Product design, Design system, ux design
Experts in plant breeding
Since July 2024, I have been working at NoMaze GmbH as a Product Designer, Design System Engineer, and UX Designer. Shortly after joining, it became clear that user dissatisfaction with the platform was growing. Feedback repeatedly pointed to the same core issue:
The app looks like an Excel table.
This highlighted an urgent need to not only modernize the interface but also reframe the user experience to better fit the evolving needs of our audience.
WHO: NoMaze Gmbh
WHAT: Product Design, Design System, UX Design
WHEN: July 2024 – In Progress
Summary
NoMaze initially developed an MVP to assist plant breeders in efficiently analyzing data. However, users reported significant challenges with the app’s usability and design. Our approach involved a phased redesign—starting with visual and structural enhancements to the existing functionality, followed by deeper analysis and feature refinement.
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Problem Statement
The MVP helped plant breeders analyze data faster but fell short in usability and aesthetics, leading to:
Outdated, table-heavy UI leading to poor first impressions and usability issues.
Increasing complexity of workflows overwhelmed new users.
Inconsistent design patterns and code structure made scaling difficult.
Material-UI (MUI) framework specifics.
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The Plan
- Quick Wins: Address „low-hanging fruits“ by improving the current UI without altering core functionality.
- User-Centered Design: Conduct research to identify pain points and opportunities.
- Data-Driven Insights: Implement sentiment analysis to evaluate user opinions on features.
- Iterative Design: Develop new user flows, wireframes, and components based on research findings.
- Scalable Tech Stack: Build a responsive, intuitive UI using MUI design system, React Material Table, and Vega for visualization.
Gathering the "low-hanging fruits"
A message from the Founders
User Research
To understand the user base, we:
- Conducted interviews with plant breeders, focusing on their workflows and pain points.
- Distributed surveys to gather insights into which areas of the app felt unintuitive.
- Analyzed support tickets and feedback to identify recurring themes in user dissatisfaction.
Findings revealed that users valued the app’s data-processing capabilities but struggled with:
- Navigating complex workflows.
- Deciphering data visualizations due to inconsistent presentation.
- Lack of guidance for new users.
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Tech Stack
NoMaze initially developed an MVP to assist plant breeders in efficiently analyzing data. However, users reported significant challenges with the app’s usability and design. Our approach involved a phased redesign—starting with visual and structural enhancements to the existing functionality, followed by deeper analysis and feature refinement.
05
02
Problem Statement
The MVP helped plant breeders analyze data faster but fell short in usability and aesthetics, leading to:
- Poor user satisfaction due to a cluttered and inconsistent UI.
- Steep learning curves for new users, with no clear pathways for tasks.
- Limited feedback loops to understand what features were most valued.
Let’s create something great together.
