Over 1 year of work, I conducted impactful UX research for SAP's incubation unit, focusing on understanding emerging user needs and identifying opportunities for innovation in a new product area. This work involved gathering insights through user interviews, surveys, and usability testing to guide the strategic direction of early-stage projects. Additionally, I contributed to UI improvements for SAP SuccessFactors, refining the platform's design to enhance user experience and align with modern usability standards. I demonstrated a strong ability to bridge research findings with actionable design solutions, fostering both innovation and improving user satisfaction.
Tags: Product Thinking | Design Systems | SaaS
Project Time: Sep 2021 - Mar 2022 |
Mar 2022 - Sep 2022
My Responsibility: Research & Design
Results: Progressed MVP to Next Stage |
Delivered designs for implementation
My projects on Eureka focused on user research in the consumer packaged goods industry and my projects on SuccessFactors focused on upgrading UI using SAP's new design system. SAP is the world's leading ERP (enterprise resource planning) software vendor. Eureka is an incubation unit and SuccessFactors is SAP's cloud-based human capital management product.
I curated lead lists and scheduled user interviews with individuals with job titles we were designing for.
Stage 1
• Revenue managers use Excel as their main solution.
• 70% of work is done manually
• 70% of work has visual inconsistencies.
I crafted my own moderation guide for interviews with stakeholders and organized note in affinity diagrams.
Sample moderation guide
Sample Mural board notes
Stage 2
How might I build the best experience for customers and help them better execute business functions?
Based on user needs I learned from research and business goals of SAP, I defined design characteristics before exploring solutions.
I held workshops with international stakeholders like Mars confectionary company's team in Russia and delivered actionable insights in internal research read-outs.
Design thinking workshop
Research read-out
I designed a mid-fidelity design library to rapidly prototype with.
It featured:
• Fonts, colors, spacing
• Components
• Templates
SuccessFactors Desktop MacOS + Windows and Mobile iOS + Android Designs
I used color and popups to bring attention to users' task at hand.
Here are Android mobile designs, featuring an input field fix I designed for the customer in Korea..The input field was cutting off characters they typed so I increased the height of the input field, solving the urgent request.
I made sure forms were easily recognized as input areas with content design and spacing.
I collaborated with UA to ensure alignment of design, functionality, and documentation.
Stage 3
This is a landing page mockup for the web experience that engineers picked up and worked to develop on a live environment.For this page, I was in a rapid feedback loop with engineers to ensure correct implementation.
New UI
In 2023, SAP released their newest design system, Fiori Next.
I leveraged the "Horizon" theme for desktop for past and present designs.
Identical information with the desktop version with some changes in design:
• Easier to browse by separating info into multiple pages.
• Align with design principles of SAP central design team.
• Seamless cross-platform experience between desktop and mobile.
This design showcases the characteristics of the new design system: rounded corners, new icons, new font, and new colors.
JTBD workshop with PMs
Competitive analysis of HR softwares
My impact as a designer with SAP's Eureka (incubation unit) and SuccessFactors includes driving meaningful UX improvements through thoughtful research and design. With Eureka, you conducted UX research to support innovative projects, providing insights that shaped emerging solutions. At SuccessFactors, your work focused on enhancing UI and usability, implementing improvements that contributed to a more intuitive and efficient user experience for one of SAP’s flagship products. My contributions reflect a balance of strategic research and hands-on design that drove user satisfaction and product excellence.
All of my designs were implemented within their respective 2 month releases.
How did my work affect business and financial outcomes?
Progress
• Moved MVP from research phase to lab phase
• SFSF applause for information architecture
Workflow
•Increase in productivity
• Increase of views
User Experience
• Decrease in errors
• Increase in usage
• Retention Rates increased
• What did I learn from this project?
1. Designing for Complexity: Learned how to simplify complex concepts in cloud compliance, data residency, and security for enterprise users.Understood the importance of balancing technical accuracy with user-friendly design.
2. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Gained experience working closely with product managers, developers, and stakeholders to align on technical requirements and user needs.Learned to navigate trade-offs between technical constraints and design intent.
3. System Thinking: Mastered designing scalable systems by creating a design system that maintained consistency across features while accommodating growth.
4. User Research in Niche Domains: Developed skills in conducting user research for a highly specific audience, such as security and compliance professionals.Gained insights into how users make critical decisions based on data visualizations and dashboards.
5. Delivering Business Impact: Learned to align design efforts with business objectives, demonstrating how design directly contributes to achieving measurable outcomes.
6. Iterative Design Processes: Experienced the value of iterating based on feedback to refine features, ensuring they met user and business expectations effectively.
• What are the most challenging parts of this project?
1. Balancing Technical Constraints and User Needs
Technical Limitations: Working within the constraints of cloud platforms and enterprise IT systems can limit design possibilities, requiring creative problem-solving.
Diverse User Base: Catering to different user personas (e.g., security admins, compliance officers, C-suite) with varying levels of expertise and priorities can be difficult to balance.
2. Cross-Functional Alignment
Stakeholder Buy-In: Gaining alignment from multiple teams—such as engineering, product management, and legal—on design priorities can be time-consuming.
Communication Gap: Bridging the gap between highly technical teams and non-technical users can require constant translation and advocacy.
First group of new grads in '21 to go on-site in Palo Alto
SAP suite at Chase Center for a Warriors game
SAP Holiday party at Palo Alto campus
SuccessFactors team lunch at Ramen Nagi in downtown Palo Alto, University Avenue
With past manager Marga visiting from Newport Beach office & past teammate Natalie
.avif)
SAP 50th anniversary celebration at PayPal Park in San Jose
49ers Players for a Purpose event at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara
Getting an autograph from wide receiver Deebo Samuel
My UX design portfolio showcasing a diverse range of projects where I deliver research-driven, user-centric solutions.
Highlights include:
• Enterprise SaaS: Transforming SAP Data Custodian with modern UI designs and seamless adoption of the latest design system, resulting in improved usability and product scalability.
• Healthcare Innovation: Designing Dexcom's first desktop app, enabling diabetes patients to access glucose data conveniently and distraction-free while working.
• Data Visualization & Research: From dashboards for the San Jose Sharks to global design thinking workshops, see how I craft impactful designs and streamline complex workflows.
How did I lead the design of SAP's premier
cloud security solution, driving user success for customers such as Apple?
View Project
How did I expand Dexcom's software offerings and improve health management for their users?
View Project
How did I design a comprehensive
dashboard for a venue that hosts
100 sporting events a year?
View Project
