Empowering employees with a better internal app design
Kathleen Cuevas
UX Engineer
Design Systems
UI Designer
Figma
Redesigning Easyflow, Easy Signs' internal web app
Easy Signs is a printing and signage manufacturer in Australia. They have a bespoke intranet where they manage the backend of the business. As the company grows, however, inconsistencies in design also come with it.
The app is built based on the Bootstrap framework where only the basic styles are used. Features are added and maintained based on the resources available.
The leadership team is also keen on keeping a strong camaraderie among the employees especially since the company is growing quite fast. Some team members don't get acquainted much with each other, and management would like to resolve that.
When a redesign of the web application got the go-signal from management, I reckoned this was also the perfect opportunity to start building the company's design system.
Primary goals of the redesign include:
Developing a more consistent and on-brand styling for all pages under the intranet
Addition of new sections that would promote staff engagement
Improve the design of the job order processing page. New features like delivering an order to multiple addresses (see a sample prototype further down this page) will also be part of this.
Defining the foundations of the design system
Building consistent components in line with the branding guidelines
These designs are consulted with a representative from each team. Prototypes are sent via Loom.
A fresh take on the intranet's landing page. The idea is to show a different illustration every time staff will login. .
The new home dashboard welcomes staff when they log in. Workspace quick links are shown based on the staff role, followed by company-wide announcements and team members who are celebrating miletones plus who just joined the company.
My Account and Company Directory are among the new sections in the proposed redesign. Illustrations add a fun vibe and are used in empty states.
Another way to boost employee engagement: a game of getting to know team members through a series of quick questions. Employees with the highest points earn bragging rights.
The job order page is where everything is processed. Numerous complex interactions happen here as a lot of staff - from sales to production and dispatch - access and update details of an order.
Sample prototype of a new feature: Setting multiple delivery addresses from a single order/transaction.
Redesigned feature: Adding payment records to an order
Redesigning the intranet not only covers the visual aspect but also the entire user experience. To gather insights on the current system, I sent out a survey to all employees asking about what they think is working great and what needs to be improved. This gave me context on the issues raised and helped me understand them better.
My role
As the sole UI/UX designer, I designed the mockups and prototypes of the new intranet. I also translated these designs into code before passing them on to our full-stack developer to integrate the functionalities.
