BACK
ROLE
UI/UX Design Intern
TEam
Yitong (design mentor), 1 Technical PM, 2 POs, 1 outsourced engineer team
Time
Fall 2023
Background
SIMT (Special Issue Management Tool) is an internal system for editors at Wiley to manage academic journals
As a UI/UX intern at Wiley in the fall of 2023, I had the invaluable opportunity to contribute to enhancing an internal system dedicated to empowering editors in effectively managing special issues for publications. Wiley's dynamic and collaborative environment, employing an Agile workflow and fostering hybrid collaboration with teams worldwide, provided an ideal platform for my rapid learning and growth.
This case study explores the challenges faced by journal editors at Wiley regarding checklists and how I addressed them by creating an online tool. This strategically designed solution streamlined workflows, enhanced efficiency, and improved record-keeping in a more synthesized and secure manner.
Due to confidentiality agreements, I can't disclose specific details about my tasks in this case study. For further information, please feel free to reach out to me at ellenl2@andrew.cmu.edu.
Contribution
As a UI/UX Intern, I:
Analyzed insights from user research findings, brainstormed potential features
Translated these ideas into user flow diagrams to confirm the design with POs
Developed low & high-fidelity prototypes based on the user flows
Iterate design based on product owners’ and users’ feedbacks
Understand the context
Converted abstract & complex workflow gathered from user research to a clear & organized user flow diagram
Before I joined this project, a user research was conducted by another design intern through a co-design workshop with 2 product owners to inquire about their current workflow.
Since the process was quite complex, based on the information gathered through this workshop, I decided to converted it into a user flow diagram based on my own understanding that supports my ideation process later. After the user flow is done, I checked with the POs to ensure this matches their requirement.
The user flow of the current work flow that I created for clarification
Identify the problem
Conducted contextual inquiries to the existing prototype with users to understand existing pain points regarding user interaction conflicts
Following the completion of the design, we conducted the first round of contextual inquiries with five editors. Throughout this phase, I learned that the process of reviewing special issue proposals in editorial work is intricate and involves several participants and stages. It is not straightforward, often necessitating repeated revisions and frequent communication among the involved parties.
Through the user feedbacks, I identified a potential issue: When multiple users edit the same content at once, especially during the submission and initial review phases, conflict might occur.
This flow depicts the scenario of the pain point that I was targeting
Prototyping
Targeting the two scenarios, I brainstormed a few solutions and converted them into prototype
I focused on developing solutions for these two specific scenarios. I engaged in a thorough brainstorming process to explore various approaches to address these challenges.
solution
Two interactions was added considering each of the two scenarios.
To resolve this, for each of the two scenarios:
Firstly, I added a lock to make the edit button disabled that restricts checklist editing to one user at a time.
Secondly, if the checklist is completed by another user, an alert notifies others, giving them the option to reopen it if needed.
The edit button is disabled to avoid conflict
The alert to notify user about the change
LESSONS LEARNED
Design with consideration for side conditions and exceptions.
This task has taught me to consider multiple scenarios while designing, as they can significantly impact the functionality of the product. even a minor feature, if not thoroughly thought out, can have a profound impact on the overall user interaction and experience with the product.
Impact
Through our user testing with all 5 participants were satisfied with this newly added feature. The checklist is planning to be launched in February 2024.
In the question specifically related to the user conflict issue, most user rated 5 out 5, showing the improvement through my design
