Science Central: College-apps & canvas for science
Role
In-House Product Designer
Created design system, prototypes
Conducted Figma prototype testing
Communicate directly with Cheif Data Officer, PMs, and engineers
Social impact
Advanced environmental molecular science discovery in the United States
Team
1 Project Manager
2 Designers & Researchers
15+ Software Engineers (Backend & Frontend)
Prototype solution (built by me)
UX impact through end users' voices
"much better organized"
"way better than emailing back and forth"
The mission was clear, how might we …
make it easier for world-class scientists to access data and share their research insights?
"Part of my samples were lost... so we have to discard that part of the experiment..."
What was blocking world-class scientists from accessing and sharing experimental data?
Lack of streamlined support
Internal chains of communication
Conflict in product ownership
What is my responsiblity
Create an all-in-one platform for internal team and external scientists
For each external module design, we design service for the internal team as well (Students vs. professors)
Technical challenges
Dual-audience experiences
Weaved multi-stakeholder user flows
Design for concepts and practical
How I lead the team to success in solving the right problems
For each module design, I led 3+ co-design workshops for both sides of the user groups
With detail-oriented workshops, I lead the team to prepare every session carefully and filled with punctual questions
Discover: User flows
Through workshops, I aligned the user flows from the external and internal audience so we can identify the emotional lows and interaction frictions.
Define: Feature prioritization
Design requirements became much more complex with multiple stakeholders to serve in the module. I guided the design team in organizing features around stakeholder needs, empowering each designer to take ownership of a specific feature or stakeholder group.
Divide and conquer in ideation (my ideation)
Design: Consistency & Reduce politics
The team didn’t have a design system, so I created one using Figma variables, unlocking dark and light mode design in one.
This approach saved us time when brand color politics arose, allowing me to update the primary color across all designs in minutes.
Validate: Prototyping testing
With an attitude toward discovering, I built prototypes to test with end users.
I conducted usability testing to validate our design, helping us refine interactions and ensure that our solution effectively addressed the pain points.
Sample shipment: Design challenge 1
People forget to share tracking numbers when mailing experiment samples
Our solution
We created 24hr, 48hr, and 72hr emails and in-app reminders after approval to ship
Sample shipment: Design challenge 2
Lab identifiers often gone missing
Our solution
Graphic reminder to record specific lab identifier numbers, preventing packages from getting lost upon arrival at our organization.
Sample shipment: Design challenge 3
144 attributes to fill out in metadata recording
Our solution
Convert 144 Excel columns into a categorized searchable panel to locate attributes easily and quickly attribute loca.
What I learned from my design team
Non-violent communication
I realized that being technically skilled alone doesn’t guarantee excellent execution of a user experience product. Reflecting on my communication methods, I had a significant 'aha' moment when I adopted a more collaborative approach with the team, using nonviolent communication. This change allowed me to address problems with a much calmer, more constructive mindset.