As an Associate Creative Director (ACD), I was brought into this project to assist a team of UX and UI designers based in Mexico City. The team was facing challenges in meeting the client's needs, and my role was to guide them in planning and executing comprehensive research to understand the users' needs and journeys. Our efforts included conducting employee and user interviews, holding leadership workshops, creating personas, mapping process flows, and developing user journeys. Based on our findings, we provided detailed design recommendations and created wireframes for key screens to illustrate our proposed solutions. This case study outlines the process and outcomes of our collaborative efforts.
- Role: Associate Creative Director
- Time frame: March 2023 - June 2023
- Tools: Figma, Fig-jam, Jira, Deloitte Survey Tool
We organized multiple workshops with the company’s leadership team, including executives and department heads, to align our understanding of the problems with their perspective and gather their insights on potential solutions. These discussions focused on understanding their perception of the issues, their strategic goals, and their vision for the future. The workshops ensured that our research and design efforts were aligned with the company’s strategic objectives and provided valuable insights that informed our design recommendations.
A screenshot from our Figjam workshop board
To gain a deep understanding of the issues faced by both employees and users when seeking assistance for their utilities, we conducted in-depth interviews with employees from various departments, including call center agents, customer service representatives, and technical support staff. Engaging with actual users provided firsthand insights into their experiences and challenges, helping us identify common pain points such as long wait times, unclear communication channels, and difficulty navigating the assistance process. These insights were crucial in validating or challenging the assumptions held by the company's leadership.
A few slides extracted from the research Insights deck
Based on our research, we created detailed personas that represented the diverse needs and behaviors of both customers and employees. Analyzing data from interviews and workshops, we identified common characteristics and behaviors, developing personas that included demographics, goals, pain points, and user scenarios. These personas represented different types of utility users, such as residential customers, business owners, and elderly users, as well as various roles within the company, such as call center agents, field technicians, and customer service managers.
Multiple personas represented customers, partners, and company employees (click to expand)
To map out the existing processes and identify opportunities for improvement, we held several workshops with product teams and members from different departments. We mapped out the current state processes to understand the complexities and bottlenecks, identifying areas where processes were overly complex and inefficient. This exercise highlighted opportunities for streamlining processes and enhancing the user experience, providing a clear direction for our design recommendations.
Two examples of the process flows developed for this project
We created comprehensive user journeys that reflected the current state and envisioned the ideal future state. Mapping out user journeys based on the insights gathered from interviews, workshops, and process flows, we developed user journeys for both the current state and the ideal future state. This exercise highlighted pain points and areas for improvement in the current user journeys and envisioned an ideal future state that addressed the identified issues and enhanced the overall user experience.
Example of current and future state journey maps (click to expand)
We presented actionable design recommendations to the company leadership, prioritizing features for implementation in the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) based on our personas and user journeys. Our recommendations identified key features to be implemented in the MVP to address the most critical user needs and ensured that the recommendations were aligned with the company’s strategic objectives and vision..
Two examples of the design recommendations provided to the client
To visually illustrate our design recommendations and provide a clear direction for the in-house design team, we designed wireframes and prototypes for the most important features. We created interactive prototypes to demonstrate the user flow and functionality, delivering detailed wireframes that outlined the layout and structure of key screens. These deliverables helped the in-house design team understand the user experience and functionality, facilitating the design and implementation process.
Our involvement with this project concluded at the wireframing and prototyping stage. The in-house design team took over our design recommendations and began working on the detailed design and implementation. This collaborative effort resulted in a comprehensive understanding of user needs and a clear roadmap for enhancing the utility assistance experience.
Example of high fidelity wireframes provide to the client