Approach

The first job I was tasked with was to conduct a competitive audit. I looked at three main competitive products, evaluating everything from their OOBE (out of box experience), their onboarding sequences, illustrations, UI design and voice command design. I created a user flow for each product that we compared to the Portal.

I also created a more comprehensive flow of the current version of the Portal device. This exercise helped us become intimately familiar with the product, identify issues or areas that could be improved and think through questions that we would ask stakeholders.

Our team of designers, art directors and a creative lead took multiple trips to the Facebook campus to conduct stakeholder interviews across various disciplines. After synthesizing our findings and many discussions about the potential directions of the next generation Portal, we did multiple rounds of design explorations. Each designer worked independently to create mood boards, ideate on concepts and create mockups that were presented and critiqued by the larger team. Below are some artifacts that came out of my efforts during those exercises.

Alternative layout configurations

Initial concepts

UI animation (created in Principle)

Conclusion

After multiple rounds of design explorations and check-ins with the client, we settled on a direction and started creating assets to deliver. Below are a few of these including some comps with the grid included as well as a type ramp. Facebook was very pleased with the outcome of our work and implemented some of our work into the new version of Portal.