Elise Nguyen · Design Portfolio

Symphony

Company

Symphony

My Role

Product Designer

My timeframe

Jun 2015 - Feb 2018

Mobile design

Symphony is a cloud-based and secure communication platform that allows businesses and professionals to exchange high-value content and information securely.

Brief

As a mobile user, the focus is on content consumption, community growth, and organization. Updating navigational framework will provide for a simple, efficient, rich content consumption experience.

process

Each designer focused on a different part of the app (product areas). My focus was on community growth and improving the chat experience. The design process started with research, moved to interaction design, visual design, prototyping, usability testing, iteration, and then production.

Result

Build stronger relationships by connecting with existing partners and clients. Create new ones by searching Symphony’s trusted network of industry contacts. Easily collaborate with colleagues, partners, and clients via one-on-one messaging or robust group conversations.

Our space

Symphony mobile is a chat-based workspace that ties into Symphony desktop. But we aren’t the only ones to offer this service. MS Teams, Skype for Business, and Slack who are focusing on real-time collaboration with integrations with a range of third-party services.

What is a community? Why is it important to our users?

Streamlined communication
Collaborate with colleagues, partners, and clients via one-on-one messaging or robust group conversations.

Secure directory
Build stronger relationships by connecting with existing partners and clients. Create new ones by searching Symphony’s trusted network of industry contacts.

Trusted communities
Extend the benefits of secure, real-time communication to partners and customers while maintaining regulatory compliance.

Problems & common use cases

12 banks currently use Symphony and they are using Bloomberg as a source of communication

What we lack in our current app is a place where users can connect not only internally but externally

With the community tab, users are able to find other external Symphony users and connect with them

Sketching & Wireframing

After brainstorming the users and the current problems, we started to sketch out some potential solutions. Here are some early quick sketches and wireframing.

Visuals, Prototyping & User Testing

I thoroughly enjoy immersing myself in visual design and prototyping, as it allows me to delve into various visual concepts while keeping both the brand identity and user preferences in mind. The primary challenge I encountered during the visual design phase was striking a harmonious balance between a consumer-friendly style and a more corporate aesthetic. Our user base leans towards a serious application rather than a playful one. To address this, I successfully introduced engaging visual elements by embracing an elegant, minimalist, and clean design approach.

Throughout the process, I generated a multitude of interaction prototypes. Prototyping not only facilitated my exploration of microinteractions but also enabled me to effectively communicate my visual vision when presenting to Product Managers and Engineers. I also utilized these prototypes for rapid guerrilla testing, allowing me to swiftly identify and address any design issues that arose during user testing, refining my designs accordingly.