Project Beacon is an innovative B2B marketplace developed by Informa Market, aimed at providing a safe and efficient platform for clients and suppliers to connect in the complex CPG space.
• Experience Strategist,
• Lead Product Designer
This Case Study describes an engagement within an internal team from Infor Markets. The goal for this engagement was to organize the design project, and help the product successfully reach POC. As a product design consultant, I help organice the UX and Design ops of this project, and collaborate with different members of the team threw out the engagement.
Project Beacon was an exciting new B2B marketplace developed by Informa Market, a leading provider of B2B events, intelligence, and marketing services. The company offers industry-specific content, events, and data insights to help businesses make informed decisions and grow their operations. I joined the project as a lead designer, taking over from the original designer who had worked on the initial concept. Our goal for the next stage was to launch a POC (proof of concept) to a small subgroup of the market, in order to test acceptance and gather feedback for the MVP. We aimed to create a user-friendly platform that would enable seamless communication and collaboration between clients and suppliers, and provide valuable insights and data to help businesses make informed decisions.
• Experience Strategist,
• Lead Product Designer
This Case Study describes an engagement within an internal team from Infor Markets. The goal for this engagement was to organize the design project, and help the product successfully reach POC. As a product design consultant, I help organice the UX and Design ops of this project, and collaborate with different members of the team threw out the engagement.
Project Beacon was born to offer a digital platform for clients and suppliers to connect with each other and navigate the increasingly complex CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) space. This innovative solution was a response to how the connection economy has transformed this sector, providing a safe alternative to trade show events, especially in light of Covid restrictions on public gatherings. The project was designed to streamline the process of finding and connecting with potential business partners, using cutting-edge technology to enable seamless communication and collaboration.
Design thinking was used to tackle the first challenge of defining a design sprint that could help us rapidly evolve the product, test it at every stage, and keep design ahead of the 15+ developers in the Dev-shop already working on backend and API integration. We presented the design sprint and work plan to stakeholders, technical project managers, and marketers involved in the project. Our design sprint relies on leveraging an incredible access to the existing customer base to drive research and usability testing at the end of every cycle, which is a key aspect of the design thinking methodology.
After the first round of user testing, we quickly identified the main challenge for the POC's success - the navigation through the complex topology of different attributes of a nutrition product. We gained a deeper understanding of our user persona's goals and background, which helped us improve our concept. Our filter system had to be able to host a wide range of elements from allergens to dietary information, packaging to animal welfare, to ensure the success of our user experience and provide unprecedented access to navigate a complex marketplace.
In this stage, we focused on the big picture, working on the experience journey, user research, and market research to kick-start the POC stage. We identified pain points and validated our user personas and goals, taking a holistic view of the project rather than focusing solely on features. Our goal was to create an overall experience that would provide a seamless and efficient platform for clients and suppliers to connect and navigate the complex CPG space.
While waiting for the creative team to propose the product naming and style, I worked closely with the Creative Director to embed a better styling to the project and build a design system in the back-end. This approach helped us bring efficiency to the project by providing different components and stages to create interactive prototypes needed to test complex filter interactions. The design system also allowed us to fine-tune the style as we go updating preexistent components without having to start from scratch.
The magic of testing at every stage, analyzing user behavior and feedback, allowed us to learn more about how different users might use the product, and how to influence the information hierarchy through ideation. This approach allowed us to bridge the gap between an expansive market with a huge topology of data and the user finding the perfect product. By leveraging data-driven insights, we were able to optimize the platform for increased engagement and user satisfaction, ensuring that the platform met the needs of our target audience. Our data-driven approach was crucial to the success of the project, helping us to create a user-friendly platform that provided valuable insights and data to help businesses make informed decisions.
The ideation process for the filter section involved brainstorming sessions, user feedback, and continuous iterations. The initial design was a simple list of checkboxes, but as we received feedback from users, we realized that it was not user-friendly and would not be able to handle the overwhelming amount of data. Through the different sprints, we experimented with different layouts, such as dropdown menus and sliders. We also added more categories and attributes to provide a more comprehensive filter system. The final solution features a clear hierarchy of information, with the most important categories at the top and the less important ones at the bottom. The top left category navigation makes it easy for users to access the different categories, and the search bar allows them to quickly find the attribute they are looking for. The pop-up tooltip provides more information about each attribute, helping users make informed decisions. Overall, the filter section evolved from a simple list of checkboxes to a comprehensive and user-friendly system that allows users to easily find the products they are looking for.
