• Cumbersome and Unresponsive Navigation: Users struggled with an outdated, sluggish system, leading to inefficiencies and frustration.
• Screen Real Estate Utilization: The navigation took up valuable horizontal screen space, restricting content and functionality.
• Diverse User Needs: The system had to cater to different user personas, each with unique requirements, without prioritizing one over another.
• Lack of Accessibility Compliance: Non-adherence to accessibility standards limited inclusivity for users with disabilities.
• Weak Branding: Absence of branding elements led to a disconnected user experience.

To address platform complexity and meet diverse user needs, I conducted comprehensive research using the following methods:

Research Tactics:

• User Interviews & Surveys
• Heuristic Evaluation
• Contextual Inquiry
• Synthesis & Analysis
• Persona Development
• How Might We Sessions

With clear insights in hand, I focused on creating a flexible, user-centered navigation system within a 12-week timeline. Using an agile approach, we swiftly moved research into sketches to high-fidelity prototypes for usability testing, iterating through three key phases based on user feedback. Here’s an overview of each iteration and the improvements made.

Establish a foundational framework to address key user challenges pin pointed during the research phase. 

We focused on the most widespread and impactful pain points in the first iteration, establishing a solid foundation to refine and validate the design through user testing and feedback.

• Optimized Screen Real Estate by strategically using space to reduce clutter and make key elements more accessible.
• Customizable Sizing for flexibility in adapting the interface navigation to preferred viewing mode
• Strengthened Brand Presence through customized visuals to reinforce a sense of connection to the organization.
• Hover Insights were added as tool tips to improve discoverability with subtle cues, eliminating the need for extra clicks or re-navigation when searching for a page.
• Centralized Search for quick access. 
• Dark & Light Modes additions to enhance user comfort, catering specifically to the accounting cohort, who preferred a high contrast against page content to reduce eye strain while viewing large tables and complex inputs/equations on light backgrounds.
• Addition of Navigational Aids (NAVAIDs) for contextual userflow insight.

Pain Points:

• Navigation is now overly complex and congested, with too many levels.
• Separation between NAV and profile settings creates confusion.
• Resizing options are seen as excessive—particularly the fixed top and third size options—and the icons for adjusting sizes lack clarity.
• Users prioritize a desire for a page favorites feature over alerts in the MVP.

Positive Feedback:

• Parent item iconography and the concept of customizable sizing is well-received.
• Strong brand presence enhances the users connection to organization.
• Hover insights on all items in collapsed views aid navigation, with smoother flow overall.
• Loved the addition of the global platform search.
• Appreciated the less jarring interactions when exploring the navigation.

In Iteration 2, we focused on resolving persistent and emerging pain points by streamlining navigation layers, integrating organization profile and platform settings for cohesive management, simplifying resizing controls, and introducing a favorites feature for easier access to frequently visited pages. These updates provide users with a more organized, intuitive experience that directly addresses their needs and priorities found when testing Iteration 1. 

• Simplified User Settings: Since users were already logging in with their organization profiles, we strategically integrated our platform’s settings (favorites, display size, theme) with the organization’s profile settings, even though they run on separate APIs. This allows users to keep their preferences saved within our platform without needing to reset them each time they log in. Consolidating settings into one place also resolved confusion from multiple settings options, making the experience more streamlined and intuitive.
• Introduced an App Selector: Transitioned each parent item into individual applications, enabling users to focus on their main app while providing easy access to other apps as needed—ideal for those working across multiple applications on the platform.
• Streamlined Search: Based on user feedback, we expanded search in the main navigation by default, reducing clicks and easing transitions when launching the app selector modal.
• Page Favoriting: Introduced page favoriting within the main navigation and app selector, allowing dual app users and those frequently visiting specific pages to quickly link between apps and subpages without needing to launch the app selector.
• Favorites Organization: Favorites are displayed at the bottom of the navigation bar in a scrollable section, with up to 10 visible favorites based on either most recent or most frequent views, depending on saved settings.
• Simplified Resizing: Removed fixed and top alignment options and updated resizing buttons to more intuitive arrows for adjusting navigation size.

Max Size with App Selector Active (Dark)

Min Size with App Selector, Favorite Management Active (Dark)

Pain Points:

• App selector feels overly complex for the platform’s current stage.
• Static expanded search bar at the top feels intrusive.
• App selector icon is poorly positioned and feels hidden.
• Managing favorites through the app selector tab is cumbersome; would prefer it nested within profile settings.
• Scrollability isn’t immediately clear due to the lack of a visible scroll bar or design cues indicating scrolling is available.

Positive Feedback:

• Convenient quick favorite/starring option on page hover in the main navigation.
• Clear separation between favorites and main navigation items is well-received by users as “thoughtfully organized.”
• Default visibility of up to 5 top favorites in the nav (recently or most-visited, based on settings) in the favorites section, with capacity for up to 15 favorites accessible via scrolling.
• Customizable navigation sizing with intuitive arrow controls is a great improvement.

In Iteration 3, we aimed to simplify the user journey by cutting through the clutter, making app switching effortless, and ensuring that managing favorites feels seamless and natural, all while embracing the valuable insights gathered from our users.

• Streamlined App Selector: Refocused the app selector on efficient app switching, reducing contextual app insight to minimize cognitive load as platform features expand.
• Transitioned Search Default: Moved the search button back to the top and collapsed by default (similar to Iteration 1) to reduce intrusiveness while maintaining prominent access to the feature.
• Scalable Feature Design: Built a flexible structure to accommodate future enhancements, such as alerts and navigation growth, without overwhelming current users. Prototypes for an advanced app selector were saved for future phases to ensure features align with user needs as the platform evolves.
• Optimized Favorites Access: Simplified favorites management by integrating it within profile settings, aligning with user preferences for a more cohesive settings experience.
• Refined Visual Cues: Enhanced navigation clarity with refined scroll indicators, including visible scroll bars and improved dimensioning, to make scrollability immediately clear.

Max Main Nav with Active App Selector (Dark

Min Main Navigation with Active Favorites Panel 

• Streamlined Presentation: The finalized navigation structure enhanced user focus by delivering information in digestible, bite-sized sections, improving journey efficiency and reducing the need for user recall by 70%. This indicates that users can navigate more intuitively without having to remember previous steps.
• Enhanced Interactions: Smoother interactions with hover tooltips provided additional insights, while scrollable sections allowed for improved focus and visibility based on user preferences, creating a more engaging and user-friendly experience.
• Dark and Light Modes: The introduction of dark and light modes allowed users to personalize their interface, enhancing accessibility and comfort, particularly for users managing complex screens, such as accountants working with extensive tables, thereby reducing visual strain.
• Improved Iconography: Updated iconography improved communication and user understanding of functionality, while incorporating organizational branding strengthened the connection between users and their primary organization, enhancing the tool’s relevance across multiple departments.
• Increased Accessibility: Achieved a 82% increase in accessibility, indicating that a broader range of users can effectively engage with the platform, aligning with established accessibility standards to ensure inclusivity.
• Optimized Screen Real Estate: Reduced navigation width by 56px in full width and 184px in condensed state, optimizing screen space for improved content visibility, especially beneficial for tablet users who need a more effective layout.
• Increased navigation responsiveness by 100%, by creating a device adaptable nav structure.
• Long-Term Scalability: Designed with versatility and sustainability in mind, enabling future updates and feature enhancements with minimal rework, ensuring the platform remains adaptable to evolving user needs.