Airfold Pipes
Airfold revolutionizes data management by enabling real-time data ingestion and converting SQL queries into high-performance APIs capable of handling thousands of concurrent requests.
www.airfold.coMy Role
Guided the entire design process, encompassing problem definition, design strategy, user research, and UX/UI design.
Team
Product Owner, Product Manager, Product Designer, Data Analyst, Frontend and Backend Engineers, and QA Specialist.
Timeline
The design went from inception to completion in three months, starting from the initial MVP to a fully redesigned web application.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6616f2a52b1633b135e39f6e/6618666831ea7d0ae20d8e92_Pipe%20overview%202%201.png)
Introduction to problem
In our constant energy to bring value to our users, we've identified several critical areas requiring attention. During our research, we've identified that the process of ingesting data and converting SQL queries into APIs remains time-consuming.
While the initial version of our web application served as a minimum viable product (MVP), it became evident through user feedback and data analysis that significant improvements were necessary to enhance user satisfaction and bolster retention rates. In response to these findings, we embarked on a journey to redesign and refine the MVP, with the goal of exceeding user expectations and fostering long-term engagement with our platform.
From a business standpoint, we believe that redesigning the web application and automating certain processes can significantly enhance user satisfaction, increase retention, and attract new customers. Throughout our decision-making process, we carefully considered the cost, impact, and scalability of our solutions to ensure we deliver the best possible outcome.
The challenge
We were in the early stages, working in a startup environment characterized by constant change. The challenge was to design a solution that helps Airfold improve user satisfaction, and retention, and acquire new customers by providing users with a better way to convert SQL queries into APIs, saving time and money. The main challenges lay ahead of me:
- Finding a balance between the product's value proposition and user needs.
- Designing a revamped user interface and experience that not only addresses the identified areas for improvement but also exceeds user expectations, fosters long-term engagement, and encourages retention on the platform.
- Striking the right balance between complexity and simplicity in the redesigned web application, ensuring that while automation and additional features enhance user satisfaction, they do not overwhelm users or compromise ease of use.
![Initial design for Airfold Web App](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6616f2a52b1633b135e39f6e/66186d0d0de27904db4457e9_Initial%20state.png)
Initial design for Airfold Web App
![Final design of Airfold Web App](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6616f2a52b1633b135e39f6e/66186dc05aa0b8cdacfc7dfa_final%20state.png)
Final design of Airfold Web App
Project phases
Before delving into design activities, together with Product Manager we’ve defined the sequential stages and milestones of the project.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6616f2a52b1633b135e39f6e/661da5378db380c60902d794_phases.png)
High-level product hypothesis
Defining early assumptions always plays a crucial role in the product development process as it allows us to align on goals, prioritize initiatives, and iteratively validate our approach, ultimately driving the product towards success.
Here are some of the early assumptions I generated:
- Users primarily seek the web interface for data experimentation, team management, and billing management, but CLI for other data manipulations.
- An enhanced navigation structure will reduce task completion time.
- Providing built-in samples for typical use cases enables users to assess platform capabilities before using their sensitive data, boosting user confidence and platform engagement.
- Automating some processes via implementing "query" templates and recommended "queries" will save the data team time and costs.
- Streamlining the data ingestion process with diverse data source types will save data teams time in dataset preparation and reduce costs.
Validations
The findings from secondary market research and competitor analysis were inconclusive in fully validating my hypotheses. Additionally, the insufficiency of existing behavioral and quantitative data necessitated the consideration of additional methods. Consequently, I opted to conduct a round of in-depth user interviews.
Before commencing the user interviews, I diligently crafted a comprehensive plan encompassing detailed scenario descriptions, respondent profiles, questions, and expected outcomes. This meticulous preparation facilitated clear measurement at the conclusion of this round, enabling an assessment of whether additional sessions were warranted.
Subsequently, as per the outlined plan, I conducted one round of user sessions, comprising 10 in-depth interviews which yielded valuable insights, validating early assumptions.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6616f2a52b1633b135e39f6e/661d83e57ec141dadb4e8c38_Validations.png)
High-fidelity visualizations
After refining the information architecture and navigation structure, I began to align the edges with our primary business needs of enhancing user satisfaction, retention, and new customer acquisition.
Throughout this design phase, the challenge was to create an appealing and distinctive design while maintaining consistency across the entire web app experience. Initiatives from previous phases, such as secondary feature research, insights from user interviews, and the IA map, highlighted critical areas needing attention, which I prioritized and organized into required scope and design backlog.
Instead of creating entirely new user experiences, I focused on identifying common user interface elements, workflows, and interaction patterns that could be reused to ensure consistency across various features. This approach allows me to adhere to common standards and patterns, enabling users to concentrate fully on their own tasks without wasting time trying to figure out "how it works.
Continuous iteration and ongoing communication with various departments of the Airfold team enabled me to refine and ultimately present the next version of our revolutionary platform. This product version optimized multiple strategic core flows to streamline real-time data to APIs in the shortest time, significantly impacting and effecting an increase in each category of product metrics (Activation, Engagement, Retention, Monetization).
![Navigation](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6616f2a52b1633b135e39f6e/661d85fbd6ebbd7fb3296020_Img%235.png)
UI Components
By finding a visual language that would resonate with the goal of Airfold to deliver a unique and recognizable experience, I created a single guide grouping together every element needed to build web application and allow for future iteration. The playbook identifies the main components and the principles of their interaction.
Measuring the success
Once the design had been finalized, tested, and all necessary interactions and components documented, and as we progressed to pushing it forward to the Engineering team, I began planning how we would measure the success of the delivered product version. It was crucial for us to remain flexible and prepared to address areas requiring immediate attention on the go. Thus, I presented my vision for an exploration phase, which consisted of several key items to align with the team:
- Defining the list of success metrics
- Determining which tools we would use for ongoing observation
- Establishing the period during which we would observe the delivered product version
Defining and implementing those initiatives enabled us to effectively validate design decisions and establish an effective approach for validating future iterations.
Key learnings and takeaways
- Strategic Alignment: Understanding the primary business objectives and aligning design efforts with them is crucial for success. In this case, focusing on enhancing user satisfaction, retention, and customer acquisition helped drive design decisions.
- Consistency is Key: Maintaining consistency across the entire web app experience is essential for usability and user satisfaction. By identifying and reusing common UI elements, workflows, and interaction patterns, the design ensured a seamless and intuitive user experience.
- Impactful Optimization: Optimizing core flows to streamline real-time data transfer significantly impacted existing product metrics, such as activation, engagement, retention, and monetization. This highlights the importance of focusing on areas that have the most substantial impact on key performance indicators.
- User-Centric Design: Prioritizing user needs and preferences based on insights from user interviews and research is fundamental. By addressing critical areas highlighted by user feedback, the design aimed to meet user expectations effectively.
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