IPM Product Design
Being a designer at EATON is more than just pushing pixels. The entire experience from start to finish required expertise in the UX process. We work with product teams and customers to ensure that the best possible solution is presented to the market.
In the case of IPM, we worked with the team in France to help improve the users experience. We conducted user interviews with individuals in Europe/USA and provided insights on the current application via audits and reviews.
UX Workshops
No assumptions
One of the hardest parts of the job can be breaking the mindset of assuming that you know what the users want. This is definitely the case for a room full of engineers and sales people. Providing facts (with data to back them up) through user research really helped drive the message across. We preformed evaluative research as well as ethnographic research to help get our point across.
Identifying the problem
It all started with paper and sticky notes. Using problem framing techniques, such as Rose, Thorn, Bud) we identified patterns and priorities from the research. We then broke out into small teams to work on the isolated problems.
Quick and dirty
We mapped out design workflows and patterns in a they way of rough sketches to ensure that we left no stone unturned. We went through multiple iterations before we put the paper prototypes in front of users. Along the way we discovered new potential issues and potential solutions to problems not yet considered. Our discoveries saved our development team a lot of time.
Validation
We were fortunate enough to be able to walk the updated paper prototypes by the in house support staff. Getting knowledge directly from the folks that interact with the customers on a daily basis was huge.
What we accomplished
Research
Working with the IPM team, we focused on what users really wanted. We were able to help identify the shortcomings of the current product as well as helped set the team up with a roadmap of future features.
User Testing
We put prototypes in front of actual users. Some users were existing IPM system users while others used competing products. From this we were able to address problem areas before development began, saving a lot of time.
Product Design
Using the feedback gathered from the testing, we provided designs and updated prototypes to the IPM team for development.
