Drill
Configurator
Industry
Industrial Tools
Location
Sweden/Global
Year
2023-2024
Drill
This project focused on designing a drill configurator for a leading provider of industrial tools. The client's existing e-commerce platform lacked the functionality for customers and internal sales teams to easily configure customized drill solutions. This limitation led to frustration and hindered sales, as users had to navigate a generic product catalog instead of creating bespoke solutions tailored to their specific needs.
To address this challenge, I led the design of a modular drill configurator. This tool empowers users to create highly customized drill assemblies through a step-by-step process, including needs assessment, drill selection, modular assembly, and review/order. The configurator caters to both logged-in and guest users, ensuring a seamless experience for all.
A user-centered design approach was employed, incorporating elements of the double diamond framework. This involved conducting user research, defining the problem, developing design solutions, and delivering a final design specification that met the client's needs and exceeded expectations.
As a design consultant on this project, I took ownership of the entire design process for the drill configurator, from initial conception to final delivery. My responsibilities spanned a wide range of activities, including:
User Research: I conducted user interviews and analyzed customer data to gain a deep understanding of user needs, behaviors, and pain points. This research formed the foundation for designing a user-centered solution.
Information Architecture: I defined the structure and flow of the configurator, ensuring an intuitive and user-friendly experience. This involved organizing information, creating clear navigation paths, and optimizing the user journey.
Interaction Design: I meticulously designed the user interface and interactions within the configurator, focusing on clarity, ease of use, and efficiency. This included designing interactive elements, user feedback mechanisms, and error prevention strategies.
Visual Design: I created a visually appealing and engaging interface that aligned with the client's brand identity. This involved selecting appropriate colors, typography, imagery, and layout to create a cohesive and professional aesthetic.
Prototyping and Testing: I developed interactive prototypes to test and validate design solutions with users. This iterative process allowed me to gather feedback, identify areas for improvement, and refine the design to ensure optimal usability.
Collaboration: I worked closely with the client's technical team throughout the project to ensure the feasibility of the design and its seamless integration with existing systems. This involved clear communication, collaborative problem-solving, and a shared understanding of technical constraints.
Project Management: In the initial stages of the project, I also took on some project management responsibilities due to the absence of a dedicated project manager. This involved coordinating tasks, managing timelines, and ensuring effective communication among stakeholders.
To ensure a user-centered approach and maximize the effectiveness of the drill configurator, I adopted the Double Diamond design process. This framework, developed by the British Design Council, provides a clear structure for navigating the complexities of design, guiding the process through four distinct phases: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.
1. Discover: This phase focused on gaining a deep understanding of the problem space. I conducted over 30 user interviews with both customers and internal sales representatives to gather insights into their needs, pain points, and desired functionalities. These interviews were a mix of structured, semi-structured, and informal conversations, allowing for both quantitative and qualitative data collection. This rich data, combined with analysis of existing customer data provided by the client, revealed key frustrations with the current system and highlighted opportunities for improvement. Crucially, this research also revealed a desire for similar configuration options across the client's broader range of tooling, highlighting the need for a modular and scalable solution.
2. Define: The insights gathered during the discovery phase were synthesized and analyzed to clearly define the core problem and design objectives. This involved creating affinity diagrams, user personas, and user journey maps to identify patterns, prioritize needs, and visualize the user experience. This stage involved close collaboration with the product owner to ensure alignment on project goals and define success metrics. A key objective was to design a modular system that could be easily adapted and expanded to accommodate other tool categories in the future.
3. Develop: With a clear understanding of the problem and objectives, the development phase involved exploring a wide range of potential solutions. I generated multiple design concepts and iterated through various prototypes, incorporating feedback from user testing and stakeholder reviews. This iterative process allowed for continuous refinement and optimization of the design. Throughout this phase, I collaborated closely with the engineering team to ensure technical feasibility and discuss potential implementation challenges. This collaborative approach fostered a shared understanding of the design and facilitated a smooth transition to development. The modularity of the system was a key consideration throughout this phase, ensuring that the architecture and design elements could be easily adapted for other tool types.
4. Deliver: The final phase involved refining the chosen design solution and preparing it for handover to the development team. This included creating detailed design specifications, UI style guides, responsive variants and interactive prototypes to ensure a smooth and efficient development process. I also collaborated with the development team to create comprehensive testing cases and plan for the MVP launch.
