The Dashboard Boosts 30% Business Owner Satisfaction

FINAL OUTCOME

70%+ Happy Users

40%+ Conversion Rates

As the solo designer, I spearheaded a comprehensive redesign of the dashboard of Anchor Systems by Hornblower. Through collaborative feedback sessions with business partners, I crafted an intuitive and user-centered design that significantly enhanced user experience, efficiency, and satisfaction – ultimately driving conversion rate growth!

Key improvements include: Streamlined tracking Personalized experiences Easy access to insights Smoother report and sharing processes

Impact: - 70% happier customers - 40% conversion rate - Recognized in the industry - CityPASS, Expedia & Toronto Zoo Adoption

THE CONTEXT

Anchor Systems by Hornblower seeks to enhance its desktop experience with a user-friendly dashboard, improving user experience and conversion rates for its 60M+ tickets sold across 15 countries.

THE PROBLEM

Originally developed for iPod, the system missing a user-friendly dashboard. This gap hinders end-to-end data analysis, leaving business owners without timely, data-driven insights and a satisfying user experience.

Image above: The Anchor Systems originally designed for iPod

Please note the content has been edited to comply with non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)

THE OBJECTIVE

Research, strategize and design an end-to-end dashboard experience to help business owners to view and manage sales activities. The primary goal is to boost both conversion and users satisfaction by 10-20% to the previous MVP.

Customer Understanding

Initially, we lacked insight into customer, the business owner wants, needs, and expectations. To address this, we conducted a 2-week research sprint, completing:

18 In-Depth user interviews using Contextual Immersion
Affinity Mapping, Journey Mapping, and Heuristic Evaluation to gather insights
Regular stakeholder updates for alignment

Interesting Finding from User interviews and Use cases investigations

My process of human-centered interaction research and observation :

Use Case 1: Dashboard Navigation

Users often get lost in the current dashboard navigation, leading to frustration and decreased productivity.
Users have difficulty finding specific features and functions, resulting in wasted time and effort.
Users desire a more intuitive and streamlined navigation experience.

Use Case 2: Reporting and Analytics

Users struggle to generate reports and analyze data, citing complexity and lack of customization options.
Users need more flexible and user-friendly reporting tools to support their decision-making processes.
Users want real-time data and analytics to inform their actions.

Use Case 3: Customization and Personalization

Users want more control over customizing their dashboard experience, including layout, content, and notifications.
Users desire personalized recommendations and insights based on their usage patterns and preferences.
Users need more flexibility in tailoring the dashboard to their individual needs.

Use Case 4: Collaboration and Communication

Users often struggle to communicate and collaborate with team members, citing lack of transparency and visibility.
Users need more effective tools and features for sharing information, assigning tasks, and tracking progress.
Users want seamless integration with existing communication and collaboration platforms.

Interesting findings:

User Proficiency: Many users are not tech-savvy, requiring an intuitive and user-friendly interface.
Feature Adoption: Users underutilize features due to lack of understanding or awareness.
Data Sharing: Inefficient data sharing patterns hinder collaboration and productivity.

Product Overload: Users are overwhelmed by multiple products per month, leading to feature fatigue.
Navigation Complexity: Inefficient navigation patterns make it difficult for users to find and share data.

Interaction Focus Findings:

Cognitive Load: Users experience high cognitive load due to cluttered interfaces and complex interactions.
Intuitive Interactions: Users expect intuitive interactions that align with their mental models and habits.
Consistency: Users need consistent interactions across the platform to reduce confusion and errors.
Feedback: Users require timely and clear feedback to understand the results of their interactions.
Error Prevention: Users benefit from design elements that prevent errors and guide them towards successful interactions.

Key Interaction Principles:

User-Centered: Users expect interactions that prioritize their needs, goals, and behaviors.
Contextual: Users need interactions that adapt to their context, including device, location, and task.
Seamless Transitions: Users want seamless transitions between interactions to maintain their flow and focus.
Flexibility: Users require flexible interactions that accommodate their individual preferences and needs.
Learnability: Users benefit from interactions that are easy to learn and remember.

Conceptualise: Turning Insights into Strategy

Design Goals & Objectives

Redesign the dashboard to improve user experience and increase efficiency
Enhance customization and flexibility for diverse user needs
Simplify reporting tools and streamline information architecture

Secondary Research & Product Strategy

Conducted secondary research to inform product strategy and experience
Created affinity maps to visualize customer needs and pain points
Prioritized customer pain points, wants, and needs

Affinity Map Insights

Uncovered core needs: simplified reporting tools and single-screen activity viewing
Identified common pain points:

Unfamiliar design
Communication challenges across teams
Confusing menu bar and non-intuitive design

Customer Journey Map Insights

Mapped dashboard setup frustrations and key decision points
Identified user drop-offs and areas for improvement
Derived key takeaways:

Prioritize usability
Enhance customization and flexibility
Emphasize information architecture

Task Prioritization & Stakeholder Alignment

Identified key pain points, wants, and needs through insight synthesis
Classified and presented findings to stakeholders for alignment
Prioritized pain points and needs using the MoSCoW method

Design Principles & Guidelines

User-centered design
Consistency and simplicity
Flexibility and customization
Clear information architecture
Detailed design principles and guidelines for typography, color scheme, and iconography

User Feedback and Testing

Conducted usability testing to validate design decisions
Incorporated user feedback to identify areas for improvement
Iterated and refined design based on user feedback and testing results

Key Findings:

Users need intuitive navigation and streamlined reporting.
Customization and personalization are crucial for user engagement.
Seamless collaboration and communication tools are essential.

DESIGN Key point 1.

How might we...

Create an intuitive data visualization hierarchy for seamless transitions from overview to detail?

Easy Data Interpretation in layers!

Friendly Dashboard for Busy Biz. Owner: informative and easy to interpret data intuitive use & avoid overwhelmed setting customization

Deliver comprehensive analytics that empower users with insights without overwhelming them

Instructive microcopy for intuitive data interpretation: displays surface-level data initially, and interacting with it reveals deeper insights.

Key point 2.

How might we...

Empower user customization while maintaining a cohesive experience?

Personalized Dashboard Experience with Flexibility!

Needs-Based Customization: Tailor the dashboard with relevant events and data, ensuring a personalized experience that aligns with their unique requirements.

Automated Event Updates: Automatically display current events from users, providing real-time insights and enabling proactive decision-making.

Customization and Flexibility: Comprehensive event categories from current, past, to future events, prepared for onboarding new and overwhelmed users.

Key point 3.

How might we...

Present information to minimize cognitive load and maximize clarity?

Prioritize Usability Improvement!

current issues:

unclear actions
confusing icons
disorder hierarchy

Clear action explanations through microcopy and streamline actions with grouping
Color and text to conveying important information
Create visual hierarchy and status indicators
Ensuring readability

User-Centered Design Alignment Conduct user testing to clarify design decisions, align stakeholders around user needs, and ensure user-centered design.

Ex. Stakeholders are thinking if it’s better with icon for the status. So we perform a A/B testing with users

While color and shape can effectively convey information, the badge's prominent display of status led to unnecessary attention and false clicks, as users mistakenly believed clicking it would resolve issues.

To address this, we're keeping the badge with a subtle colored dot to clearly indicate status. Plus, we've moved actions to the top of the data table, making it easier to find what you need and take action quickly.

Improved Navigation Enhances Dashboard Efficiency: Bad Menu blocking the discovery rate and efficiency of the dashboard.

current issues:

15+ main menu items
Lack of clear hierarchy
Overlapping categories
Unrelated groupings
Readability issue

Previous menu hindered dashboard performance. I've optimized the sidebar menu to enhance accessibility, boost discovery, and increase user engagement, helping users quickly find key insights and take action with confidence.

Improving with Information Architecture skills:

Mapping out current side navigation menu