(Images blurred to protect IP.)
I do have additional collateral describing the design process for this application, but access is strictly controlled to protect IP. If you are reviewing this portfolio for job purposes, please contact Erica to see more.
You can see a conference presentation that I gave with an abstracted view of the application architecture and details about the chart features here (slides).
Project overview
I am worked as design lead for a suite of products that support the clinical trial planning and monitoring process from 2019-2022, and as a director supervising a team from 2022-2024. I managed a team of 1-8 designers over this interval, and coordinated all team allocation, prioritization, and deliverables. My portfolio as director covered between 8 and 12 products, total; this suite was our largest commercial product.
The product itself supported the clinical trial planning and operations, allowing a study planning team to set realistic goals for their study based on historical industry performance for specific countries and sites, and to forecast their own performance to support planning and evaluate performance against plan in their trials.
During my time on this project, the application grew from a set of filters and a table to a multi-page, two-application suite that supported clinical trial operations, and from an experimental first client partnership to a $25M product. The team put out a new release every month, so we needed to be disciplined, move fast, and stage the work with an agile approach.
Timeline
- 2019: First-ever design engagement: add new filters, data visualizations showing industry average performance to a single-page app.
- 2020: In depth client engagement (weekly design review meetings with the client working team).
- Comprehensive design research for the base product application and a second tool in the product suite, intended for performance analytics.
- Create initial application persona and workflow analysis.
- Add basic AI forecasting metrics to data tables.
- 2021: Improve forecast sophistication and controls. Build second application in the suite with parallel features but a different user base.
- Convert from a single page application to a multi-level information hierarchy.
- Introduce a design style system and support UI conversion.
- Add new pages focused on detailed configuration of forecast options, advanced visualizations, and side by side comparison between two forecasts for improved scenario planning.
- Inform product strategic direction through in-depth user interviews and client feedback analysis.
- 2022: Additional filters, continue UI conversion. Substantial back end rework to support enhanced forecasting and more integrated data between the two applications.
- Research and design to support adding clinical trial diversity metrics. Additional metrics and milestones to enhance information available on main forecasting pages.
- Transition from Illustrator/Axure into Figma. Component library and style system integration.
- Create standing design system pages and establish formal quarterly update process to keep core application collateral refreshed and aligned.
- Cleanup work to support UI migration.
- 2023: In-depth discussion of workflow integration, begin design exploration to restructure app for a more holistic project lifecycle.
- Initial research and ideation to add a third product to the suite.
- Full architecture overhaul, functionality assessment to restructure filters panel and establish an additional level of hierarchy above the core application space.
- Change from static inputs to more dynamic controls with more detailed adjustments. Add metrics reflecting industry crowding and site availability.
- Assess architecture path for broader platform integration.
- 2024: Prepare for platform integration.
- Complete object and workflow analysis. Map local application concepts to platform.
- Align data mastering with broader organization platform, to support nav integration.
- Initial navigation integration
- Restructure page architecture to fit within the new application paradigm.
Design research:
- UX research and product strategy support for the application (including client feedback and usability sessions)
- Collaborate with engagement, managed service, commercial and product teams to develop comprehensive picture of our market, clients, and persona, and to collect feedback on our application and use cases
- Create detailed user persona, process maps, and identify core user tasks for the application
- Built a design research archive containing transcripts, recordings, user feedback, and summary documents for all research and feedback initiatives over a 2 y period, and indexed all materials in a database in Excel to support feedback reporting
Architecture and feature design:
- Rough out high-level concepts and application architecture, map out large-scale workflow updates and refine feature details to support more complex use cases
- Develop requirements, vet technical details and stage out features for development in partnership with the product and engineering teams
- Create designs for all data visualizations and associated functionality within our application suite
- Create and maintain an application-specific component library in Figma and a standing design documentation library
Team and collaboration:
- Hire, manage and mentor a team of designers in developing individual feature designs and refining details to support the application architecture and workflow
- Maintain close working relationships with the design team at our parent org to ensure style guide consistency and alignment between teams, lead conversion to a new style system, and architectural upgrades to support platform expansion
- Weekly standup and stakeholder review sessions for an ongoing partnership with a key client
- Manage project Aha and JIRA boards and produce quarterly team reports, including performance metrics and goal attainment scores