Impact is simulation-specialist-turned-product-company Modelon's flagship simulation platform. The web-based platform acts both as a model editing environment, an execution platform and an analysis tool. It is used to make virtual prototypes of real products with hundreds of thousands physical equations. Data visualization is used to draw conclusions, make design choices and refine products.

The assignment was to design the full user interface of the platform from scratch, making sure that usability is at the core of the application. Simulation platforms are generally complex to use and users need significant training. Usability and user experience was thus a priority to make Modelon Impact a next generation simulation tool. The project went on during 4.5 years.

Strategic UX work

UI / UX Design

Day to day interaction with developers

User feedback and testing

User interviews

Personas

UX Architecture

Low fidelity design mockups / wireframes

High fidelity design mockups

Clickable prototypes

I worked closely with the Product Management team, contributing to the product definition and creating wireframes and mockups. These assets were used for strategic discussions with stakeholders and design iterations with the development teams.

I was responsible for the overall user experience of the application, ensuring complex engineering workflows were intuitive and straightforward. The work was done in a SCRUM environment and I was involved in both early phase conceptual explorations as well as in creating the final design for user stories, from design principles, personas and high level application structure to nitty gritty details of specific parts of the application. I continuously participated in and supported design discussions with different stakeholders ensuring a consistent and top notch user experience.

As the application and team grew, a design system was created in Figma to support the organization going forward.

Continuous daily interaction with the frontend developers was a substantial part of the work I did with Modelon Impact. Tasks ranged from producing wireframes for early stage design discussions to making pixel-perfect mockups for development stories and working shoulder-to-shoulder in dev tools to help nail down the implementation. Always being available for discussions and support was highly appreciated among the development team.

In order to make a leap in terms of user experience, creating the next generation simulation and modeling platform, users were involved from the start throughout the project. Several early adopter companies were closely involved in the design and implementation process and I handled most of this communication. I helped out with interviews, workshops, evaluation of prototypes and user testing.