Overview

Consulting is a unique experience defined by its challenges and opportunities. While you bring subject matter expertise to the table, you operate within the constraints of a statement of work, often with little say in its scope. Decisions ultimately rest with the client, no matter how strong your recommendations.

I worked on this project as a consultant with Achieve Internet, with Experian as the client. I worked directly with vice presidents and lead architects to identify key process changes and rework user flows.

Experian wanted to make their data more accessible to external developers, enabling them to build apps and services. Their developer portal was the product of years of patchwork initiatives.

The Team & My Role

• Two VPs of Product, multiple business unit heads, multiple Lead Architects, and me.
• I led junior designers, filtering relevant information to them, refining ideas, and running brainstorming sessions.
• I led all product and visual design to get the product ready for launch.

Goals & KPIs

• Launch the finished portal in 6 months (actual 7 months)
• Increase use of Experian data by external developers (internal Experian metrics)
• Simplify developer sign-up and login for both internal and external users (100% accomplished)

Where We Started

We started from a place all product designers know too well: an outdated product burdened by years of neglect and accumulating design and technical debt. Over seven months, including a fast-paced one-month discovery phase, we spoke with as many stakeholders as possible to uncover all the problems and gaps in the process.

Their homepage neglected user experience and interface and had no cohesive story for users.

The Experian team was large and spread across many business units worldwide, so we had to communicate constantly. I had to make decisions quickly and clearly.

Large team, large team problems, lots of explicit communication was necessary.

Research & Fast Timelines

Due to time and budget constraints, exacerbated by COVID-19, we had to forgo formal user research, workshops, and testing. Instead, we relied on experience and best practices, and validated assumptions early through internal discussions, rapid iterations, and comparisons to industry standards. We used mockups and prototypes to get alignment and make decisions faster.

Approach, mockups, interaction, and the user experience

When I first joined the team, the standard process involved delivering three mockups for every product or feature. Multiple mockups led to more rounds of revisions, conflicting opinions, and delayed timelines. As this was a shorter engagement with multiple business units, there were too many cooks in the kitchen, and we were spinning our wheels on simple decisions.

I knew this wouldn't be an easy change. Offering multiple options felt safe to many stakeholders, who believed it gave them control. However, as the designer, it was my job to guide them toward the best path, not overwhelm them with choices.

The turning point came when I showed how every additional mockup multiplied revisions. By presenting one solution with a clear rationale, we could align faster and make more confident decisions.

Trust as the Designer's Job

My superiors entrusted me to refine the process because I'd shown I understood their business problems as well as the screens. I kept junior designers out of unnecessary meetings, giving them clear, high-level briefs so they understood what to do and why it mattered.

When we presented the final designs, every decision traced back to a problem we'd found: confusing navigation, inconsistent flows or gaps stakeholders had raised.

Design & Iterations

The initial internal mockups for the homepage and its various features.

We made many iterations on the large and varied product catalog page, first experimenting with color and finally settling on cards with badges for the various offerings.

Users often requested a quick and easy-to-navigate setup wizard. The team in charge of keeping the information up to date wanted a wizard that was simple and, above all, easy for them to update.

The Results

• Developers had one login to one platform to access all the products in their preferred language.
• New developers could be auto-approved for accounts instead of waiting on Experian team members to approve access manually.
• Through the Drupal CMS, team members could update product copy and terms and conditions across regions, feature products and blog posts on the homepage, and find all user questions in one place.
• Spotlighting individual developers on the homepage was a late ask from marketing, but with the CMS in place it was an easy win.

Achieved Goals & KPIs

• In the end we launched the entire portal in 7 months. One month late is not bad considering a global pandemic happened in the middle of the project.
• Increase use of Experian data by external developers: not measured by our team, as Experian didn't share usage metrics with us.
• Simplify developer sign-up and login for both internal and external users: 100% achieved, with much faster onboarding and available products that were easier to find.

Key Takeaways

1. As the outside designer on this project, I did not have the opportunity to question their new design system, which was actively under construction.
2. We could have defined the page count's scope from the beginning to keep it from exploding. However, it was a large contract with many moving pieces outside the purview of product design, so concessions such as a bigger page count were made to keep them in a longer consulting agreement.
3. When timelines are tight, user research is the first thing to go. A lot of trust was placed in my gut, the process, and the design team, while validating ideas internally whenever possible.
4. Dealing with a global pandemic slowed timelines in a few places. We kept the delay to one month by maintaining constant communication on deadlines and collaborating with Engineering to start on pieces as soon as they were approved.