Intro
I completed this case study as part of the Memorisely UX/UI Design immersive program. The goal of this case study was to find a creative solution to advance Miro's placement in supporting businesses as they adapt to new post pandemic hybrid work environments. Miro served collaborative team meeting space during the pandemic. With the reopening of physical offices, there is a need to pivot the application to accommodate new hybrid work environments in support of business goals.
Role
Product Strategy
User Research
UX Design
UI Design
Usability Testing
Tools
Miro
Typeform
Figma
Timeline
5 weeks
The Problem
👀 Questions & Observations
To better frame any problems with the product, I began by formulating questions and observations. To easily document my assessment I followed a disciplined the structure [situation], [response], [problem to business or experience] to ensure full awareness of user and business needs.
When [employees are placed in a hybrid work environment], users [may be given work applications that cater to remote teams], which causes [employees to not feel heard by meeting facilitators]
When [teams are divided by their working locations], users [tend to feel isolated], which causes [productivity to be low as a result of irregular connection to other team members]
🔍 UX Research
To confirm my observations and begin forming a hypothesis backed by data, I drafted a survey to uncover the core problems with the product with the goal to prioritize user and business needs.
✏️Survey Question
1.Are you currently working in a fully remote environment?
Yes| No
2.If yes to the above, has your place of employment talked about a post pandemic work plan/ a potential return to office?
Yes| No
3.Have you ever worked in an hybrid work environment? (a split between working in person and working from home)
Yes|No
4.What type of resources would you want to be made available to you if you were working in a hybrid environment?
5.What specific types of web resources would you want made available to you if you were working in a hybrid work environment?
6.If you were to work in a hybrid environment what do you believe would be your biggest challenge?
Difficulties with productivity| Difficulties navigating work based applications whether at home or in the office| Not feeling heard or being left out by the divide of the hybrid work environment| Difficult time differentiating who is working at the office versus at home
📈 Synthesis
After conducting my user survey, I synthesized the findings to identify user pain points to understand the perspective of users
| Are you currently working in a fully remote environment | Difficult time differentiating who is working at the office versus at home | Difficulties navigating work based applications whether this be at home or in the office | Difficulties with productivity | Have you ever worked in an hybrid work environment? (a split between working in person and working from home) | If yes to the above, has your place of employment talked about a post pandemic work plan/ a potential return to office? | Not feeling heard or being left out by the divide of the hybrid work environment | What specific types of web resources would you want made available to you if you were working in a hybrid work environment? | What type of resources would you want to be made available to you if you were working in a hybrid environment? | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Difficulties navigating work based applications whether this be at home or in the office | Difficulties with productivity | Not feeling heard or being left out by the divide of the hybrid work environment | access to research articles, exercise databases | any equipment needed to do the job at home properly | |||||
Difficulties navigating work based applications whether this be at home or in the office | Virtual tech support to avoid long calling wait times, simpler tech updates, | Some form of payment for parking or transportation monthly as it this expense isn’t necessarily required because I can work from home entirely | |||||||
Difficulties with productivity | Not feeling heard or being left out by the divide of the hybrid work environment | Microsoft office, a work phone or online calling system, 24/7 IT help | Good wifi/data plan, a work laptop, a raise | ||||||
Difficulties with productivity | Not feeling heard or being left out by the divide of the hybrid work environment | Easy access to It | Option to have split days that allow me to work in office and at home. | ||||||
Difficulties with productivity | Usual access to intranet site for tools and apps | Dedicated office/workspace for days when working at office. | |||||||
Difficulties navigating work based applications whether this be at home or in the office | The ones I use are already available | Work computer | |||||||
Difficult time differentiating who is working at the office versus at home | Microsoft teams | an effective communication tool (I.e. Microsoft teams) to be able to chat with employees quickly |
Ideation- S.C.A.M.P.E.R
Usability/ Accessibility Review
After ideating the research I conducted a usability review of Miro's user experience. Areas of focus included consideration of issues identified by respondents. I categorized issues through the apps learnability, memorability, satisfaction, efficiency and errors.
Prioritized Problems
- How can we make all users feel heard when using Miro when some employees are working remotely and others are working together in the office?
- How can we make Miro more accessible for those who have various impairments when working remotely and who may also require real time assistance?
User Flows
✍️ Hypothesis
Having prioritized ideas based on what can be improved or added, I wrote a hypothesis that helps frame the problem for user and business goals.
Users Goal Business Goal
I believe that for Miro to remain relevant in a post pandemic work environment; the functionality of the app must be improved to accommodate hybrid work environments to allow all users to feel welcome in their workplace.
📎 Mid-fi Wireframing
Following the creation of my hypothesis I rapidly sketched solutions in mid fidelity. This helped me quickly map and understand the current product and consider options for how I could iterate directly in the product.
Styles & Components
My styles and components used many of Miro's original design system and enhanced them to improve accessibility for users with visual impairments. Specifically I made text and interactive elements with a colour contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. Interactive elements were created to accommodate users with visual impairments.
