2021

Encodify

I joined Encodify in early 2021, replacing the previous Head of Product Design. Within a few months, we had expanded the squad from a one-man army to a small team of three designers, including myself.

My role was both strategic and hands-on: In addition to coordinating UX/Design across the company, I worked closely with the Product Owner, Product Director, and Development teams, spread across offices in Denmark, the UK, and Ukraine.

Among other achievements, I conducted exploratory customer interviews in English and Spanish with major European clients, collaborated with the CTO to synchronize UX Research and Design activities with software release cycles, introduced unmoderated usability tests to better inform design decisions and delivered several rounds of improvements to the platform UI (see below).

2021

Encodify

I joined Encodify in early 2021, replacing the previous Head of Product Design. Within a few months, we had expanded the squad from a one-man army to a small team of three designers, including myself.

My role was both strategic and hands-on: In addition to coordinating UX/Design across the company, I worked closely with the Product Owner, Product Director, and Development teams, spread across offices in Denmark, the UK, and Ukraine.

Among other achievements, I conducted exploratory customer interviews in English and Spanish with major European clients, collaborated with the CTO to synchronize UX Research and Design activities with software release cycles, introduced unmoderated usability tests to better inform design decisions and delivered several rounds of improvements to the platform UI (see below).

Proofing module improvements

All images © Encodify A/S. All rights reserved.

Encodify is a modular platform for collaboration across entire marketing workflows. One of its core modules is Online Proofing, where teams can streamline approval processes for different materials, such as print, audio, and video. This tool is used in a variety of industries, including large retail chains and global advertising agencies across Europe – like El Corte Inglés, Jysk, Jem & Fix, Netto, Flügger, Hogarth and more.
 

Incremental innovation = incremental satisfaction

It is not always necessary to undergo a complete software overhaul to achieve satisfactory results. Particularly with such a specialized, technical digital tool used daily by around 60,000 people, it is important to be careful to introduce changes progressively, including key users in the process.

UI updates were strategically intended to address main user blockers, improve customer satisfaction with the experience, and increase adoption of newly introduced features.

The (UX) devil is in the details

Some of the usability pain points solved over gradual software releases were as follows:

  • Top bar: better visibility of functionalities, file names and proof status; new features such as locking
  • Bottom bar: repositioning of page navigation, which was blocking the users' view
  • Comments pane: better comments cards with improved contrast and visibility when selected, several new functionalities displayed on hover, sorting & filters, less intrusive 'collapse' icon, comments grouped by location and auto-scroll
  • General: streamlined icons and improved visual balance and space distribution

Data-driven design decisions

Besides product analytics, interviews, and occasional feature requests, unmoderated tests were conducted both to clarify details about Proofing usage and to test design alternatives.

“Power users” were selected and prompted to participate in click tests to help improve the tool. When the number of participants reached statistical significance, heatmaps and task reports revealed the cumulative results.

Finally, a few complementary usability tests consolidated the design decisions, increasing the team’s confidence in the UI changes.

Feet on the ground, eyes in the skies

Strategically, the incremental updates to the Proofing module were intended to be an interim step towards a future iteration containing further usability and visual improvements. This “Design Vision” was intended to inspire and guide future changes and was visually translated into a concept of what the UI could look like in the near future.

 

Other accomplishments

Besides extensive work in the Proofing module, I also helped Encodify to:

  • Establish a bespoke 'Lean Design' process to tackle known UX issues and feature requests across the platform as a whole
  • Design and implement a new functionality to connect multiple modules and automate operations through a complex 'query builder' UI
  • Create a Planning Module consisting of a comprehensive Activities Calendar, connected with other platform functionalities

All images © Encodify A/S. All rights reserved.

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