Keywords: UX Research, Strategy, Requirements Management, Prototyping, UI, User testing
Role: Product designer
Company: 12iD AB
I lead the design process for product development for the 12iD app and 6 related products. My work includes UX Research, Strategy, Wireframes, Prototyping, Usability Review, Usability Testing, development of the Design System, among others. The product team currently consists of a Product Owner, a Mobile App Developer, and 2 Full Stack developers. I also work partially with the Machine Learning and Business Development team.
12iD is a multi-authentication solution to issue digital identities and identify end-users uniquely. Providing an all-in-one mobile solution for digital authentication, login, and electronic signing. The company was founded in 2019, focusing on the Asian market. 12iD also collaborates in developing ID solutions for a company in the logistics industry in Sweden, that requires reliably digital documentation and signing.
Design process
My design process begins with a focus on understanding the product requirements, stakeholders, business goals, and end users. I usually do this through document review, team sync, and product testing. I also familiarize myself with the terminology, technology, and industry to gain a deeper understanding of the product positioning. I always maintain a beginner's mindset when approaching a new product, as this helps me to see the possibilities and to avoid making assumptions.
When doing user research, I try to always be aware of how my own biases can affect my views and interpretations. I know that my personal experiences can shape the way I see the world, and that this can lead to me making assumptions about users that are not accurate. To mitigate this, I constantly learn and challenge my own assumptions. I also take the time to understand the mental models that users have when doing different tasks. This helps me to predict their needs and design products that are intuitive and easy to adopt.
As a lead designer, I am responsible for a variety of projects. Below I will go into further detail on five selected projects.
Project 01: Document Signing & Management Platform
Upon joining 12iD in 2022, my first task was to get onboard on their newest collaboration project and design a platform for document signing and management that would be connected with the 12iD app. For this project, we worked closely with the partner company for user research, developing and testing.
Problem: The logistics industry at a large scale still manages most of the legal transaction documents on paper. When they transport goods, many people from different companies are have document signing obligations. The process of transporting goods is highly complex and is full of on-site contingencies that need to be solved in order to complete the mission as fast as possible.
My task was to develop an online platform that will work together with the 12iD app, for signing and managing these legal documents in an easy and effective way, that will digitalize the process and help make it faster for all parties involved.
Research: I had no previous experience in the delivery industry, so I had to start from the very basics. I researched current reference projects and historical references to gain an understanding of the industry. I worked closely with the Service Designer of the partner company to understand the user's journey and pain points. Based on our findings, we conducted a series of brainstorming sessions with my team to generate ideas for solutions. I then started wireframing to visualize our ideas.
Prototyping and testing: Once I developed the prototype and the developers started working on it, the Product Owner and I had testing meetings with the partner's team, where some of the end users were giving feedback on our approach. The next stage is an on-site testing of the system.
Project 02: Democorp Platform
In parallel with the first project, I was assigned to work on a Democorp platform that was designed for demonstrating to potential clients how the 12iD app would work with their systems. Democorp is both an online platform and an app, which are usually used by the Sales team in their Demo sessions.
Problem: By the time I got assigned to this project, the app was having trouble and crashing often which caused issues for the Sales team. The Democorp platform was not responsive and was not a suitable replacement for the app. My task was to make a new Democorp platform that is responsive, in the shortest time possible, so the Sales team could book Demos again.
Wireframing : Keeping a tight sync with the development team was essential to the success of this project. We held regular meetings to discuss our ideas and make decisions together. This ensured that everyone was on the same page and that the project stayed on track. As a result, the project was successfully implemented in just 3 weeks.
Project 03: Admin Panel Platform
Another product in the 12iD ecosystem is Admin Panel, an online platform where the clients can approve and manage their customer's digital identities provided by the 12iD app.
Problem: The platform was originally designed by developers and it had usability issues, responsive problems, and didn't comply with the brand guidelines. Along with that, there were new features that needed to be implemented. My task was to create a roadmap for the development of the platform and make it more user friendly, which included audit, testing, suggesting changes, and designing and prototyping the new features.
Usability Review & Research: After auditing and testing, I created a development strategy for the platform that prioritized usability improvements. I documented the issues I found and why they needed to be addressed, and I proposed suggestions with wireframes. I discussed my recommendations with the product team and we agreed on a plan of action.
Once the usability changes were implemented, we moved on to improving the platform's brand guidelines and responsiveness. In parallel, I also began planning a round of user tests. I created a user profile, questions, and scenarios for the test to ensure that we were meeting the needs of our users.
Prototyping & testing: I created a Figma document with the design from scratch for the prototype, incorporating the suggested changes. This document will serve as a basis for future design tasks. I recruited people who matched the user profile and began the testing process. The testing is still ongoing and once it's finished I will use the feedback to make further improvements to the prototype.
Project 04: React Native app
The React Native app is the central app at 12iD. It is meant to be used by clients of partner companies for onboarding, login, transactions, authentication and signing. My task is to continuously review it, test it, design new features and create a strategy for development.
Usability Review, Research & Strategy: I started by reviewing the app to familiarize myself with its features. As the app uses Machine Learning and Blockchain, I needed help from the team to understand the specifics of its functionality. This would help me to design solutions that took the app's capabilities into account. My usability review was based on the Usability Heuristics for Nielsen Norman Group, Accessibility guidelines, UX best practices and my own prior knowledge. I also checked the Figma document to see if there was misalignment between the app and the prototype and discussed how to process either updating the app or the prototype. I created a preliminary list of requirements and gave it to the team.
I continued with the research part where I analyzed the competitors and their apps and suggested conducting qualitative research with end-users because none had been done previously. I created a plan for the methodology and recruitment, and I started the process, which is still ongoing. In the meantime, I have been assigned to design different features for the app such as: improve the Recovery Details flow, Live Biometrics live instructions and illustrations, ID documents frames for ML, among others.
Project 05: Webpage
One of my latest projects was to update our website with the goal of making it clearer to potential clients about our technology, how our app works, and our company. I also wanted to make it more appealing to investors. My task is to design and implement the design into our Squarespace platform.
Research, Analysis & Prioritization: My first step was to define the users of our webpage. The primary users and targets are potential clients and investors. However, the page is also intended for potential employees and end-users of the app. I developed a strategy for qualitative and quantitative research based on interviews, surveys, observation, data analysis, and competitor analysis. My goal was to understand what was unclear about the current information on the webpage, what was missing, and how we could improve it. I analyzed the qualitative data using an affinity diagram, which gave me clear insights into the main areas of concern for users. I also listed the opportunities and where they could be implemented on our webpage. Additionally, I created a list of requirements that gathered all of the information from my research and prioritized it according to value and time. I discussed the findings and prioritization with the CEO and sales team, and then began the design & update. The project is still ongoing.
Affinity diagram