Category
Customer
Postion
UX Research & UI Design
Rocket Comm, Space Domain
UX Designer
bridging the knowledge gap between what users know and will need to know
The Interoperable Orbital Service application was a feasibility project exploring multiple stand-alone applications sharing tasks to work towards a common goal by establishing an interoperable platform allowing users to view, combine, and utilize different datasets to form new objectives, procedures, and processes.
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​Design and research bridged the knowledge gap during sprint cycles, providing insights into user and workflow obstacles, which enhanced designs to emphasize decision-making, task guidance, and visualizing orbit determinations.
Disclaimer: Due to government security and NDA, I am not able to disclose unpublicized details about this project.
The nature of this work is confidential, and per DoD compliance, the case study contains fictionalized data and omits project details. The case study presents a summary of my experience and design process.
Project Overview
Challenge
The primary challenge of the feasibility project was limiting design activities to prioritize the minimal viable product, a functional prototype. Emphasizing the MVP required adapting design activities to produce quick results for sharing with development teams and notating the need for additional activities in the project's next phase roadmap.
Responsibilities
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As the Lead UX Designer, I collaborated with stakeholders, project managers, experts, colleagues, and others to develop sprint epics, stories, and Jira ticket objectives, ensuring project progression.
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I coordinated sprints for design and research activities developing research reports, workflows, wireframes, and other artifacts to ensure consistent and coherent design experiences.
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I synthesized audit results, user research, and design recommendations into a UX/UI Roadmap, aligning design solutions with style guide requirements and compliance standards.
User Research
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Continuous discovery with actual users
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Stakeholder engagement and collaboration
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Interviews and design workshops
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Research synthesis and workflow optimization
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Domain Knowledge Research
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Feature Prioritization
User Interface Design
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Design System development
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UI components and patterns
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Accessibility
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Information Architecture
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Conceptual Prototypes
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Rapid Prototyping
Design Process
Process for Success
Utilizing transdisciplinary design to better understand the root problem and knowledge domain, which integrates multiple perspectives, disciplines, and communities to generate diverse solutions that move the entire system forward.
Collaborative Discovery
Engaging with communities and combining multiple fields of thoughtful research with design.
Our foundation for developer engagement by having our dev team participating in research activities and design iterations providing technical insights into complex issues. Continuous design efforts keep the team informed of needed functionality, while provide space to explore known limitations and potential obstacles for meeting operator needs.
Initial Tasks
Discovery, Audits, Design Evaluation
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Initiated tasks to establish the scope and the project manager's expectations for the design team
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Conducted a document audit logging resources, requirements, and shared department responsibilities
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Presented audit report showcasing prior efforts, known limitations, and potential obstacles
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Completed tiered design critique for stand-alone applications, providing heuristic evaluation and improvements
A tiered approach for examining visual appeal, user interface, and interaction design for a compliance audit.
Sharing Design Insights
EPICS, Sprints, Design Concepts
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Collaborated with EPIC definitions and story breakdowns to create Jira tickets for design activities
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Coordinated with Lead Designer utilizing Jira to develop design research plan and roadmap
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Created design concepts to socialize research insights and gather feedback on features and cohesion
Aligning UI elements with research insight to socialize findings and highlight next efforts
User Research
Interviews, Field Observations, Diagrams
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Conducted interviews with subject matter experts, documenting workflows, frustrations, and obstacles
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Participated in on-site field observations revealing user behavior and environmental conditions
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Created status quo artifacts from observation sketches and diagrammed current task processes
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Developed optimized task flow diagrams while annotating potential limitations and issues
Design artifacts utilized to build MVP and notate future development
Iterative Process
Priorities, Features, Wireframes
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Collaborated with Dev teams to prioritize workflows developed for the functional prototype
Reviewed stand-alone applications determining features relevant to workflows and prototype presentation
Created lo-fi wireframes of dashboard visualizing information compilation from several datasets
Wireframes to conceptualize ideas and compile critiques with subject matter experts
Prototype
Concept Refinement
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Conducted guerilla usability testing to gather feedback and synthesized results into wireframe improvements
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Developed spec documentation for dev teams clarifying component interactions, appearance, and functions
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Created hi-fi mockups from AstroUX design system aligning to the project style guide and HCD standards
While I cannot share the applications created for this project, I can share the Flight Dynamic Services Prototype that I helped create at Rocket Communications.
What I Learned
Solving complicated problems with complex workflows requires continuous communication and validation to ensure comprehension. Frequent share outs are useful for keeping multiple parties informed, the secret is to clarifying request for assistance and stating the next step.
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The benefits of continuous research through weekly user engagement
Benefit: allows user to explore shared responsibilities which clarifies user intent and expectations leading to novel solutions which reduces re-work.
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Utilize task optimization and user data for predictive analysis and intelligent defaults
Benefit: providing users with useful defaults enhances adoption and provide a sense of intuitive workflow
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Implement user curation to allow task customization and integrate best practices.
Benefit: allows users to build incorporate tribal knowledge into the system and build from their experiences
