Ferret
Relationship Intelligence App
UX/UI design lead
2022
Ferret is a 'relationship intelligence' startup that delivers exclusive due diligence information to consumers. I designed major improvements to the app's core features on a tight budget and timeline.
Research and Process
User Interviews and Usability Testing
My very first goal was to understand how users were experiencing the product as it had been designed thus far.
I conducted a series of moderated usability tests and interviewed users about their experiences and expectations. I quickly identified high priority areas of opportunity, and worked with the product team to document these and set new product design priorities.
Design Output
Organizing the Design System
For this project it was critical to work quickly, so before starting any new designs I cleaned and organized pre-existing design components into a systematized design library and added missing fundamentals as needed.
Start Users Off Right
One of Ferret's key value props is the exclusive and unique data they provide. We learned during testing that this value wasn't communicated clearly to users. To address this, we designed and implemented an updated onboarding experience that gave users a walkthrough of the unique value of the Ferret app, and gave guidance for making the most of their search experience.
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Search With Confidence
A critical priority revealed during testing was that users were having difficulty searching and navigating their results. Users needed more confidence that they found who they were searching for, and they needed a better way to explore the results. Based on our findings we overhauled the search and results interfaces, giving users more information and more control over how they navigated results.
Get the Most of Ferret
Ferret is a freemium app, and there are lots of great features available with a premium plan. Users are prompted to start a free trial when they reach their usage limit, and they can manage their subscription or start a free trial anytime from their profile.
Looking Towards v2
I spent some time designing what the next version of Ferret might look like. I imagined some concepts for a complete overhaul of the IA and navigation, further improvements to the search interface to make it more dynamic, how to make notifications more intuitive, and more.
Learnings
This project reinforced for me how critical it is to lead with a well planned approach that's driven by data gathered from users through testing and research. With such limited time and resources, it was critical that we were confident in our decisions at each step. Whenever there were questions about what approach to take or what to prioritize, we were able to go back and reference our user's feedback to guide us, or lean on more testing as needed.
This project also reinforced the importance of communication across the org, especially when working on a tight timeline. Design reviews were facilitated with team leads and stakeholders weekly, sometimes multiple times a week, and it greatly helped our ability to make decisions quickly and maintain leadership's buy-in.
