During my 18-month tenure as the Lead and sole UX Designer for nexVortex, I was able to achieve remarkable success by designing new applications and redesigning existing ones. As a result of my contributions, the company was eventually sold in January 2020. During my time at nexVortex, I developed a comprehensive strategy for design, a brand-new design system consisting of custom-designed UI elements, a new public-facing website, a new logo and brand identity, four web applications, and one native mobile app.
nexVortex was a cloud-based communications service provider that offers business phone solutions, including SIP trunking, hosted voice, and other related services. The company was based in Herndon, Virginia, and had been providing communication services to businesses since 2002.
nexVortex Website (archive)
At nexVortex, there was no formal design process in place, so I developed a strategy based on design thinking and user-centered methodologies. This strategy enabled me to create an effective approach to product design and quickly integrate it into our overall SDLC. This approach allowed me to spearhead several other initiatives, resulting in a more streamlined design process and improved design outcomes.
The existing nV internal and external applications were outdated and confusing, resulting in support calls from confused customers. Upon conducting an extensive audit, I identified massive room for improvement in terms of user experience. I identified multiple inconsistent styles and a lack of intuitive design elements, which prompted me to undertake a complete redesign of our applications.
Collaborating with stakeholders, including the C-suite and VP level, allowed me to understand the business objectives and problems we were solving for with our products. This collaboration helped me create a vision for improvement, which I was then able to incorporate into our design process.
I conducted extensive user interviews with internal and external users to identify their pain points, needs, and motivations. Through hours of observation, I gained insight into their behaviors and how they interacted with our applications. This information helped inform the redesign of our applications.
I conducted extensive user interviews with internal and external users to identify their pain points, needs, and motivations. Through hours of observation, I gained insight into their behaviors and how they interacted with our applications. This information helped inform the redesign of our applications.
High-level concepts for re-architecting the legacy systems, including new navigation and IA, were developed to improve discoverability and reduce cognitive load for users. These concepts helped inform the redesign process and ensure that the new applications would be user-friendly and intuitive.
After conducting user interviews, I created personas that helped the product and engineering teams empathize with our users and understand their needs. These personas were critical in guiding the redesign process and ensuring that our applications met the needs of our users.
The old nexVortex logo was outdated, so I pitched the idea of a new logo to the executive leadership team. After several iterations, we arrived at a design that was modern and still held true to the original inspiration.
I developed a brand-new design system consisting of modern flat UI elements, a new font ramp (Avenir), and a new color palette. This system was designed to create an ecosystem of reusable components that would keep our interfaces consistent. This system helped me design and prototype more rapidly and efficiently, while developers were able to develop faster due to the handoff documentation I provided with all the necessary specifications and code snippets. This was a well-defined and evolving document that was critical in ensuring consistency in our design outcomes.
I developed design principles that helped guide the product team in creating new user-friendly and intuitive experiences. These principles were critical in reducing cognitive load and helping users achieve their goals.
I collaborated with the VP of Marketing to create a brand-new public-facing website that showcased our new products. This project was completed within three months and was undertaken in parallel to other projects.Check out the redesigned nexVortex website here (using Wayback as the website has since been removed and replaced from the BCM One aquisition)
Using the Design System and documentation, I created brand new user-friendly and intuitive experiences for mConnect and Command & Control products. I also did a full scale redesign or several other products that included re-architected experiences and user flows.
.png)
Throughout the entire design process, I worked closely with product managers and principal engineers to gather feedback and ensure that we were building the right solutions that were feasible from both a technical and resource standpoint. This allowed us to make adjustments and refinements to the design as necessary, ultimately leading to more successful outcomes for our users.
The new and improved products that I helped design played a significant role in the sale of nexVortex to BCM One in January 2020. The user-friendly interfaces and streamlined experiences we created were a major selling point for the company. However, after the acquisition, BCM One did not see the need for a dedicated design team, which unfortunately led to the end of my time at nexVortex.
Through my work as the Lead and sole UX Designer at nexVortex, I was able to create a strong design strategy and process that improved the overall user experience of the company's products. By conducting extensive research, developing a new design system, creating new products and a public-facing website, and working closely with stakeholders and team members, I was able to drive positive change for both the users and the company. The success of the design changes ultimately led to the sale of the company, showcasing the value of good design in the business world.
