Role & contribution
Led design and strategy for the Workplace Experience and the Individual Experience, focusing on elevating visual design and improving partnerships with product as a CSPO, and developing and improving team processes.
On leadership pod, supporting alignment across product, engineering and design functions
Led redesign and re-platforming of outdated B2B and B2C experiences to bring delight and improved functionality
Developed new features based on user research that support evolved needs and capabilities while demystifying finance for users
Served 7 digital products across Transamerica’s product ecosystem as design system lead, managing 4 designers and 2 UI developers
Managed backlog and roadmap of design components, conducted research and developed components to increase efficiency
Researched and recommended improvements to office interior design to improve morale, employee retention, and workplace harmony
Background (Workplace Experience)
The Workplace Experience, or, WX, is an application for Transamerica Client Plan Sponsors to manage their employees enrolled in Transamerica benefits, such as a 401(k). This platform is dedicated to large and mega-markets.
The WX is a newer version of the legacy system called, Plan Sponsor Direct (PSD). Additionally, TA-Retirement is another legacy platform meant to handle the same tasks but for small to mid market clients. The end goal was to merge the two into one single system with improved IA, UX and VizD.
Initial work was very innovative. In the early stages, there was no roadmap, and fewer constraints around look & feel.
We acquired research and prior designs from a outsourced company, and were still looking to add a Transamerica touch to the experience. I had the opportunity to explore more insightful views and designs for proposed features. I was able to look at the experience with a clean slate.
Opportunity
Plan sponsors must use two different platforms to access all plan and participant information and to execute daily tasks. The WX, a platform for large and mega market clients, needed an improvements to information architecture and visual design.
Challenges
Operating as a small “startup” within a 100 year old company had it’s challenges. From inherited designs to an outdated code base, there were limitations in capabilities and resources, as well as an ever-changing scope.
Leadership & management
Processes
As an early member of the digital design team at Transamerica, I had the opportunity to define a design workflow that suited our team.
Product management
Throughout numerous changes in business goals, team churn and shifting deadlines, there was a need to lock down the scope of work and reevaluate what was technically feasible, what was valuable, and where those two things intersect.
I put together a presentation to show a comparison of the original scope to what we were moving forward with for the MVP release. The scope was based on data gathered from research that honed in on customer needs. It seemed that the MVP would be less usable and valuable than the legacy platform. Additionally, I acquired my certification as a scrum product owner to more effectively collaborate with product while ensuring design is being supported.
Design
Visual Design playground
The WX Dashboard went through a number of explorations and transformations. Changes focused on visual design as well as incorporating small UX enhancements to make the page more insightful and easier to use.
Enhancement of the dashboard leaned heavily on visual design, improved navigation, and an aggregate view of all plan information.
Dashboard version 1
Participant Search
A global search field above the navigation provides quick access to participant information on any page.
Next Best Actions (NBAs)
With more robust and accessible data, intuitive Next Best Actions (NBAs) guide users to take action on the plans and participants they manage.
Additional UI Enhancements
Three frequently-performed actions are accessible via buttons with badge indicators.
Image of version 1 of WX dashboard with enhancements
Image of version 1 of WX dashboard with enhancements
Dashboard version 2
Participant Search
The global search is more easily-found in same container as the primary navigation with increased contrast and higher emphasis.
Next Best Actions
Card style for next best actions aligns with the rest of the cards on the page.
My Profile Module
A smaller container with commonly-performed tasks stands out and takes up less page real estate. Using a photo with a gradient overlay brings the page to be more aligned with the Transamerica brand.
Dashboard version 3
Data Visualization
Data visualization stands out more and provides additional data and the option to take further action via button.
Next Best Actions
Charms have higher emphasis on the page when placed within dark rectangular containers, making the NBA categories more scannable.
My Profile Section
A full-width section allows other components on the page to have more flexibility to move and respond to different breakpoints.
MVP Design
Due to technical and time constraints, we launched with a much leaner design, but functionally and visually for the Workplace Experience. Rather than an aggregate dashboard, information surfaced on the homepage was plan-specific, which made for a more feasible MVP launch.
Sales demos
I created two interactive prototypes in Axure so that our sales team could engage customers at off-site events, as well as customer tours in-house.
Card design exploration
I provided options for a more scannable and delightful way to view information, while encouraging users to take action. Card explorations varied with adjustments to size, motion, CTA styles, and visual hierarchy.
Results and Impact
The designs that we were able to release, including improved search functionality, were light-years ahead of the legacy platform.
The first MVP release went out to 12 beta clients. The descoped features would be focused on for another release and allowed us more time to do research and validate assumptions and designs. This also bought us time to continue to seek access to real users in order to assure the best customer experience.
There was also a greater sense of “team.” In the process of advocating for the user, we were able to communicate the capabilities of the UX Team beyond “making it pretty” or “making it pop.” Product management was able to gain a better understanding of UX, UI and how strategy is present and essential key in both.
The Individual Experience
Role and Contribution
Design Lead - As the Design Lead on this pod, the majority of my work involved iterating upon and on existing designs as well as validating them. I moved through the design process, touching all points from wireframes to visual design, and finally, to handoff to development. I was also responsible for participating in UAT testing. The more I immersed myself into the Pod, I recognized the need for more strategic alignement with the Advisor Experience Pod (AX).
I had the opportunity to revise both the flow and design of the Delivery Preferences feature for Individual Experience, which will be leveraged by all products for the company. Below is the work for R1 for this, and research and validation is currently being done to in order to add enhancements for the next release.
Audience: An individual or participant with an annuity or life insurance.
Opportunity
The Individual Experience has not had a release yet, but is working hard to bring in features from two legacy products to allow individuals to manage their annuities and life insurance. My role as the design lead on this pod was to strategize and design for an MVP at a feature-parity level, while also providing light UX enhancements. Some of these features include eDelivery, Policy Details, and tools such as Past Values Calculator and Rate of Return Calculator.
Additionally, I designed much larger enhancements, flows and features for this product that are set for a feature release. IX is expected to release in May 2020.
