Overview
Client
Renewable Energy Company
Location
San Diego, CA USA
Role
Senior Design Strategist
Tools
Figma
Timeframe
16 months
Story
Problem
Field workers across North American plants relied on paper forms and PDFs for maintenance operations, significantly limiting data sharing, timely updates, and operational scalability.
Digitization faced critical challenges including inconsistent WiFi at remote locations, safety considerations in industrial environments, and the complex task of adapting maintenance forms for effective digital use.
Challenges
With the third-party product already selected, I needed to establish design credibility among internal stakeholders with limited UX knowledge while collaborating with an offshore development team primarily focused on implementing their standard product with minimal customization.
Role
As Senior Design Strategist, I led meaningful analysis of user research, facilitated knowledge-sharing among stakeholders, created clickable prototypes to illustrate design improvements, and advocated for accessibility standards and optimal usability within the constraints of the vendor solution.
Outcome
The team successfully launched the customized digital solution across all plant locations, resulting in an estimated 35% increase in operational efficiency, substantially improved data sharing capabilities and enhanced productivity across maintenance operations.
Design Process
User Research
I analyzed existing field research to extract actionable insights that resonated across teams and stakeholders. Supplementing this with targeted remote interviews, I built a comprehensive knowledge base that informed my advocacy for intuitive, accessible navigation throughout the development process.
Prototypes & Communication
Through daily stand-ups with developers and team leaders, I identified key improvement opportunities and prioritized them for maximum impact. Using Figma to create clickable prototypes, I facilitated productive conversations by giving product owners and project managers tangible visual flows to evaluate and refine.
UX & Accessibility
After conducting an accessibility audit of the vendor product's native color system, I identified color contrast improvements that would deliver the most impact for the least development effort. The implementation of these high-priority changes enhanced visibility for field technicians working in challenging lighting conditions while reinforcing brand standards.
Design highlights
I socialized research insights by creating an interactive Miro board for stakeholder engagement, preserving user anonymity, and presented key findings at company leadership events.
Sharing research
To spark discussion among developers, product owners and stakeholders, I created clickable prototypes in Figma that visually shared my research-based ideas for usability improvement.
Developing prototypes
Implementing changes to prototypes based on feedback was fast and easy thanks to the design library I established and maintained from the outset using variants and component sets in Figma.
Creating a design library
To help the team understand potential for usability improvements, I presented annotated, current state screens side by side with improvement mockups in Figma, sparking conversation and inspiring the vendor to make improvements to benefit all of their clients.
Sharing design improvements
Outcomes
Feedback
💬
"The new color makes it easier to read, makes a difference, thank you!" - Field worker
💬
"The information on ADA compliance is well taken." - Stakeholder
Success
✅
Launched in 2025, the current digital solution supports 500+ field workers on a daily basis and has contributed to an estimated 35% productivity increase
Challenges
🔴
Advocating for usability on a third-party platform
Recommending changes for maximum impact on a less flexible platform with a team new to design principles.
🔴
Standing up for accessibility
Bringing the importance of ADA compliance to the awareness of teams unfamiliar with accessibility concepts.
Opportunities
🔹
🔹
Enhance accessibility
Continue to refine font sizes and color contrasts to meet updated accessibility standards, ensuring a more inclusive experience.
Optimize for Android
Align the design with platform guidelines to improve usability and performance across devices.
Key learnings
⭐
Fearlessly advocate for usability and accessibility. Persistence leads to meaningful improvements.
⭐
Ground advocacy in user research to make recommendations more compelling through data-driven insights.
⭐
Strategically prioritize UX recommendations by analyzing feasibility versus desirability and presenting solutions ranked by impact-to-effort ratio.
