The project:

Update the existing website and related systems into a unified ecosystem that enables patrons to easily access various library services and resources, such as:

• Library homepage and information pages
• Books, articles, media, research papers, etc.
• Study Rooms
• Online Support
• Search across all the above resources

Old Gottesman Libraries homepage

My role:

I was the lead designer on this project and was responsible for its complete creative execution. I worked closely with a UX researcher for the initial analysis and later testing parts. I created the high-fidelity designs and then worked closely with the developers to help implement the designs by polishing some functionality and styles.

The Outcome:

• The newly launched Library Website and associated systems have been a huge hit and very popular with the patrons and staff.
• We revised the IA, removed all the extra links, and came up with a simple and clean design aesthetic.
• Patrons were able to discover various library resources on their own and their dependence on the library service staff and front-desk reduced dramatically.
• This project also led to the creation of other related projects, including, a new Mobile App, a more powerful Room Reservation system, a new Payments Gateway, a new Library Archive system (PocketKnowledge), and an improved Super Search system.

New Gottesman Libraries homepage

RESEARCH:

➝ Initial Research and Interviews:

• Met with stakeholders at the Library and University who shared their vision for the new site.

"The new system should support self-directed learning." - Library Director

• I did a comparative analysis of other library websites and apps.

"A unique aspect of this library is the acquisitions are largely patron-driven. We should highlight this in the new system." - Library Director

• Interviewed patrons to get feedback on the existing library systems.

"There is too much going on throughout the site!" - Patrons




What 90% of the visitors click on as per analytics data 

➝ Contextual Inquiry with Librarians:

• Observed and interviewed extensively (along with a UX researcher) the librarians and library staff.
• We got access to the old help desk/ticket system, which had a lot of insightful submissions over the years.
• The old website hadn't changed much in almost a decade so a lot of the site's flaws were well known to the library staff.

"We would tell patrons to click the 1st column, 7th row, 2nd link, to get to the fine payment system!" - Librarians

• The library staff empathizes with what patrons are looking for and gave valuable insight into how they are currently being helped.

"Many patrons would just bring all their books in physically to renew them rather than use the online system. Most weren't even aware of the online system!" - Librarians




Old website was very text heavy 

➝ User & Task Models:

We are focusing on the following 3 broad types of users:

• The Patron, who avails of various library services.
• The Professor, who requires the library to purchase books and needs to integrate courses with these course readings.
• The Librarian, who supports the above two users and their requests.

User & Task model

DESIGN AND PROTOTYPE:

➝ Information Architecture:

• Created a sitemap of the old website and mapped the hundreds of pages and sub-pages within the old website.

An affinity wall of post-it notes was created to analyze all the pages. We purged several categories, re-classified others, and created new categories for all the pages.

Mapping existing pages and relationships

➝ Designing the homepage:

Early wireframe showing key items

Sample of homepage options

"The homepage needs to be informative and simple" - Stakeholder

Evolution of homepage

➝ Super search system:

Search dropdown with matching searches

Search results design in progress

"We need a central system to search all our resources" - Library Staff

➝ Room reservation system:

Designing the patron room booking experience

iPads outside every study room displays the room status

"The new system is great since we no longer have to maintain spreadsheets for room reservations, and students can see for themselves which room is available, and when" - Library Staff

Library admins view to book rooms

➝ Payments system:

Designing the payment system

"The payment categories and PayPal integration in our new payments system makes it easier for me to reconcile our budget" - Library Director

The project:

Design a new app to enable patrons to easily access various library services and resources.

My role:

As the lead user experience designer, I was responsible for the complete creative direction of the project, from conception and research to design and implementation.

New Library Mobile App

The project:

Rethink JLR's In-Vehicle Infotainment systems and explore future product concepts and usages in a highly interconnected, Internet-of-things, augmented reality world.

My Role:

As a User Experience designer, I was responsible for -

• Designing and developing IVI and surrounding experiences based on an intimate understanding of consumer electronics, UI concepts, and the automotive context.
• Developing functional HTML prototypes.
• Presenting these designs and prototypes regularly to our clients and stakeholders for feedback.
• Work with UX researchers to analyze feedback from user testing and focus group sessions.
• Revisit the designs based on user and stakeholder feedback.
• Summarize the design recommendations, specifications, and documentation for each use case.

The outcome:

Our team successfully brought many concepts from 0 to 1, and delivered to JLR detailed experience design principles and design recommendations to help them bring these concepts to life in their cars.

➝ Developed IVI Use Cases / Concepts:

I was personally involved in the following use case concepts (which were each large and complex projects on their own) over the course of two years:

• Technology upgrades:
  • Updated media experiences (front and back seat) [View Task + Deliverables Schedule]
  • Smartphone integration
  • Digitizing the handbook
  • Delivering Software updates OTA (Over The Air)
• "New" features:
  • Track/Record/Replay/Analyze driving
  • Camera uses in the car
  • In-car ambiance and settings based on mood/context
• Future tech:
  • Augmented reality in the car
  • Connected cars
  • Conference calls
  • Integration with fitness devices & outdoor lifestyle

RESEARCH:

➝ Determining User Needs:

• Interviewed and observed users to understand their needs and pain points.

We spent time at the Portland International Raceway to meet and talk to drivers and experience the racing environment. We learned more about driver behavior, needs and desires, and usage of driving trackers/analyzers and cameras.




Talking to racers

• Brainstormed various ideas that could be explored with current and potential JLR customers.
• Our team conducted focus groups to understand current in-vehicle behavior as it relates to our use case concepts.
• We then created role models and usage models based on these user sessions.

Ideation sessions

➝ Scenarios:

• We created detailed scenarios for different use cases and reviewed them regularly with the clients.

A Use Case Interaction Flow with Visuals

➝ Testing:

• Participants for each session were recruited with different backgrounds including luxury vehicle ownership, tech usage in and out of the vehicle, media consumption habits, and having children who also consume media in the vehicle.
• The overall goals of each evaluation session were
  • Assess appeal to the concepts overall
  • Assess usability/design of the concepts
  • Gather insights to improve usability, design, and functionality of the concepts being evaluated or for future concepts

Each user session consisted of a 1:1 interview in the vehicle. Users walked through different use case scenarios and provided feedback on the design in terms of features, functionality, usability, and overall appeal of the concepts.

The Projects:

Collaborate with Intel's IoT UX team and Intel Labs to explore future product concepts and usages surrounding Internet of Things in three broad categories - In-Vehicle-Infotainment Systems, IoT Kits, and Intel Technology Access.

My Role:

As a User Experience designer, I was responsible for developing use cases, wireframes, and developing experiences around Intel's Internet of Things technology.

The outcome:

We successfully delivered the scenarios, prototypes, findings, analysis, and recommendations for multiple use cases to Intel.

Project 1:

➝ Project Requirements:

Design an IVI system with smartphone integration for Intel Labs’ Orion IoT project.

"The final deliverable should be a comprehensive, working, demo-able product for the CES show in Las Vegas." - Stakeholder

➝ Scenarios:

Several scenarios were developed surrounding smartphone integration with the IVI system, such as:

• Phone calendar and contacts
• Connecting multiple phones
• Playing media from different phones
• Integrate with phone sensors
• Integrate with mobile phone apps

Scenario: Sync with driver phone

➝ Interactive Prototype Demo:

Detailed wireframes and their visuals were then designed.

Finally, we developed an interactive prototype that featured integration between the IVI system, location sensors, steering wheel, different IVI apps, and up to four mobile phones.

Intel demoing the IVI system

Project 2:

➝ Project Requirements:

Design and develop software that shows users how to use the Intel IoT kits through a beginner demo interface and through different use case walkthroughs.

Each IoT use case concept needed to be completely detailed out, with user models, task models, interaction and visual design specifications, and fully functional prototypes/working programs.

➝ Interactive Web Apps:

'Demo experience kit' for Intel's Starter IoT Kit

Example use case - IoT integration with a delivery truck, to monitor temperature, vibration, location, door open/close status, etc.

Web apps for different IoT use cases

Project 3:

➝ Project Requirements:

Define experiences around Intel Technology Access, which lets devices connect and communicate with other devices and share resources.

➝ Wireframing:

• Wireframes exploring elements of the user experience for each concept were created and tested with users.

Intel Technology Access

STRATEGY:

➝ Dissect 'mSchool':

• Rhizr had started off as 'mSchool', a project about learning through metaphors. It had hit a roadblock as the initial ideas around it were found to be insufficient and it needed a new creative direction.

➝ Brainstorming / Design thinking:

• With the help of the product manager, the dev team, and some design thinking sessions we came up with a revised idea for the project and a new name, 'Rhizr.'

Rhizr strives to create "a learning environment in which the student can learn to restructure the new information and their prior knowledge into new knowledge about the content and to practice using it" - Dean A. McManus

Concept of Rhizr

➝ Determining User Needs / Task Flows:

• I mapped out user needs and goals and created task flows.

A Task flow - Creating a new Rhizr

➝ Bootstrap Framework + Meteor JavaScript:

• As we were a small team and since I have UI development experience, I helped in developing the beta version using the Bootstrap framework and Meteor JavaScript platform.

➝ Testing:

• We have been collecting a lot of feedback and data from the beta version.

The metaphorical structure of the website i.e the concept of Rhizrs, Roots, and Nodes is not very understandable to users.

• The next step is to analyze all the feedback we have got and revisit the designs and the core idea of Rhizr.

The ideas around 'curating' and 'remixing' are not very clear to users and the functionality is also not very intuitive.

Viewing a 'Rhizr'

The project:

Redesign and enhance Vialogues with a focus on self-directed learning. With thousands of users around the world still using its first incarnation (launched in 2010), there has been a desperate need for an upgrade and constant demand for additional features and an easier to use interface.

Old Vialogues Homepage

My role:

I was the lead designer on this project and was responsible for its complete creative execution. I worked closely with a UX researcher for the initial analysis and later testing parts, and with a visual designer to create the high-fidelity designs.

The outcome:

• Vialogues was launched on 10th August 2017 to rave reviews and feedback!
• There is now better discoverability of people and content.
• There is an increased emphasis on groups of related content.
• The new design fixed a lot of the usability and findability issues of the previous version.
• The site is now less "busy" and the design allows the content to have breathing room.

STRATEGY:

➝ Determining Areas of Improvement:

Through multiple stakeholder meetings, ideation/brainstorming sessions, and review of site feedback data, we decided that the following areas needed improvement:

• Create a more robust discussion environment

How do we help create the rich, active discussions we set out to support and provide users the sense of community they feel across similar discussion sites?

• Provide moderators with data and analytics about their vialogues
• Improve assessment methods

How can we improve our polling and question feature to better serve learners?

• Improve the search and recommendation

"How can we improve discoverability of people and content?"

• General update of the UI
  • Update overall style / icons / fonts / visual elements
  • Reduce clutter / Update page layouts / Give breathing room
  • Expose hard to find features (Ex: video settings)
  • Simplify complicated functionality (Ex: create process)

➝ Determining Project Scope:

For our first phase, we will be focusing on general UI updates and improve the search & recommendations system.

RESEARCH:

➝ Evaluation of old website:

• We analyzed traffic data to determine popular pages and paths.
• Created a sitemap, functionality map, and permissions/roles of the old site.
• Being EdLab's most used product with users across the world we had a whole lot of feedback and support questions to analyze -
  • Users regularly submit feedback through the UserVoice integration on the site.

  "How do I change the closed-captions?"

  • Feedback from EdLab staff and our premium users acquired via emails or direct interactions.

  "How will I know if my students watched the video?"

  • Feedback from Usability tests.

  "I’ve always wondered how the recommended Vialogues are determined? I feel like some SiNY or Voice episodes always have the same suggestions!" - Video Team Member

  • We interviewed several existing users of Vialogues, including -
    • EdLab staff, who use it for video hosting/streaming
    • Professors, who use it for student instruction
    • Students, who use it for professional development
    • Researchers, who use it for informal learning and research
  • This feedback was categorized into different problem areas (like Vialogue Management, User Setting, Access, Commenting, etc.)

Old Vialogues Play Page

The project:

Design a new website for EdLab highlighting EdLab's network of apps by enabling users to easily interact with the enormous amount of content that users create using these apps.

My role:

I was the lead designer on this project and was responsible for its complete creative execution. I worked closely with a UX researcher for the initial analysis and later testing parts, and supervised a visual designer to create the high-fidelity designs. I then worked closely with the developers during the implementation stage, including help polish some functionality and styles by diving into the code.

The Outcome:

• The new site was launched in March 2017.
• We revised the IA, simplified the navigation, came up with a simple and clean design aesthetic.
• The eventual final design and layout was liked enough by our stakeholders to make it "our look" and became the start of unifying the design across our different websites and apps.
• This project also led to the creation of other related projects, like EdLab Global Search, the EdLab CMS project, integrated EdLab authentication system.

RESEARCH:

➝ Project scope and requirements:

• Our initial focus and assignment was to simply 're-skin' the old website to make it look nicer and cleaner.
• As we went down the path of a 're-skin', we realized there were several things about the site that didn't work.
• Eventually, the scope expanded to build a completely new website with new requirements and features.

The Old Homepage

➝ Evaluation of old website:

• The main user base for the website is the EdLab staff, who use it to write blog posts for internal/external audiences, create events, advertise new job positions, update people information, and highlight projects and work.
• Several visitors to the EdLab website originate from one of our different apps, trying to create new EdLab app accounts.

Since the old EdLab website had a different account system compared to other EdLab apps, confused users created EdLab 'website accounts' instead of an EdLab 'apps account'.

• Analyzed traffic data to determine popular pages and paths.
• Created a sitemap and explored the source repository to map the hundreds of pages and sub-pages within the old website.

➝ High Fidelity Designs / Pixel Perfection:

• When we initially worked on re-skinning the site, it was a period of management and the design team understanding each other's processes and design sensibilities and aesthetic sense.
• Some of our initial designs were very visceral and visually bright and attractive -- while our stakeholders liked them, they felt it did not convey their feelings towards EdLab.
• Our later design iterations were more simple and clean.

Early visual design option

➝ Prototyping:

• We used InVision app to create, share, and test our prototypes.
• Constantly tested our designs with members of the Teachers College community and iterated based on their feedback.

Users feel the new design does a good job of informing them of what EdLab does and can do. They like seeing our latest posts and events.

The Project:

Dell.com (in 2013) had multiple segments that forced users to self-identify their segment before they could find and buy a product. I helped simplify the product browsing and shopping experience for the millions of (monthly) visitors on dell.com, by reducing the segments on Dell's main homepage from five to two ('For Home' and 'For Work').

Old landing page and its many segments

Users felt the home page was cluttered and struggled to find the correct place to start engaging with the navigation.

My role:

I worked closely with other experienced UX designers and researchers on this project. I contributed to the ideation sessions, wireframing, creating the hi-fidelity interactive prototypes in Axure, and finally consolidating the remote test results (conducted on usertesting.com).

RESEARCH:

➝ Evaluate existing homepage:

• We dug deeper into the multiple categories and sections on the homepage and the design decisions behind them.
• There were 5 segments on the Dell.com homepage-
  1. For Home
  2. For Small Business & Office
  3. For Medium Business
  4. For Education, Government & Healthcare
  5. For Large Enterprise

The landing page reflected the internal organization structure as each team wanted a piece of the pie, leading to an information architecture that did not make any sense to customers.

➝ Project mission:

• Simplify product offerings/catalog
• Enable users to find what they are looking for faster and more easily
• Appeal to a wider variety of shopping behaviors

➝ User research input on what factors most people shop by?

• Price: price range predetermined
• Form factor: They already know they want a laptop, desktop, workstation or server
• Brand: Familiarity with the franchise brand promise and features makes search easier
• Activity: Searching for the optimum device to accomplish preferred tasks such as computing, blogging, photo and video editing

➝ Testing:

• I created hi-fi interactive mockups of the desegmentation options in Axure.
• The three options were tested against each other and existing Dell.com (control) structure.
• The users we recruited belonged to three categories - consumer, business, and crossover.
• We had 6 participants per option per category for a total of 72 participants.
• Each participant had 7 browsing tasks and 4 follow-up survey questions.

➝ Results and Learnings:

• Consumer users favored Option 2 (For Home, For Work) the most.
• Crossover users also favored Option 2 (For Home, For Work) compared to other options.
• Consumer and Crossover users disliked the existing dell.com.

Users felt the home page was cluttered and struggled to find the correct place to start engaging with the navigation.

• Unlike others, Business users had the most success on the control (dell.com), followed by Option 1 (Products).
• The study results support the hypothesis that desegmentation is the right direction.
• Overall, the most favored option was Option 2, or reducing to two segments - 'For Home' and 'For Work'.

THE SOLUTION:

Desegmentation down to two segments (For Home and For Office) was implemented on Dell.com. Read Dell's blog post for more details.

Note: The Dell homepage has since been updated to Desegmentation Option 1 (only 'Products')

The Project:

Redesign the standard power outlet considering advancements in technology, increased user demand, and new user requirements.

My Role:

Our team was a multi-disciplinary team, consisting of a mechanical engineer (Cole), an electrical engineer (Karthik), a business major (Dan), and a user experience designer (me). As the user experience lead, I was actively involved in the research and design phases.

The Outcome:

We designed an award-winning outlet, with multiple sockets, USB charging ports, and an extension cord -- all built into a standard size gang-box with an unobtrusive design.

➝ Prototypes and Testing:

• We initially created cardboard and paper prototypes of some of these designs and tested them out.
• We got the idea to enhance the design to include an extension cord inside during this testing phase.

➝ Final Design:

The 'Evolve Outlet' had the following features-

• 4 Standard Power Outlets
• 2 USB Charging Ports
• Self-contained, auto-retracting 48" extension cord.
• Fits in the standard 2-Panel wall box

Final Design of the Evolve Outlet

A 3D print version of the evolve outlet was displayed at the Design Expo at The University of Michigan and won the Best Project Award! The project was also displayed at UMSI's "expoSItion '13" and got an honorable mention under the overall best project category.

3D print of our solution

Interactive Learning Game Design with Intel

Interactive environment to explore, discover, and learn about. Shown above is the interaction of clicking on a fish and getting contextual actions and information.

Healthcare Taxonomy Management Software

A software application to view, add and manage the complex taxonomy in healthcare.

 View project presentation

Support Portal Redesign

Complete redesign of Symantec's Support portal website.

Dell Pattern Design Library

File Upload Pattern

Pagination Pattern

Dell Design Library patterns are used by the developers of Dell.com

PayPal India Mock Ups

A POC to create a new application for PayPal in the Indian market.

The project:

The Global Site Design team was tasked with creating new personas and to understand our customers by mapping the end-to-end user journey with a product from research to purchase and beyond.

My role:

As a UX Architect intern, this was one of the projects I got to work on on the research side. I worked closely with another UX Architect and a UX Lead.

The Outcome:

I helped lay the groundwork for the initial interviews, research and analysis that lead to the creation of journey maps and eventually new personas.

USER RESEARCH:

➝ Determining User Needs / Interviews:

• I participated in the initial brainstorming sessions of the project to determine project objectives.
• Analyzed existing personas.
• I helped plan the interviews, prepare interview questions, recruit and interview users from the 'consumer' segment.
• We asked questions about the following customer journey steps
  • Identification of Need
  • Research
  • Purchase
  • Order Status
  • Out of Box Experience
  • Usage
  • Upgrade & Accessorizing
  • Support

➝ Interview Analysis:

• The interviews were followed by interpretation sessions where we broke down the interview notes and created affinity notes and consolidated them into an affinity diagram/wall.
• Once we created the initial affinity wall, we had walk-through sessions with other members of the UX team, to look for ideas and relations.

Interview planning and results analysis

➝ Next steps:

The project was a longer-term project than my internship duration and continued beyond it through more phases towards the generation of new personas.