Create An Intuitive Dashboard To Increase Engagement For New/Old Users
From identifying and predicting the work that will need to be tackled, to sourcing talent to execute that, and then monitoring the project of that product, it's interesting to see how a product is developing over time and how machine learning can help people and organizations to get the engineering products built.
Tara.ai, a platform that uses machine learning to enable product teams to be on-time, on-budget, and on-roadmap.
Product design lead - my role and responsibilities include working directly with the co-founders, analyzing end user needs, guiding and designing UX features through user research and design validations.
From end to end, I led the scope of three projects - onboarding overhaul, contractor profile and dashboard redesign.
With the insights gained from client's research, team-wide drayage studies, and client meetings, we broke down the high-level goal to more actionable challenges:
• Create an intuitive dashboard to increase engagement for new/old users
• Automate and digitize the manual coordination
• Prioritize daily actionable items on the dashboard
• Optimize and simplify the visual
With the pre-existing insights from client's research and deeper understandings through our drayage studies and client meetings, we breakdown the high-level goal to more actionable challenges:
Create An Intuitive Dashboard To Increase Engagement For New/Old Users
Automate And Digitize The Manual Coordination
Prioritize Daily Actionable Items On The Dashboard
Optimize And Simplify The Visual
With the understanding of client’s vision, we started to discover existing users' experiences. Due to the lack of online presence of competitors, we did not run the competitive analysis, but conducted a range of client calls and interviews with existing users. The discovery phase revealed five personas with
different level of engagement and interaction to the dashboard — three import
coordinators with different responsibilities, one logistic manager (same level of
access with import coordinators), and one trucking company.
Under the scope of
the MVP, we narrowed down to two distinct personas: an import coordinator (Jenny),
and a trucking coordinator (Maritza).
Product Owners
Need the best matched developers to help build products. By automating the product scoping and execution, product owners can plan with confidence and drive efficiency of product development.
Contractors
Finding the right person for the right task is mission critical. TARA’s network boosts developers’ visibility by matching the right skill sets to the diverse and time sensitive projects.
With the understanding of client’s vision, we started to discover existing users' experiences. Due to the lack of online presence of competitors, we did not run the competitive analysis, but conducted a range of client calls and interviews with existing users. The discovery phase revealed five personas with
different level of engagement and interaction to the dashboard — three import
coordinators with different responsibilities, one logistic manager (same level of
access with import coordinators), and one trucking company.
Under the scope of
the MVP, we narrowed down to two distinct personas: an import coordinator (Jenny),
and a trucking coordinator (Maritza).
Import Coordinator
Jenny's
Pain Points
• Manually tracking containers
• Manually releasing holds/fees
Trucking Coordinator
Maritza's
Pain Points
• Scheduling appointments via calls
• Manually invoicing customers
In summary, the experience mapping represented four primary pain points: two for Jenny, two for Maritza. Jenny desired a platform to save her time of tracking the status of containers and handling traditional paperwork and communications to resolve holds and fees. Maritza also sought for a system entailing her needs of scheduling appointment and streamlining the invoicing process. All those pain points brought our attention to the automation of manual tasks on the dashboard, tying back to the primary challenges delineated in the previous chapter.
Starting at high-level, there were two primary goals that reflect our vision: 1) to automate the manual tasks for import and trucking coordinators; and 2) to prioritize the task for users on the dashboard. As we began to structure the content, those two goals started to piece together: a dashboard interface to surface and prioritize containers that needs attention at each stage of the journey, for both personas.
Our team carried out multiple design studios to sketch UI wireframes, illustrate user journeys, and prioritize features and elements for the MVP.
Ideation Workshop
Dashboard
Side Navigation
Delivery Order List
Container List
We’ve deconstructed the process on the client side small pieces and atomic actions. Due to the NDA limitation, at this point I omit the contractor dashboard section. The user flow below indicates the clients' happy paths to track their product and secure the talent they desire.
With the new dashboard structure we followed up with a second round validation testings with six Terminal 49 users. Key takeaways from the testings:
• Users appreciated the customized dashboard to break out the most important action items
• Users felt the side navigation by stages of container makes good sense
• User could easily find container details by expanding the delivery order
• Users preferred less icons and more words to get the message across on the dashboard
• User could easily find where to release the holds/fees for containers
From the very beginning, I was convinced that it is vital to keep the interface clean, simple and intuitive. With Tara.AI, there are many different user cases from managing deal flows, creating and managing product scopes, finding and hiring talent. Simplicity is crucial to avoid confusion and help them operate with ease.
The founders of Terminal 49 provided very positive feedback to our final deliverables. We are glad to see that Terminal 49 is transitioning its entire platform to the dashboard we proposed.
The site navigation by four stages of containers is now under development and expected to be live to the users soon. Other features of notifications and order structures will also be implemented in following phases.
To comply with the non-disclosure agreement, in this case study I have omitted the dashboard page for persona Maritza, the expanded view of containers, and other pages with confidential information.
Along with product design, I have been working with the founding team to re-brand the platform since day 1. It was great to see how the brand evolves and everything comes together in a seamless way.
The logo redesign aims to bring focus and clarity to teams without distracting; so our logo and symbol are fluid, clear, and impactful. (To comply with non-disclosure agreement, I omitted the branding guidelines in this case study).
The logo works best in a gradient of primary blue (B400) on a white background. For dark backgrounds, the logo should always be white.
Homepage
After raising Series A, the founding team made the decision to redesign a website - it marks a major milestone in the growth of the business. It is a right time to boost the brand image, refresh the look and content of the website, and update the product potentials and offerings. The refreshed content and design of homepage optimized the image of the brand in a fluid and inspirational way.
To comply with the non-disclosure agreement, in this case study I have omitted the dashboard page for persona Maritza, the expanded view of containers, and pages with confidential information.
© 2019 TINGRAN LIU