This page links to a few of the work products produced as part of my redesign of Virtuoso's interface. The total design was over 200 screens. You can look at a single-page summary below and under Problems and solutions there are three examples of specific problems users reported and the solutions I came up with to those problems.
Virtuoso 3.0 Server Management
OpenLink Virtuoso is a universal server, including a database, a Web server, a full suite of XML functionality, and Web services capabilities. I designed a unified set of interfaces to each of these functionality groups, as well as messaging and administrative interfaces so that the server could be fully controlled by a remote administrator.
I created an overall page layout template and information architecture to guide end-screen creation.
See a one-page annotated screen showing how these improvements appeared.
Improvements
Goals achieved by the redesign:
- Enhanced product branding
- User identity visibility and session control
- Logical segmentation of navigation by functional area & current function
- Consistent navigation across all UI segments
- Use of familiar icons (tabs, folders, buttons) to speed user interaction
- Meaningful color scheme to convey layers of information
- Consistent adherence to W3C Accessability guidelines and US 508 guidelines
- On-screen hints/tips to reduce user confusion
- Bookmarkable pages within interface
- Reduced need to scroll and search
- Consistent markers for present locations
- Unified presentation of available relevant operations
You can also see the Information Architecture used in the Virtuoso redesign .
Problems and solutions