Interoperable Orbital Services

Overview

Client

Rocket Communications, Space Domain Contract

Process

Research, Audits, Heuristic Evaluations, Design Critiques, Roadmapping, SME Interviews, Field Observations, Wireframes, Dev Collaboration, Prototypes, Client Presentations

Outcome

Design and research bridged the knowledge gap during sprint cycles providing insights into user and workflow obstacles which enhanced designs to emphasize decision-making, task guidance, and visualizing orbit determinations.

I conducted a series of activities across the design process utilizing user research, expert interviews, field observations, and workflow analysis, revealing task improvements that influenced iterating wireframes and mockups used during development to build a functional prototype.

Disclaimer: The nature of this work is confidential, and per DoD compliance, the case study contains fictionalized data and omits project details. The case study presents a summary of my experience and design process.

Problem Statement

The feasibility project explored multiple stand-alone applications sharing tasks to work towards a common goal by establishing an interoperable platform allowing users to view, combine, and utilize different datasets to form new objectives, procedures, and processes.

Results

Design and research bridged the knowledge gap during sprint cycles, providing insights into user and workflow obstacles, which enhanced designs to emphasize decision-making, task guidance, and visualizing orbit determinations.

Future Recommendations

Develop a roadmap and timeline for continuous research and development
Utilize task optimization and user data for predictive analysis and intelligent defaults
Implement user curation to allow task customization and integrate best practices

My Role

UX Designer

UX Skills

Qualitative Research

Service Design

Field Observations

Persona/ User Roles

User Ecosystem Map

User Interviews

Wireframes

Clickable Mockups

Design Critiques

Tools

Google Suite

Figma

Whiteboard

Zoom

Design Process

Challenge

The primary challenge of the feasibility project was limiting design activities to prioritize the minimal viable product, a functional prototype. Emphasizing the MVP required adapting design activities to produce quick results for sharing with development teams and notating the need for additional activities in the project's next phase roadmap.

My Responsibilities

As the Lead UX Designer, I collaborated with stakeholders, project managers, experts, colleagues, and others to develop sprint epics, stories, and Jira ticket objectives, ensuring project progression.
I coordinated sprints for design and research activities developing research reports, workflows, wireframes, and other artifacts to ensure consistent and coherent design experiences.
I synthesized audit results, user research, and design recommendations into a UX/UI Roadmap, aligning design solutions with style guide requirements and compliance standards.

Initial Tasks

Discovery, Audits, Design Evaluation

Initiated tasks to establish the scope and the project manager's expectations for the design team
Conducted a document audit logging resources, requirements, and shared department responsibilities
Presented audit report showcasing prior efforts, known limitations, and potential obstacles
Completed tiered design critique for stand-alone applications, providing heuristic evaluation and improvements

A tiered approach for visual, user interface, and interaction design that provides quick results to prepare for a compliance audit

Tiered Design Critique

Sharing Design Insights

EPICS, Sprints, Design Concepts

Collaborated with EPIC definitions and story breakdowns to create Jira tickets for design activities
Coordinated with Lead Designer utilizing Jira to develop design research plan and roadmap
Created design concepts to socialize research insights and gather feedback on features and cohesion

Aligning UI elements with research insight to socialize findings and highlight next efforts

Design Critique: consistent and cohesive

User Research

Interviews, Field Observations, Diagrams

Conducted interviews with subject matter experts, documenting workflows, frustrations, and obstacles
Participated in on-site field observations revealing user behavior and environmental conditions
Created status quo artifacts from observation sketches and diagrammed current task processes
Developed optimized task flow diagrams while annotating potential limitations and issues

Design artifacts utilized to build MVP and notate future development

Design Artifact: Task Flow Diagram

Design Artifact: Status Quo Mapping

Iterative Process

Priorities, Features, Wireframes

Collaborated with Dev teams to prioritize workflows developed for the functional prototype
Reviewed stand-alone applications determining features relevant to workflows and prototype presentation
Created lo-fi wireframes of dashboard visualizing information compilation from several datasets

Design Artifact: Lo-fi Wireframes

wireframes to conceptualize ideas and compile critiques with subject matter experts

Design Mockups

Concept Refinement

Conducted guerilla usability testing to gather feedback and synthesized results into wireframe improvements
Developed spec documentation for dev teams clarifying component interactions, appearance, and functions
Created hi-fi mockups from AstroUX design system aligning to the project style guide and HCD standards

Design Artifact: Spec Documentation

navigation details for workflow process

functional mockup for refining prototype

Design Artifact: Hi-fi Mockup

Functional Prototype

While I cannot share the functional prototype created for this project, I can share the Flight Dynamic Services sample app I helped create at Rocket Communications.

The Flight Dynamics Services app has served as a foundational knowledge source in several contracts for expanding current space domain capabilities.

FDS Sample App