After the Beta release of Node Engine, we conducted a few one-on-one interviews about how the current product was received. Reports stated that they didn’t trust Node Engine’s to be a reliable site and had difficulty keeping nodes hosted.
Because of a learn MVP direction and tight deadline for Node Engine, the current product that paying customers were using had more functional design than enjoyable design.
We thought a new paint job and UI update would improve customer relations. We also needed mobile designs due to Node Engine being designed with desktop users in mind. After choosing the name “Fleet”, I need to craft the design to be clean and visually appealing that aligns with Web3 principles.
Web3 principles include an accessibility to all so I adapted the proposed colors meet AA accessibility standards and designed both a light and dark mode for the site.
By the time the redesign was greenlit, backend developers had the technology to match the code with the streamlined onboarding process.
Node Engine launched in a short time frame and that meant a lot of shortcuts were taken. More often than not, Node Engine was a buggy, outdated product to users.
One of the shortcuts taken was a rudimentary password creation process.
For example, when a user was creating their account, the password requirements would only show up once they clicked the input box. It added extra frustration when a user would only know that their password was inadequate after hitting the enter button.
Changes included having clear, visible requirements right on the screen for the user. That way a user will already be thinking of the correct password to use for Fleet. The user won't think they are being set up to fail. We also added live time responses to their password input. Proving this is website that knows what is going on and is here to help.
The main bugs that users experienced were on mobile. Node Engine simply did not have enough time for any mobile designs to be created. Not having our product functional for mobile users told them that we were a shoddy, unprepared company. And I don’t blame them.
Why mobile first?
With Fleet, I took a mobile first approach to designing since 60% of web users are mobile users. This sped up my design process by 20% because I was able to easily transport the mobile designs to desktop. It's a little slower when you translate desktop designs to mobile.
The redesign of Fleet successfully addressed key usability challenges. UI improvements like mobile first design and a more cohesive art direction allowed for our product to appear more polished. When bugs and confusing UI aren't plaguing the system, the user can trust this product more. The focus on onboarding and cleaner design contributed to a more user-friendly experienced in the decentralized hosting space.
Once the redesign is implemented, ongoing user feedback and data analytics will be essential to continue refining and optimizing the platform’s user experience.