’re talking and we’re verbalizing things we see things internally, but we may all be  understanding the words in a slightly different way. The beauty of using visualization is that we can  tap into a single picture.“

Application

I will explain how we found a very good solution for the application’s main navigation thanks  to the Visualization Tool. When I started in the company and with that particular project it was very hard to research  and understand how all our existing products actually work, why do they work exactly the  way they do and how am I gonna get some parts of each and put them together to look,  feel and work as a consistent one. I had a lot of long online meetings with the product owners who are actually also users of  those platforms. We discussed every single part - all the functionalities, and the available  options, some edge cases, some ideas for improvements, what would be nice to have that  is not existing at the moment etc. But every time we talked and made notes there were a  lot of misunderstandings or edge cases we didn’t have the time or just forgot to discuss.  All left went through an email communication and there still were misunderstandings. Every  one of us was imagining its own version of the product. We came to the moment when we had to decide how the user will navigate through all of  this we had built as a concept of our product. But this time we changed the way of discussing it. I and the developer’s team met

From that moment on we considered that visualizing our ideas makes things happen faster  and easier. Every time we have some case to resolve we go together and draw. This way I as a designer get a better idea of the technical requirements and limits as well  the developers get a better idea how the product should look and feel and why. We also started using low-fidelity prototypes for the new features because just discussing,  brainstorming and drawing sometimes is not enough. There are interactions and transitions  which are important and could not be drawn or explained with words. A very nice tool we are using for prototyping is proto.io. Storytelling also seems to be helping to get some missing parts. When you get to know the  users better and get more involved in their everyday life and needs and how your product  is part of all this - it’s easier to add features or rework an existing one to fit better for them.  It also helps me to explain more simple to the team what and why is needed and make  them empathetic to our users and give their best to help all those people with a really good  product. All this optimized our work but also brought us closer as a team and helped us see through  the eyes of the others and actually hear and understand each other.

Our results were amazing. All of us were happy to participate at that meeting and at the end we all felt more  comfortable with the project, with a better understanding and more global vision of the  product. We had found a solution for what we have set up the meeting but also clarified a  lot of things which always stayed out of our focus or were hard to explain to each other. The work on the application actually became more fun for the team.

in personal with the product owners and set down in one of the conference rooms, spread  all the sketches I had prepared for the different functionalities and started to review and  draw on the whiteboard. Once we came to an end of the meeting we had visualized user  journies, all the hierarchy of the app structure. All this confusing terminology used in our  web platforms for different functionalities actually was clarified and actually started to make  sense for all of us not just for the product owners.

Insight

Approach


Challenge I am a UI / UX designer in the Bulgarian office of an Australian company which owns web platforms for facility management and for selling services . My team ’s challenge and in particular my challenge ( as designer and also leading the team ) is to build from scratch a mobile product which is a combination of those different platforms . Our target group is not all the large companies that own many buildings and need all the complexity of our web platforms but the people who live in some of those buildings , who own one or a few flats or an office space as well those who rent from them . Their needs are simpler - to manage their levies , stay in touch with the manager of the building and the rest of the people in that community , buy a service they need , keep track of all the news . It sounds simple but is not , this project is huge and there are lots of cases to be resolved . Selection Our team is trying to work according to the design thinking approach and we have already done some sessions and tried some tools . One that is very useful the Visualization Tool . This tool helped us a lot because I and my team of people with different expertise started to “ speak the same language ” and think of the possibilities we have . The nonverbal communication made us more creative and empathetic . Sometimes it ’s hard to explain just with words all the ideas and how each one of us understands the problem we ’re trying to solve . As Angela Myer said in this video : https://www.coursera.org/learn/design-thinking-innovation/ lecture / xju53 / visualization - tool “ When we ’re talking and we ’re verbalizing things we see things internally , but we may all be understanding the words in a slightly different way . The beauty of using visualization is that we can tap into a single picture . “ Application I will explain how we found a very good solution for the application ’s main navigation thanks to the Visualization Tool . When I started in the company and with that particular project it was very hard to research and understand how all our existing products actually work , why do they work exactly the way they do and how am I gon na get some parts of each and put them together to look , feel and work as a consistent one . I had a lot of long online meetings with the product owners who are actually also users of those platforms . We discussed every single part - all the functionalities , and the available options , some edge cases , some ideas for improvements , what would be nice to have that is not existing at the moment etc . But every time we talked and made notes there were a lot of misunderstandings or edge cases we did n’t have the time or just forgot to discuss . All left went through an email communication and there still were misunderstandings . Every one of us was imagining its own version of the product . We came to the moment when we had to decide how the user will navigate through all of this we had built as a concept of our product . But this time we changed the way of discussing it . I and the developer ’s team met From that moment on we considered that visualizing our ideas makes things happen faster and easier . Every time we have some case to resolve we go together and draw . This way I as a designer get a better idea of the technical requirements and limits as well the developers get a better idea how the product should look and feel and why . We also started using low - fidelity prototypes for the new features because just discussing , brainstorming and drawing sometimes is not enough . There are interactions and transitions which are important and could not be drawn or explained with words . A very nice tool we are using for prototyping is proto.io . Storytelling also seems to be helping to get some missing parts . When you get to know the users better and get more involved in their everyday life and needs and how your product is part of all this - it ’s easier to add features or rework an existing one to fit better for them . It also helps me to explain more simple to the team what and why is needed and make them empathetic to our users and give their best to help all those people with a really good product . All this optimized our work but also brought us closer as a team and helped us see through the eyes of the others and actually hear and understand each other . Our results were amazing . All of us were happy to participate at that meeting and at the end we all felt more comfortable with the project , with a better understanding and more global vision of the product . We had found a solution for what we have set up the meeting but also clarified a lot of things which always stayed out of our focus or were hard to explain to each other . The work on the application actually became more fun for the team . in personal with the product owners and set down in one of the conference rooms , spread all the sketches I had prepared for the different functionalities and started to review and draw on the whiteboard . Once we came to an end of the meeting we had visualized user journies , all the hierarchy of the app structure . All this confusing terminology used in our web platforms for different functionalities actually was clarified and actually started to make sense for all of us not just for the product owners . Insight Approach