CRS Report Panel Redesign

Challenge

I was tasked with a rapid redesign of the Metadata Panel for the CRS Project. This time I would be working directly with a product owner from the CRS team. The challenge was re-design the panel to better fit for the user needs, within the scope of the limited project resources. This meant adapting the existing interface and UI instead of a clean-slate design with all new UI.

Solution

I worked closely with the product owner in a collaborative co-design session. Since time was a priority, the co-design session was limited to myself and the product owner. We went through the user needs one by one and for each I brainstormed options or directions for the UI design which I sketched on a whiteboard. Through collaborative feedback we were able to zero in on the best interaction design to support the users needs.

Learnings

This is another lesson in the importance of user feedback early on in the design process. I would have liked to have had CRS users test the designs I made before the initial development phase when the first version of the metadata panel was built, but that was not an option. I would also have liked to refine these Version II designs based on feedback from CRS users, but that was also not an option.

Nevertheless, secondary feedback from a product owner who had gathered user feedback was a big improvement on the design guidance I had received before the first round of designs. And, from a project standpoint, the co-design session facilitated stakeholder buy-in — the importance of which cannot be overstated.

Redesign Process

Final Mockups