Atlantis
Atlantis is a fully web-based solution for collection management and online publishing of collections from archives, museums, libraries, and archaeology. A wide range of collections, ranging from archive and image collections to handwritten and printed sources, art and literature, construction files, deeds and registers can be managed with Atlantis. Atlantis is also a multimedia information system in which images, audio/video and documents are linked.
Atlantis
My Role
I lead a team of two UI/UX designers and am responsible for user research, product design, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and visual design.
What I do
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Create a project roadmap and user flow using Agile Methodologies for a smooth process.
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Conduct User Research to create optimal products for users.
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Work together with stakeholders and ensure that the requirement document is consistent and in line with the discussions held with the stakeholders or users
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Use usability testing to iterate and refine the designs.
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Manage and delegate work to the design team.
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Work together with the front-end and back-end teams to determine the best possible options for existing and future features.
Requirement
According to the stakeholder feedback taken from their users, Atlantis is not user-friendly and user-centric. They wanted to make the project more user-friendly for new users and add new features to make their product run more smoothly.
Challenge
When we initially interacted with the stakeholders and the technical team, we discovered that this product had previously been on the market but had failed due to the poor user experience. Therefore, they made the decision to completely redesign the platform while barely affecting the code. Therefore, we were only permitted to implement 30% of the additional features.
Process
To help untangle the messiness of ambiguity and give some structure to solving the problems I followed the below process:
0 1
Empathize
Initial Discussion with Stakeholders and engineering team
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Stakeholder interviews: I interviewed key stakeholders to gather insights about business goals and to understand the project end to end. During the interview, they also shared the problems that the users were facing and also tried to comprehend the potential solution.
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Value proposition mapping: For the new functionalities we started with value proposition mapping so as to understand- what it is, who will use it, and why they will use it. It helped the team and stakeholders create a consensus around what the new functionality will be and how it will match user and business needs.
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Concept sketching: I started with an initial sketch to get a better understanding of what was needed and to get on the same page with the team about possible design alternatives.
Problems and concerns discovered post discussion
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Overwhelming UI as it had lot of info and unorganised content
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Not user friendly and user centric
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Analytics showed high bounce rate on searches
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Stakeholders mentioned that during their discussion with user they have mentioned that users gets confused to identify next steps
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Misguided functionality(action icons)
Qualitative Analysis with Usability Testing_Level 1
I questioned 68 users in total and separated them into two groups. Users in one group used the product for more than a year, while users in the other group used it for less than a year.
The interviews was then split into two phases.
I advised the team to incorporate the qualitative research with the first usability testing so that we could identify the users' pain points and learn how they felt about the product given that they had been using it for a while.
Phase 1 consisted of interview questions on the product's present functionality and overall look and feel. The major goal was to figure out what challenges they experience on a regular basis.
Phase 2 I asked about the extra features and improvements they'd want to see in the product to make it easier to use.
Sample Questioned Asked:
What is your first impression about this product?
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Was the interface easy to understand?
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Where do you start from as soon as you land?
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What is the hardest part to achieve?
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What frustrates you the
most?
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Was there anything did not perform as expected?
0 6
Competitive Audit
We looked at our competitors' products and looked at how users interacted with them, as well as the general structure, such as process complexity, features, and user evaluations, to see which elements set them apart.
With the help of qualitative research and usability testing we identified issues in Old Search Result Page
No Search input
box or Advance search
No Option for sorting
Inappropriate
search results
No Filter
Option
Confusing action bar with only icons and tooltip
Overwhelming user interface
High page loading time
Quantitative study showed high bounce rate on search result
Revised problem statement
By this time, we were quite clear that the search—the user's very first screen after signing in—was the source of the issue, not just the complex user interface or the subpar user experience. Below are the key points for the same.
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Not effectively utilizing search
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Interaction issue on action bar/buttons
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Delay in loading of search result
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Inappropriate search result
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Unorganized data
After performing user interviews, quantitative research, surveys, and tracking various metrics, it became evident that users were having
difficulty utilising the search effectively, and that there was also an interaction issue with the action bar, as well as browsing and filtering
search results.
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0 2
Define
User Stories
We started working on the user stories to identify the best possible way to implement the feature.
I spend most of my time maintaining the data at the Literature Museum. I want to be able to find or update data fast and easily, so I can spend less time looking for and identifying actions on the platform and more time doing other things.
I spend a lot of time as a library manager adding or retrieving information from a large database. And it might be aggravating to spend a lot of time retrieving small amounts of data. I'd like this search to be really quick and provide me with the information I'm looking for.
Initial Solutions Impemented
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Redesign the action bar to better place action items by separating them into primary and secondary actions (primary to be seen upfront and secondary to be under more action), allowing users to quickly find the right actions and reducing repetitive interactions.
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Include a search suggestion list and provide the history of keywords in the search suggestion list, which helps to remeber the keyword and provide the relevant search results.
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Included a sorting option that allows users to choose whether to display the most current or older data in the table of search results.
Usability Testing_Level 2
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We conducted usability testing again with users in the stage environment to determine if the outcomes they required were now appropriate or not.
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Also, by this time page loading time was decreased upto 62%.
Results of Usability Testing_Level 2
Results showed us that we still have a long way to go.
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Due to high number of documents stored the users were still not able to find required document.
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Still had high page loading time.
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They liked the sorting, global search suggestion list and also mentioned that new action bar will actually save a lot of time and make the process fast.
Discussion with the Engineering team
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I spoke with the backend team to review all of the potential solutions that could have an influence on search, either directly or indirectly.
In a search query, we discovered the entity-relationship gaps. So, in order to deliver relevant search results, I decided to provide
"advanced search" and "filter" attribute based on schema relationships.
0 3
Ideate
Design Strategy and Final Solutions
We wanted to not only improve the product's general appearance and feel, but we also wanted to analyse and research the problems that our users were having the most.
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As a result, these two pillars served as the foundation for my design strategy and helped me solve the problem.
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Allow users to rely not only on search but also on filters and advanced search in order to obtain the appropriate results.
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Aim for the action bar to make it more concise, readable, and time-saving by removing the tooltip and including the title with action icon.
0 5
UI Designs
Included global search with suggestion list
The action bar has been revamped using text and icons to speed up the process.
Sorting was added to reorder the list.
To improve the accuracy of the result, data table filters were implemented.
Due to the large database, the filter option with subitems also contained search.
Once the filters are applied it becomes chips. This reminded users of the filters that had been added, as well as the need to remove the chips when needed.
Added advance search options with search by thesaurus as the users were quite familiar with it.
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User Testing_Level 3 and Feedbacks
I evaluated the prototypes again by a separate group of users and took some notes. The new styles and ideas appear to be well received by the users, who even offered a few suggestions for filter options to incorporate.
User feedback and testing validated that I am on the correct track to focusing on the product's innovative design ideas.
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Action Bar is very easy to understand.
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Familiar looking as we incorporated thesaurus in advance search.
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I-pad compatible.
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Elegant looking.
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Smart search with filters.
Key Takeaways:
Early discussions with the back-end engineering teams helped me in taking the critical design decisions quickly and saves a lot of time and iterations.
User testing does not cease after development; it is a continuous process that ensures that users are satisfied and that the platform is user-friendly.