Cited as their biggest project to date, this year Alcumus began their ‘Portal’ project in response to their numerous recent software acquisitions. They wanted to make a product to consolidate all their new and old software offerings into one place, allowing users to browse the catalogue based on their location, book trial demos, manage users/subscriptions, and request product support.
From January to April 2022, I led the design work on:
✦ multiple desktop + mobile settings pages within the Portal end-to-end
✦ establishing the mobile navigation system between pages
✦ additional responsive components for their global design system
✦ and I built out research libraries for current and future proposed features.
Working at Alcumus, I got very familiar with their company design process. I used their process as a foundation for all of my work to deliver multiple research-based solutions combined with thorough supporting documentation that outlined my design choices. I collaborated heavily with developers, PMs, and other designers to create designs that took into account cross-functional feedback.
My first task was to create the 'My Account' page, where all types of users could go to edit personal account settings (e.g. username, email, profile, personal MFA settings, etc.).
🤔
What did I have to consider?
• how to edit/save/organize information and how to integrate with Azure AD - I established a research-based card UI, then worked with developers and PM to establish how our UI would work with any technical limitations from Azure AD
• overall functionality and processes - I needed to figure out what functions user needed and how the UI would change - for example, addressing how the 'edit email' card looks if the user is pending verification on a new email
🎓
What did I learn?
• how to communicate design decisions - I was immediately consistently presenting and defending designs to different people for feedback & guidance around how Azure AD would work with my proposed designs
• how to slot into a team quickly - to accommodate aggressive timelines, I had to quickly learn about the product and Alcumus' design process / style guide to start contributing immediately
My final big responsibility was to create mobile versions of my pages and to determine how navigation would work on mobile. I conducted research on how other companies approach responsive design, and created components that were responsive for smaller viewports to expedite product delivery.
🤔
What did I have to consider?
• responsive web app limitations - I had to establish tech limitations with the team and build a responsive navigation / UI keeping in mind that the experience was NOT a native app - this meant I needed to reuse and adapt existing components / navigation in place
• how existing designs would adjust to smaller viewports - with each component, I had to figure out how they would adjust to smaller viewports while retaining their functionality & design new components with this in mind
🎓
What did I learn?
• how to compromise between ideal designs and deliverability - I worked closely with developers, PM and designers to create designs that adhered to technical limitations (vs. building a native app) and met our deadlines
• the power of clickable prototypes - I found that sending clickable prototypes for review would expedite criticism and produce more pointed, valuable feedback
A key step in all of my designs was doing relevant research around the proposed page or feature. Near the end of my internship, I also created additional research libraries for proposed features to aid the future development of the Portal after I left.
A sample research library I built investigating site tree functionality in SaaS and non-SaaS solutions.
Looking over our research, we made a plan for things that we needed to address.
• the most-used tool to find food places was a smartphone, so a mobile application would be the best platform for our product
• we needed to prioritize convenience and familiarity - two key words that came up a lot in our interviews
• we had to look for a way to simplify the choices would also help to address choice paralysis
• the intrinsic fun in trying new food places and exploring your current location should be weaved into our product
• finding a way to both expedite and simplify the food-with-friends planning process would increase the use cases and marketability of our product
I then moved on to designing the 'My Organization' page, allowing client administrators to configure their organization’s information inside the Portal.
🤔
What did I have to consider?
• creating a design conducive to future development - my designs needed to achieve MVP goals but also be a foundation for the future of the Portal by being able to accommodate more information later (e.g. organization picture, organization contact, etc.)
• how to source and organize research examples - as an intern, I didn't have much admin access to any products so I needed to creatively source examples; then, I organized my research in an easy-to-understand way so anyone could access and learn from it
🎓
What did I learn?
• how to pivot and adapt existing design work - this page went through markedly different iterations and new requirements were being added throughout the design process, forcing me to pivot my direction based on the new requirements
• how to create and lead my own sessions - the tight timelines of this project meant the senior designer was often busy, so I learned how to effectively book and run my own sessions with developers and PM to expedite feedback and delivery
My next end-to-end design task was the 'Advanced Security' page. Administrators needed a place to configure the security settings of all the accounts attached to their organization.
🤔
What did I have to consider?
• how to visually communicate MFA permissions per user group - these controls had to be easily understood and intuitive especially considering our non-tech-savvy user base
• what levels of MFA permission were available in Azure AD - I had to work with developers to figure out the limits of MFA functionality and did research to find what levels of MFA were configurable
🎓
What did I learn?
• the importance of responsive components - the conversation about the experience at smaller viewports was now occurring - every desktop component / card needed to be responsive to expedite delivery
• how to give more effective presentations - I continually refined my presentation-giving through repeated feedback cycles to deepen overall understanding, facilitate important discussions, and forge a stronger designer-dev-PM relationship
I crafted all the design work from sketches to the final product. I was also responsible for all the HTML, CSS, and implementing Hammer.js into our project.
My partner was a strong developer, and she was responsible for all of the complex API JavaScript work that made up the core function of our product. Without her, the product certainly would be a lot rougher than it turned out.
We started to source APIs that would help us achieve the features we needed. My partner was instrumental in figuring out how we could meld together multiple APIs to achieve our vision.
Mapbox →
Mapbox gives us an interactive, styleable map to use as the base of our application.
TravelTime →
TravelTime provides isochrones that filter out unreachable locations (customizable by transportation method).
MapQuest →
MapQuest gives us a location database, and codifies them by their type (e.g. cafe, restaurant, etc.).
Hammer.js →
Hammer.js allows us to incorporate common touch and swipe gestures into our app.
As an intern, I was thrilled to be able to make high-impact contributions immediately. It was so awesome to continually collaborate cross-functionally to design pages from the ground up. Though my time here was short, as my second internship it was an amazing place to grow my design, research, and presentation skills. (Also, I got way better at skribbl.io - maybe one day I'll win against the talented Alcumus designers.)
FACTUALLY
Cited as their biggest project to date, this year Alcumus began their ‘Portal’ project in response to their numerous recent software acquisitions. They wanted to make a product to consolidate all their new and old software offerings into one place, allowing users to browse the catalogue based on their location, book trial demos, manage users/subscriptions, and request product support.
From January to April 2022, I led the design work on:
✦ multiple settings pages within the Portal end-to-end
✦ mobile versions of these pages and establishing the mobile navigation system
✦ additional responsive components for their global design system
✦ and I built out research libraries for current and future proposed features.
Working at Alcumus, I got very familiar with their company design process. I used their process as a foundation for all of my work to deliver multiple research-based solutions combined with thorough supporting documentation that outlined my design choices. I consistently collaborated with developers, PMs, and other designers to create designs that took into account cross-functional feedback.
A key step in all of my designs was doing relevant research around the proposed page or feature. Near the end of my internship, I also created additional research libraries for proposed features to aid the future development of the Portal after I left.
A snippet of a research library I built investigating site tree functionality in SaaS and non-Saas products.
Looking over our research, we made a plan for things that we needed to address.
• the most-used tool to find food places was a smartphone, so a mobile application would be the best platform for our product
• we needed to prioritize convenience and familiarity - two key words that came up a lot in our interviews
• we had to look for a way to simplify the choices would also help to address choice paralysis
• the intrinsic fun in trying new food places and exploring your current location should be weaved into our product
• finding a way to both expedite and simplify the food-with-friends planning process would increase the use cases and marketability of our product
My first task was to create the 'My Account' page, where all types of users could go to edit personal account settings (e.g. username, email, profile, personal MFA settings, etc.).
🤔
What did I have to consider?
• how to edit/save/organize information and how to integrate with Azure AD - I established a research-based card UI, then worked with developers and PM to establish how our UI would work with any technical limitations from Azure AD
• overall functionality and processes - I needed to figure out what functions user needed and how the UI would change - for example, addressing how the 'edit email' card looks if the user is pending verification on a new email
🎓
What did I learn?
• how to communicate design decisions - I was immediately consistently presenting and defending designs to different people for feedback & guidance around how Azure AD would work with my proposed designs
• how to slot into a team quickly - to accommodate aggressive timelines, I had to quickly learn about the product and Alcumus' design process / style guide to start contributing immediately
I then moved on to designing the 'My Organization' page, allowing client administrators to configure their organization’s information inside the Portal.
🤔
What did I have to consider?
• creating a design conducive to future development - my designs needed to achieve MVP goals but also be a foundation for the future of the Portal by being able to accommodate more information later (e.g. organization picture, organization contact, etc.)
• how to source and organize research examples - as an intern, I didn't have much admin access to any products so I needed to creatively source examples; then, I organized my research in an easy-to-understand way so anyone could access and learn from it
🎓
What did I learn?
• how to pivot and adapt existing design work - this page went through markedly different iterations and new requirements were being added throughout the design process, forcing me to pivot my direction based on the new requirements
• how to create and lead my own sessions - the tight timelines of this project meant the senior designer was often busy, so I learned how to effectively book and run my own sessions with developers and PM to expedite feedback and delivery
My next end-to-end design task was the 'Advanced Security' page. Administrators needed a place to configure the security settings of all the accounts attached to their organization.
🤔
What did I have to consider?
• how to visually communicate MFA permissions per user group - these controls had to be easily understood and intuitive especially considering our non-tech-savvy user base
• what levels of MFA permission were available in Azure AD - I had to work with developers to figure out the limits of MFA functionality and did research to find what levels of MFA were configurable
🎓
What did I learn?
• the importance of responsive components - the conversation about the experience at smaller viewports was now occurring - every desktop component / card needed to be responsive to expedite delivery
• how to give more effective presentations - I continually refined my presentation-giving through repeated feedback cycles to deepen overall understanding, facilitate important discussions, and forge a stronger designer-dev-PM relationship
My final big responsibility was to create mobile versions of my pages and to determine how navigation would work on mobile. I conducted research on how other companies approach responsive design, and created components that were responsive for smaller viewports to expedite product delivery.
🤔
What did I have to consider?
• responsive web app limitations - I had to establish tech limitations with the team and build a responsive navigation / UI keeping in mind that the experience was NOT a native app - this meant I needed to reuse and adapt existing components / navigation in place
• how existing designs would adjust to smaller viewports - with each component, I had to figure out how they would adjust to smaller viewports while retaining their functionality & design new components with this in mind
🎓
What did I learn?
• how to compromise between ideal designs and deliverability - I worked closely with developers, PM and designers to create designs that adhered to technical limitations (vs. building a native app) and met our deadlines
• the power of clickable prototypes - I found that sending clickable prototypes for review would expedite criticism and produce more pointed, valuable feedback
I crafted all the design work from sketches to the final product. I was also responsible for all the HTML, CSS, and implementing Hammer.js into our project.
My partner was a strong developer, and she was responsible for all of the complex API JavaScript work that made up the core function of our product. Without her, the product certainly would be a lot rougher than it turned out.
We started to source APIs that would help us achieve the features we needed. My partner was instrumental in figuring out how we could meld together multiple APIs to achieve our vision.
Mapbox →
Mapbox gives us an interactive, styleable map to use as the base of our application.
TravelTime →
TravelTime provides isochrones that filter out unreachable locations (customizable by transportation method).
MapQuest →
MapQuest gives us a location database, and codifies them by their type (e.g. cafe, restaurant, etc.).
Hammer.js →
Hammer.js allows us to incorporate common touch and swipe gestures into our app.
As an intern, I was thrilled to be able to make high-impact contributions immediately. It was so awesome to continually collaborate cross-functionally to design pages from the ground up. Though my time here was short, as my second internship it was an amazing place to grow my design, research, and presentation skills. (Also, I got way better at skribbl.io - maybe one day I'll win against the talented Alcumus designers.)
FACTUALLY