OVERVIEW

• I was brought in to help design a product for IBM to offer their customers a powerful template SaaS enabling them to do internal business proficiency assessments

• I developed initial wire-frames and clickable, highly-interactive prototype

• Final deliverable was nominated for IBM award of ‘most-innovative marketing product'
  

CHALLENGES

• Limited direct knowledge of stakeholders or users

• Learning to use the relatively complex Axure software, in-situ

• Building a clickable prototype with complex logical processes and multi-layered hierarchical structures and navigation
  

MY ROLE

I was the main designer developing the navigation, UI, wireframes and a final clickable, interactive prototype

LoFi Designs

early wireframes sketching out the interaction flow

a walkthrough of mid-fidelity wire frame pages

PROCESS

I began with a few vital customer and stakeholder interviews that helped me understand the scope and project needs.

By the time I joined, a rough information architecture design had already begun to take shape; so my first goal was to help define a user flow, site map, and content hierarchy.

One of the most important realizations was that there were multiple users types to consider.

I understood I'd be designing a kind of templated test that would allow businesses to evaluate their domain knowledge across multiple platforms. I knew it had to be fluid, yet thorough and robust.

Once I had a good sense of all the necessary page functions, I began creating basic wireframes in Axure and was able to refine the process flow as I built the logic for the clickable interface.

I knew there would be a hierarchy of navigation menus, as the sections would nest, and started building with the user in mind. I knew they needed to understand how to create specific, personalized tests for their clients.

The final clickable prototype showcased a full spectrum of customization, including functional mathematical coordinates, various interactive, highly customizable options and components, and a master side-menu for easy global navigation. I also created a lo-fi mockup, to help the user see their end product.

TAKEAWAYS

This project offered me a great opportunity to gain valuable experience and exposure to some rich levels of complexity, including the power of Axure.

Upon completion, I had:

• developed a practical, layered information architecture and wireframe format;

• refined a relatively complicated hierarchical navigational flow suited to the technical savvy of the users that effectively led a user through the steps to completing a powerful project;

• acquired a fluency with the complexities of Axure;

• created a final deliverable that won an IBM award for most-innovative marketing product.

With more time, I would:

• Continue to refine the UI and simplify the presentation of the main offerings;

• Finish the fully interactive clickability of the prototype in Axure;

• Perform user tests to see what worked and what could be refined.

Next Project: