Information Architecture

The existing IA grouped modules by technical category — which made sense to the engineers who built them, but not to analysts who think in terms of workflow phases. I reorganized the left rail into five functional clusters: Data Center, Engineering, Lab, Designer, and Reports. Each maps to a distinct phase of the analytical workflow. This reduced the number of navigational decisions users had to make to reach common tasks, and gave new users a mental model they could actually hold.

Visual System

I introduced a modular grid and typography scale to establish hierarchy across high-density data views. The real constraint: with six engineers maintaining the codebase, visual changes had to be incrementally implementable without wholesale rewrites. I prioritized changes where design impact was highest relative to engineering effort — typography and spacing before component redesigns, because they compound across the entire product.

Feedback & Empty States

Missing feedback states were generating the platform's highest-volume support tickets. Users were stuck with no in-product guidance. I designed a comprehensive feedback system: skeleton loaders for async operations, contextual toast notifications with clear action paths, and guided empty state messaging that turned zero-data screens into orientation moments rather than dead ends.

Accessibility and Dark Mode

Support feedback and competitive benchmarking converged on the same gap: the platform wasn't designed for the extended sessions its users were spending in it. I designed a tokenized color system enabling full light/dark parity at WCAG AA contrast compliance, and implemented keyboard navigation parity and ARIA labels across all interactive components.