OVERVIEW
BlueWave ID was the first ever project where I worked on as a UX/UI designer. I joined the team in March 2022, as a trainee, at the same time as a senior designer who was responsible for laying the foundations of the user interface, during the first two weeks, so I could follow his work up afterwards. The stages of UX research and analysis had been previously executed by our Business Analyst, so we were already aware of the users’ pain points and needs, as well as their goals.
Client : internal – KCSiT’s R&D Department
Team : the team’s composition varied greatly throughout the project’s time frame, however, in total, 9 people, who carried out multiple roles at a time, contributed to this project - 1 Product Manager, 2 Product Owners, 1 Scrum Master, 1 Business Analyst, 1 Data Scientist, 1 Machine Learning Engineer, 2 UX/UI Designers, 4 Full-stack Junior Developers, 1 QA Tester
Time frame : October 2020 - March 2023
My Role : UX/UI Designer
Problem statement & INNOVATION
when collecting data and monitoring cetaceans – which involve human and material resources that are often difficult to acquire -, guides and researchers face challenges such as an unstable environment (paper is not really that viable for data annotation); data (in)accuracy; lack of equipment to obtain GPS coordinates; loss or dispersion of information; data inconsistency and work repetition (frequent data report in paper sheets or data insertion in systems).
Innovation : a solution that allowed for faster and more efficient data insertion and classification in the cetacean photo identification process, with Deep Learning at its heart, for object detection and semantic segmentation.
My contribution
I contributed to this project on a part-time basis, while simultaneously working on other projects within the R&D department. I:
- Promoted weekly design reviews, as well as sporadic prioritization workshops;
- Structured information architecture;
- Built low and high-fidelity designs, from wireframes to mock-ups;
- Created a design system;
- Prepared and delivered presentations to stakeholders, to effectively communicate design value increments;
- Performed iterative design hand-offs and supported developers during the development stage.
Feedback records from 3 design review sessions. I do not avoid the implicit chaos and use Adobe XD's canvas for everything related to the process.
Thought process to understand where a certain functionality should be added in the application; presented at a design review.
Wireflows presented to stakeholders in order to gather feedback on how the homepage should be structured.
Results
Progression from conceptual wireframes to high-fidelity mock-ups, adhering to a design system, was achieved, which enabled smooth design hand-off, as well as a guided app development. This resulted in an accurately developed product. The design review sessions ensured continuous improvement not only of the application, but of everyone involved in this process, as well as alignment with project goals. Internal stakeholders provided positive feedback on the usability and functionality of the app, indicating that it met the intended research objectives. Also, because there was, prior to my arrival, a design skills gap in the team, the results achieved in this regard were well appreciated and, I noticed, generated an entertaining enthusiasm.
Reflection
This project was a fruitful introduction to the world of UX, meaning, due to its complexity, an upgrade to my technical and soft skills. It certainly provided me with:
- Valuable growth opportunities, as I learned about UX foundations;
- Insight on how to carry out designs put in motion by another team mate;
- Insight on how to create a design system and strive for consistency and scalability, even when concepts weren’t yet settled for me;
- Insight on how to conduct a design review session, improving my ability to solicit and integrate constructive feedback;
- Insight on how to best execute a design hand-off and support developers during the implementation phase;
- Insight on how to enhance my understanding of technical constraints (the app was development in a low-code platform) and collaboration.