A function giving product teams control of content organization in this project management software.
DESIGNED IN
Figma
ROLE
UX Designer
After completing the journey through About Face, my mentor approached me for assistance on an inbox feature for a new product his startup is developing. The inbox prototype is a simple function that serves to collect all data that tags the user or other users in the product’s workgroup. To help organize the content for the user, the team wanted the feature to allow users control of how content is organized and viewed.
Understanding the Problem
In our initial conversation, my mentor shared some of the preliminary information about what they wanted and what the user needed from the feature.
Goal of feature
A singular area for users to check what tasks needs to be done within tagged data
Allow
Users to create a new rule (a filter function) for sorting tasks
Naming of the feature at the top of the form
Filtering tasks by Reporter, To Do, Comment and Product
From the information provided to me, I got the impression that the product was meant to serve as a project management system that helps development teams stay on task with what needed to be done. Without too many details of the other product areas, I naturally started designing with what little I knew about project management in mind. Once I had a first draft of one of the filters, I asked for feedback to see if I was headed in the right direction.
First Design Attempt
This is the first design solution that came from the given information.
Inbox Interface (Original)
"Add New" product function accessing the feature I created
The feature allows user customization based on filter fields selected.
After reviewing the design, the feedback I got was
The design is overly complicated and needs to be simplified. Being a new to market product, the goal is to create a simple baseline for v1 and later build in more features in future versions.
Project management isn’t the same as product management. The fields created in the filter are not relevant to the use case.
I asked more questions to get a better understanding of what my mentor was looking for. He gave me three use cases
Create a category of any To Do’s for a user on the team
Create a filter about To Do’s or comments related to a specific product
An option to view all comments with the word “foo”
The Iteration
Here is the revised design based on feedback.
“Add New” options are simplified to just one option “Comment Filter”.
Filter fields were updated based on the use cases provided
This second design, a more simplified design, was just what the team needed for their prototype. It is now included in the prototype’s feature set and I hope one day to see it live in action.
Reflections
This second design, a more simplified design, was just what the team needed for their prototype. It is now included in the prototype’s feature set and I hope one day to see it live in action.
Don’t overthink the design
Learn where more questions could be asked
As my mentor highlighted “don’t create anything you don’t understand”
As the first exposure to designing for a project like this, these are valuable lessons for me to understand my baseline and where I need to adjust my approach to design. The first try was a little challenging to navigate, but getting through it and forging ahead will give me the experiences and practice needed to become the designer I want to be.
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