Linknovate
Machine Learning Search Web Application
When
3 weeks project from research, define, design, and product implementation
Team
Myself, 2 designers, CEO of Linknovate
Client
Linknovate
Linknovate, based in Spain, is a B2B search platform for researchers needing to find the latest information on new technologies and industries. They currently offer two products to users, InnoBits, a web monitoring platform for saved searched topics, and InnoScout, a platform to connect searched topics to affliated organizations, universities, and startups.
Although our task was to redesign the workflow for InnoBits, we ended up taking on a much more ambitious project. Read on..
Linknovate recently released their web monitoring platform named InnoBits. The problem is their users are not quick to adapt to the new platform and they want us to figure out why.
Challenge
Increase platform adoption rate with current and new customers.
Goals
Simplify the process of creating new searches.
Design a team communication tool to share information.
Optimize features to condense search topics.
Unknown features
We conducted interviews with Linknovate stakeholders, Manuel Noya - CEO and Klaas Wurzberg - Business Development . Our goal was to find out the company’s vision, goals, and definition of success.
From our interviews these were insights uncovered:
Inside the mind of stakeholders
“I am confused why I am here.”
To dig deeper, we orchestrated interviews with another set of stakeholders, the users. We needed to understand how our 6 users are utilizing InnoBits, so the idea was to have them walk us through their methods of gathering information. Our goals of the interview was to find out how they use InnoBits and to discover friction points along the way.
Painpoints:
They start their search from InnoScout instead of InnoBits and they are not sure why.
They are not clear if their search keywords are effective.
They would like to edit and organize their search project folders, but are limited by the existing features.
They are not clear about features like powerbits, like/dislike, and category icons.
They are not clear about why suggested searches do not relate to the current search topic.
Solutions:
Improve on user flow of the site
Increase awareness of search efficiencies
Enhance organization features for saved topics
Introduce features that allow users to prioritize importance of searched results
Reduce information that is not relevant to the current search
Four ways to do it, which is the correct way?
We wanted to understand why users were having problems with the platform, so we created a site map to see how the information architecture was laid out.
Our discovery:
There were 4 ways to search a topic on InnoBits.
3 of the 4 ways take the user out of InnoBits to search in InnoScout, a separate platform, in a different window.
Each suggested keyword term takes the user to a new search unrelated to the search topic.
It was clear to see why users are confused with every path that looks familiar to them; it would take them out of InnoBits and into InnoScout.
Empathize through tasks
To get our understanding of the user’s task flow, we needed to create a user flow diagram to chart out their task and decision making process.
Let’s see what emerges
To better understand Linknovate’s target users, we needed to synthesize all the data we collected through user interviews. We took all the qualitative data and created an affinity map to understand the user's needs, frustrations, and goals.
They needed to be able to search effectively with high relevance results, otherwise they would turn to other methods of research.
They also want to share the found information with their teammates.
Upon sharing they need to include a message based on their findings.
They also would like to read shared messages and respond to a message from their colleagues.
Understanding who we are designing for
We synthesized all insights gathered and created a persona to understand Linknovate’s target user. Our persona named ‘The Innovator’, helped us make design decisions to better meet our client’s needs and goals.
The Innovator
“Google search is not efficient enough for what I need.”
Bio
The innovator is a lead researcher at an innovation division of a medium to large organization. They are tasked to research emerging technologies and applying it to industry sectors that could benefit human lives.
Goals
I want to be up to date with the latest news in my field.
I want to share the information with my teammates and colleagues
I want to be able to find the information easily and quickly
Needs
I want to refine the quality of my search over time
I want to move topics freely
I want to be able to know where I left off on the newsfeed.
Frustrations
Missing out on important information
Confused on how to use InnoBits effectively
Can’t organize alerts
Seeks problems and opportunities arise
To further understand our target user, The Innovator, I created a journey map to learn where the opportunities are. By breaking down the target user’s journey into four steps, I am able to analyze each step the user takes to accomplish their task of searching for a topic and sharing the information they found.
Sketching ideas before going digital
Truth in the results
It was a success! We were able to create the mid - high fidelity wireframes and digital prototype in Figma. Then we performed 3 rounds of usability testing with Linknovate’s users. With each round of usability testing we quickly re-iterated to continue improvements to the user’s experience.
The results were quite positive, they were all able to complete all tasks without confusion compared with Linknovate’s current site. Click on the prototype button below to try the Linknovate prototype.
The digital prototype can viewed at this link: Prototype
“It was easy for me to find the filter, it was quite easy.”
“I like the rating icon, it’s clear that up is for relevant and down is for not relevant.”
“It was a bold move, and I see why.”
Further testing is needed to validate our designs.
Reiterating is a must, I realize this is only a first of many versions.
We need to look at colors for the site, currently we have too much colors spread throughout the page and it looks a bit distracting.
The rate feature still needs to be revised and the Powerbits feature needs to better inform users of its function.
A big next design challenge would be to redesign the search feature.
We took an ambitious decision to combine both the InnoBits and the InnoScout platforms into one well rounded experience for The Innovator. Redesigning for InnoBits alone would not solve our biggest overarching problem. As a result our client was really thrilled. Klaas Wurzberg, Business Development, at Linknovate loved how our designs offer a more grounded experience.
Reflections
What next?
I had such a great experience working on this project and with my team. We started the project thinking it was a redesign of InnoBits, but what resulted was something much more challenging and exciting. Our design direction sparked many conversations with Linknovate stakeholders. Through the completion of this project I have undoubtedly grew as a product designer, this project was very challenging because I have never worked on a complex machine learning product with so many feature sets to consider.
Due to time constraints, we were not able to get datas for our user survey. We made the executive decision to move forward with the valuable information gained from our user interviews instead. We also decided that our MVP would not focus on the search feature for this round, because the task is a big undertaking in itself.
One big takeaway from working on this project was to never assume every stakeholders attending the final presentation will understand your design decision right away. If I had to do it over again, I would have added more information in the presentation so that it could easily be understood by a person who is not up to speed with the project.
The website can viewed here: Linknovate
Product Design
UX Design
User Experience Research
The innovator is confused on how to use Innobits correctly making it difficult to quickly engage with the platform.
Solution
Combined both platforms into one. The Innovator now has their work flow seamlessly on one platform and not confused with different windows opening up for each task. I was in charge with reorganizing the newsfeed page, and a notable thing to point out is the integration of separate window panes. This direction “freed” the Innovator to view Innobits as one whole platform rather than individual panes.
Solution Overview
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Time is of the essence
Merge of two platforms
The Innovator has to sift through 10,000+ search results per day, and only has 45 mins to look through all the search topics.
Solution
I was tasked with a way to increase productivity in viewing news articles. I came up with the idea of giving the user full control of the newsfeed results, the filtering feature can reduce 10,000 search results to 10-20 articles for the user to view. All that is needed is for the Innovator to make a few selections from the drop down menus. This feature was well received by users during our usability testing.
Freedom to organize
The Innovator spends lots of time accessing the search topics each day to view new newsfeeds, yet the current platform does not allow them to edit or to organize their folders or search topics.
Solution
We came up with a way to give users full editing ability to manage their folders and topics any way they see fit. Below left is example showing the edit, delete, and sharing feature. Below right, is a walkthrough of editing a folder name.
Information sharing
Currently, Linknovate does not have a tool for the Innovator to share found information within their team.
Solution
We came up with a way to share articles with colleagues that incorporates a messaging platform to communicate the reason why the article is important to the research. Being able to share information means more opportunities for Linknovate to generate more business through the sale of licenses.
Less distractions more article
The news article page are filled with suggested links before they get to read the pertinent information, often times The Innovator would need to scroll down past all the links to get to what they want to read.
Solution
To solve this we reorganized by what was more important for the researcher to read first. The title needed to be clearly displayed followed by the abstract, after that the user would be more interested in looking at suggested keywords that would refine their current search.
We made sure to keep The Innovator engaged in the same window so that they would feel they are still looking at the same topic. The big ‘ah ha!’ moment was we discovered that there was a disconnect in train of thought when they were taken to another window.
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