No items found.
Healthcare Workers
Administrators
Executive Leadership
ShiftGen offers a workforce management tool to healthcare administrators at facilities across the US. The user interface and underlying interaction patterns have not been updated since the early 00s and are well behind industry standards for usability and presentation.
Collaborate with developers and other team members to uncover user workflows, identify constraints, develop a new product visual design language, consult on interaction and hierarchical improvements, and shepherd accurate production.
I used a component design methodology to develop a central calendar-like pattern comprised of stacks of shift "cells." This central pattern would be standardized across once disparate views, reducing unnecessary variation in the current implementation that causes pain points for current users. I also created a new visual design language that feels appropriate for the healthcare setting; it incorporates requested brand colors and communicates the necessary constraints and affordances of the application. I did all this while working closely with developers to ensure that the unique client-side application would allow for all the features I designed.
The most significant challenges in this project came from the project's constraints. The client made it clear that it was critical that we not deviate from the central mental model of the application so as not to disrupt the current workflow of the administrators and healthcare workers using the application. We were also constrained to using the existing code frameworks with which the original software had been written. This required special consideration regarding some product features.
Clients nationwide will benefit from shorter onboarding time, improved user experience, and higher trust in the application. These improvements will encourage longer client relationships and address clients' current complaints about the outdated product UI. The product is set to launch in the coming months.
The core base of clients of ShiftGen’s B2B tool are healthcare facilities across the United States. One primary feature of the ShiftGen app allows managers to create site-wide schedules and manage the workers assigned to those schedules at scale. ShiftGen’s web app desperately needed a user interface redesign to meet industry standards for visual design, usability, and contemporary web interaction patterns.
The highest priority given by ShiftGen was to update the product’s user interface to align with industry standards. However, as is common in the design process, we quickly uncovered tangential problems that needed to be addressed. During the development of the web app, the visual styling of front-end solutions was often created in a “one-off” fashion. This development approach led to a disjointed and confusing experience for users. Our mission then became to bring unity and predictability to the application to bring users a sense of reliability and trust.
Research during this project was focused primarily on the most common user workflows, the features of each separate app context, and identifying patterns across contexts.
We returned to research multiple times throughout the project, specifically after we had created wireframes and early visual prototypes. Working closely with the developer on this project and interviewing one of the founders of ShiftGen, we uncovered the specific micro-interactions of the controls in each view to identify opportunities to bring unity across the application.
We decided to use a component-based architecture in this project's software development and design approach.
This approach led us to develop a “schedule” pattern central to each view where users create or modify a shift schedule. The pattern is inspired by a traditional calendar, essentially a table, where each day is represented by a table cell. But in our model, the days would become “stacks,” filled with smaller cells corresponding to those days, “shift cells.” Each shift cell represents a single shift of a single worker.
Once we had worked out this core mental model, the visual design approach could address the remaining challenges.
One of the most important goals I identified in my visual design approach was to minimize the noise created by the dense grid of worker shifts with corresponding visual indicators and controls. We accomplished this by configuring the shift cells to only show controls when the user hovers over the shift cell for more than a few moments or when it is selected. Another approach to minimize visual noise was the design of toggle interactions, which encourage the user to enable layers of information when needed and to disable them if the additional information becomes overwhelming.
With the core schedule pattern unifying each schedule view, I enabled further consistency in the web application’s user interface by creating 90+ design components. Using those components, I redesigned nine app views that included unique app functions, such as scheduling time off, and entirely different views with data tables for reviewing shift coverage at scale.
We presented the designs to stakeholders and received overwhelmingly positive feedback. This project is ongoing, as the first round of core view designs is currently in production.
Are you looking for an experienced multi-disciplinary designer who can deliver design solutions that meet your needs? Drop me a line! Leave your name, some details about the project, and let’s build something together!
