Project Overview
Verizon Cloud (originally white label Synchronoss Personal Cloud product) from a user perspective gives your subscribers a safe place to back-up photos, videos, contacts, and more. It makes searching, editing, sharing, printing, and organizing a simple and engaging experience on any device.
From the business point of view offer a paid storage plan for users and additional pay services eg. Prints & Gifts
Role & Duration
UI / UX designer, Research, Ideation, discovery, design, prototyping, interaction
January 2014 - current
Tools
Sketch, Zeplin, InVision, Principle, Photoshop, After Effects, User Testing
Problem
However, growing competition on the market, new handset devices and constantly changing mobile possibilities and functions require intentional discovery and adding new functionalities to attract the users and grow paid subscribers.
Since 2014, I have been part of a team that focuses mainly on the needs of mobile users, discovering, designing new functionalities, and improving the current ones.
Respecting the Verizon brand and design system is a big challenge as well. We tried to innovate in terms of concept, functions, and animations but we needed to respect Verizon guidelines on any design step to make sure we were not breaking any of their design system’s rules.
Work Overview
Verizon Cloud is a continuous project that takes place in the Agile (Waterfall) methodology, and we currently have a well-working process for UI and UX departments that support different Agile Teams at the same time. The project is developed on different platforms such as web, mobile, or TV.
This Case Study describes the overall process and tools that support the project as a whole but as well a two example processes to specify and design additional functions.
Overall Process Overview
We are working in Agile Methodology using the Design Thinking process for each sprint iteration to improve existing or develop new functionalities.
Empathize and Define
For each sprint iteration UX team schedule and conduct new user researches for example:
Method: Diary Study.
Goal: Uncover unmet needs.
●
Method: Kano Survey
Goal: Better understand how end-users perceive proposed features to inform our product roadmap.
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Method: Customer Interviews
Goal: Understand customer needs and ideas for the future.
Additionally, we are collecting feedback from end-user using:
● Forums
● In-App feedback
● Performs survey with cust. research team to gather feedback.
● Checks app reviews daily.
● Work with the customer care team to understand feedback.
● Test some new features through the beta program
● Discover new personas.
Ideate and Prototype
The research and reports we get give us an excellent base to create or update user journeys and discover and test new functionalities for products.
New user needs and collected feedback for new goals, functions, all the ideas landing in our backlog for incoming sprints.
Sometimes low fidelity mock-ups and/or rapid prototypes were created at this stage to better understand the concept for future work.
For new functionalities, I apply a user-centered design process that helps to reduce the amount of work and unnecessary steps.
Most of the research is done on the previous steps so at this stage most of the requirements are currently defined.
Example 1
Redesign Web Share Experience (Web Portal)
Problem
Too many options in the share panel that make the experience not intuitive and confused for the user.
Share options not designed inconsistency with the mobile experience.
There is no option to share with multiple contacts at the same time.
Research and Brainstorm
The competitive research was done to compare similar services, based on it we brainstorm and ideate selected options for web share experience.
Research observations:
● Share with a specific, predefined group
● Option for view only and edit
● Option to block download
● Manager access option (owners list)
● Personal message to add
● The expiration date for share
● Password protection option
● Possibility to add multiple contacts
● Option for view only and edit
● Option to block download
● Manager access option (owners list)
● Personal message to add
● The expiration date for share
● Password protection option
● Possibility to add multiple contacts
Solution
We need a way to share content as a link or attachment to multiple contacts (at one time) that are on his contact list or not. Reduce the number of options and make the experience more intuit and user friendly.
Design Solution
In this step, I designed high-fidelity screens to demonstrate selected solutions for the feature.
The Zeplin designs were shared along with the clickable inVision prototype with the Engineering team for feedback and detection of possible restrictions in implementation.
Evaluate Design Solution
After meetings with UI/UX and Engineering teams we define that we can simplified the solution even more to reduce first step panel to display just two options (copy a link, share a link or attachment).
The new requirements was added: "create share list so we can share with multiple contacts in one time"
I propose new UI designs and layouts explorations what was again presenter to the team for feedback.
Evaluate Design - Final Design
Subsequent meetings brought new ideas and improvements to functionality as follow:
● moving "copy a share " to share a link panel what eliminate completely the first step
● compared to google search functionality the "custom input field" and "search contact field" was connected to one input field so no user can share with custom contact or person from his contact list.
● added an option add a contact from recent share list (to be designed as separate functionality)
● added layout options (vertical and horizontal) for testing purposes.
👍
The designs were ready for testing with real users and transferred to the research & user testing calendar.
Example 2
Design Shared Section Experience (Mobile)
Problem
No sharing section was designed for currently shared content in a mobile environment.
The user's expectation is to have the history of shared files, to be able to revoke access to files, and possibly to manage users to whom the files have been shared.
Research and Brainstorm
Performing the competitive research (Dropbox, OneDrive or iCloud) and brainstorming the ideas and limitations with a team we develop a bone for architecture that contain the following actions steps:
● Design shared section with recently shared files and a full history
● Ability to revoke access for single share (single files or group of files)
● Option to reuse the same share link that was created before
● View personal message for that share
● Investigate of possibility creating a manage section (for every single file or group of files) where we can manage access of members for that share (to revoke access only for selected users)
● Design a setting section for each link eg. Set up link expiration date etc.
Design Solution
I started to design a high-fidelity wireframes and inVision prototypes to test and demonstrate selected solution features.
Designs was shared along with UI/UX and Engineering team for feedback.
Evaluate Design Solution
Performing a few meetings with team members we define more requirements and remove functions that were impossible to implement in the current stage of the application and development limitations. Major changes to apply was:
● Removing the Member and Setting Section completely as it really complicate the experience from the front-end and back-end perspective (to consider in future implementations)
● Adding search and tabs for the main sharing section to filter Links and Attachments and eventually highlight the different share styles.
● Adding a share history section to list all shares for a single file (even if exist in a group of shared files) so we can easily revoke all access for the file from one place.
A new business need that was discovered was to limit the number of generated share links for a single object (field or group of files).
Final Design
Subsequent meetings and rapid user research brought new ideas and improvements to functionality simplified the whole solution to a minimum, removing too many options and keeping the experience clear and functional.
👍
The designs and prototypes were delivered.
UX department has everything for scheduled user test and final release.