Product Type: Media Scheduling Software
Scope: Initial concept to development hand-off
End Users: Internal Media Scheduling Team

Process
Discovery, Defining Problem, Designing, Delivery

Discovery & User Research Method

Contextual inquiries and moderated interviews with 10 participants, to capture both qualitative and quantitative data. User responses were analyzed using affinity mapping to determine the features needed by users and their priority.

User Pain Points 

• Users needed a more efficient way to conduct a complicated data-entry process.
• Users spent a lot of time searching separate databases in order to build detailed media orders.
• Users spent a lot of time on repetitive editing tasks for multiple titles in large orders.
• Challenge: Space efficient way to select and add from multiple datasets to build media orders in one product.

User Needs & the User Journey

Based on user feedback, the majority of users needed:

1. A one-stop shopping experience to search for and make selections from separate datasets while building multi-layered orders.
2. A scalable way to add detailed features to order titles individually and in bulk.
3. A way to save their order for later instead of submitting immediately.
4. A way to monitor order-processing once submitted to take additional action on orders once processed by other departments.

Defining the Problem

Leading Product Team meetings to analyze the affinity mapping, frame the problem, and define metrics.

Designing Wireframes, Mockups and Prototype

1. I designed wireframes based on the user journey map and existing team UI patterns.
2. I reviewed wireframes with the Design Team.
3. I created high-resolution mockups and an interactive prototype.
4. I helped to conduct design validation research using moderated interviews with 5 participants interacting with the prototype.

My Strategy

1. Referenced consumer-facing applications for layout strategies that would simplify order processing and navigation.
2. Using a split-screen layout to display a main content area and a nav drawer for editing options.
3. Using the main content area to select titles individually or in bulk and using the nav drawer to display editing options for titles selected, to maximize workflow scalability.
4. Added action buttons over editing area to create a simple stepper guiding user through process, to simplify navigation.
5. A Summary Dashboard to monitor and manage orders.
6. A New Order Screen allowing advanced title searching with an expandable nav-drawer for assembling titles, saving orders, and selecting orders for editing.
7. A series of Order Editing Screens, for layering features onto order titles in the order of user selection availability.
8. An Order Tracking Screen for monitoring order progress across multiple departments.
9. Designing consistent screen layouts and UI patterns throughout product to eliminate need for user training.

Result
Design validation research revealed that 100% of the 5 users interviewed believed this product would meet their tasking needs and relieve all their pain points. The product specs were handed off to the Development Team for production.