Duco Product Redesign
Digital product redesign focused on project execution.
Who is Duco?
Duco is an online platform where businesses connect with high-end consultants for high-value projects.
Duco’s roster of experts includes former high-ranking government officials, international business and security experts, and other prominent industry executives from around the globe.
The Challenge
Duco’s last re-design was in 2018 when the company was focusing on being a B2B marketplace. Since then, Duco has focused on maximizing the efficiency of its platform to be an internal tool for employees to manage their clients and projects.
In sum, Duco is transitioning their business model away from client managed projects to Duco employee (HQ user) managed projects and the redesign needed to focus on improving the HQ user’s experience.
Target users: Duco employees (AKA Duco HQ)
Team: Julia Delmedico (Lead Product Designer) Chuck Collins (Software Engineer)
Tools: Figma, Miro, Trello
Heuristic Analysis
The first step was to analyze the current platform for usability issues using UX principles (LEMErS).
The most severe UX issues with the current platform were with efficiency and satisfaction
Efficiency
Multi click processes to accomplish high priority tasks such as
Create list (cannot complete from an expert profile)
Add to list (cannot complete from an expert card)
Unclear back navigation
Satisfaction
Text heavy profile pages
Text heavy conversations page
Inconsistent fonts, colors, sizing, buttons (UI)
Finding the ‘Duco HQ’ persona
After conducting a heuristic analysis of the platform it was time to talk to the main target user, Duco HQ about their experience of using the platform. Using affinity mapping, I boiled their answers down down to three main pain points:
Searching for and vetting experts for clients is a time consuming process
HQ uses LinkedIn, Google, and other sites to conduct supplemental research on experts
HQ must read through long bios to find very specific and nuanced information on experts
HQ considers past work experience and media items to be the most important factors when learning about an expert
‘Add to list’ and ‘Create List’ workflows are inefficient
Creating lists and adding experts to lists are multi-step processes and divert from the searching and vetting experience
Project management insights
Priority conversations get lost in inbox
“When managing multiple projects at once, it is hard to keep track of everything (documents, priorities) and every aspect of the differing projects and I’m working on”
Journey Map
Opportunity Areas
Searching for and vetting experts were the most time consuming aspects of projects for HQ
Executing projects in ‘Messages’ could be improved
Meet Demian
Demian needs a way to quickly research experts for his clients and efficiently create expert lists to execute his multiple projects in a timely manner.
“I love working with my clients and helping them find the best experts for their projects, but I get bogged down by searching for experts and managing multiple projects at once”
- Demian
UX/UI Issues with Original Design
The insights below are a summary of heuristic analysis, user interviews, journey mapping and competitive and comparative analysis of the product.
Expert Cards in Search Results
Expert cards are how search results appear to HQ.
Issues in the previous design included:
Multiple icons without labels leading to learning curve for new users
Unable to ‘Add an Expert to List’
No clear CTA on expert card
Expert Profiles
Expert profiles are where HQ users learn about and vet experts for clients projects.
Issues in the previous design included:
Multiple icons without labels leading to learning curve for new users
Unable to ‘Create List’ from ‘Add to List’ flow creating a clunky, multi-step process
No clear CTA on profile
Too many tags allow experts to ‘game the system’ and appear in search results they are not relevant for
Messages
Messages is where HQ communicates with experts to manage their projects.
Issues in the previous design included:
Double panel overwhelmed users with options
Document vault did not include links
Product Redesigns
Redesigns based on user research and heuristics analysis. Below are the final designs, after series of usability testing and stakeholder interviews.
Expert Cards in Search Results
Expert cards are how search results appear to HQ. In the previous design, users were unable to ‘Add experts to List’ from the expert cards creating a 3 step add to list flow.
Design updates include:
Direct links to expert LinkedIn and Twitter accounts for faster research
HQ users can ‘Add Experts to List’ directly from the Expert Card
Ancillary actions are now housed in the drop down menu
Link to Expert resume PDF
Expert Profiles
Expert profiles are the crux of HQ’s search and vetting experience for their clients.
Design updates include:
Direct links to expert LinkedIn and Twitter accounts
“Main Areas of Expertise” to improve weighted search and only serve relevant search results
‘Create List’ flow integrated into the Expert Profile itself
Link to Expert resume PDF
Messages
Messages with experts are HQ’s workspace for executing expert projects. HQ needs to quickly access working documents, contracts, private notes and know which projects that expert is working on at a glance.
Design updates include:
Document and link vault
Expert Projects for context
A cleaner, more satisfying UI
Ability to start a project, set up a meeting, request a signature and attach a file in one click