"Dashboard Design System: Unified 12 product dashboards with a consistent design guideline."

Pain point

• Inconsistent User Interfaces: A lot of users have mentioned how confusing it is when the design varies across different products. It makes it hard to quickly find what you're looking for and slows things down.

  
  

• Too Complex and Overwhelming: Many users feel frustrated by how complicated the dashboards are. There's so much going on that it feels mentally exhausting and makes it harder to make quick decisions.

  
  

• Lack of Trust and Confidence: When the design is all over the place, it makes users feel like the system isn’t reliable. It creates uncertainty, and people don’t feel as comfortable using the product or trusting it.

Framing the challenge + Hypothesis

Research and competitor benchmarking showed that inconsistent design across product dashboards is a common issue, leading to confusion and difficulty in navigating complex data. While some companies use design systems, others develop independently, causing fragmented user experiences. Our goal is to create a consistent, intuitive, and scalable dashboard design guideline that simplifies complex data and improves usability across OPSWAT products. We aim to avoid unnecessary complexity and steep learning curves, ensuring clarity and flexibility for future growth. This will enhance the user experience and support better decision-making across all products.

Expert Interviews

Experts agreed that design inconsistency across product dashboards is a common challenge in cybersecurity, leading to fragmented user experiences and confusion. While some companies have adopted design systems, many still struggle with disconnected interfaces. Experts recommend creating a scalable, flexible design guideline that ensures consistency while simplifying complex data, especially for non-technical users. They emphasized the importance of user-centered design to improve clarity, ease of navigation, and user engagement.

Customer Interview

Customers highlighted frustrations with navigating multiple OPSWAT products due to inconsistent design and complex data presentation. Many non-technical users reported difficulties in interpreting data and a steep learning curve. They expressed a strong need for a unified, intuitive dashboard with simplified workflows and clearer data, emphasizing the importance of a design system that remains simple and accessible for all users.

Summary

Both experts and customers emphasize the need for consistent, intuitive designs that simplify complex data, improve navigation, and reduce cognitive load. The goal is to create a dashboard that is scalable, user-friendly, and adaptable, ensuring both technical and non-technical users can navigate with ease.

Plan VS Reality

The scale of the project required input from designers, engineers, and product managers, leading to many exchanged opinions. However, the integration process faced delays due to constant requests for information and individual requirements.

To address this, we implemented a weekly meeting with all designers working on the project, which helped filter out overly specific requests and generate valuable design ideas for integration.

Prototyping & Workshop

Design iteration, iteration, and iteration

Initially, we focused on design elements like color, spacing, icons, and components. However, as the workshop progressed, we realized that each stakeholder had unique needs regarding elements and data structure, requiring tailored directions.

Components

Page layout

Widget

Dashboard UI redesign