This is a recreation of the Approveshield project. Details and some design processes have been changed or omitted.
01 — Discovery & User Understanding
I began by spending time with analysts across different experience levels, as well as QA reviewers, to understand their responsibilities, daily workflows, and individual needs.
I also met with department heads and company VPs to gain a broader understanding of operational priorities, team efficiency, and long-standing challenges. Conversations with account representatives provided additional insight into how the platform affected teams beyond the analyst department.
The Training
Understanding the Analyst
To better understand the experience firsthand, I also completed analyst training, allowing me to navigate the application from a user's perspective and identify friction points that might otherwise have been overlooked.
02 — Ideation & Feasibility
With the initial research complete, I organized my findings, documented recurring pain points, and began sketching potential solutions.
I shared my concepts and research notes with the product department head and engineering team to evaluate technical feasibility. A key consideration was identifying meaningful improvements that could be made without requiring a complete rewrite of the existing application.
This early collaboration helped establish realistic design priorities while keeping user needs at the center of the process.
Ideation is just a phase
03 — Wireframing & Workflow Planning
I translated the initial concepts into wireframes, focusing on navigation, information hierarchy, and the overall flow of the application.
I reviewed these early layouts with my project manager to evaluate usability, identify gaps, and ensure the proposed workflows aligned with both user expectations and product objectives.
Planning
04 — Prototyping & Engineering Collaboration
Once the wireframes were established, I developed an interactive prototype in Figma to demonstrate the proposed experience and intended functionality.
I presented the prototype to engineering, gathered technical feedback, and refined the designs based on implementation capabilities and constraints at the time.
This stage involved balancing the ideal user experience with practical development considerations.
05 — Analyst Feedback & Design Iteration
Before moving toward beta, I organized feedback sessions with four carefully selected groups of analysts, representing different perspectives and levels of experience.
These sessions allowed me to observe how users interpreted the proposed workflows, identify areas of confusion, and gather feedback directly from the people who would use the platform.
Following the sessions, I organized my findings, reviewed them with my project manager, and made another round of design refinements.
06 — Beta Launch & Observation
After incorporating the feedback, the redesigned experience moved into beta.
For the following two weeks, I closely observed how analysts interacted with the updated platform and gathered feedback as they incorporated it into their daily work.
I then presented my observations and findings to my project manager, and we identified additional refinements based on actual usage rather than relying solely on assumptions made during the design phase.
Meeting for feedback
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07 — Continued Improvements & Future Opportunities
The feedback gathered throughout beta informed additional improvements to the platform.
Two larger opportunities emerged during this process: a centralized Shared Household Overview to help analysts evaluate applicants at both the individual and household levels, and a more seamless connection between analyst workflows and the evolving QA review process.
These concepts represented the next stage of product development. While they were not implemented before my departure, they reflected opportunities identified through continued collaboration and user feedback.
What I learned
This project reinforced the value of involving users throughout the entire design process, not just during initial research or final testing.
By working directly with analysts, QA, leadership, product management, and engineering, I was able to approach the redesign from multiple perspectives and make decisions grounded in actual user needs, operational priorities, and technical feasibility.
I am certainly not the same designer I was before I started this project.
