Maru Group partnered with Code and Theory to enhance their proprietary software platform, Maru/HUB. The goal was to improve the user experience through an assessment of application screens, features, and interactions for a more cohesive, user-friendly platform.
Enhancing the platform
During an 8-week Define and Design phase, we focused on four key opportunity areas: Rethinking Space Utilization, Revamping the Project View Page, Making Help Contextual, and Enhancing the Document Storage App. Based on these areas, we designed a new user experience and developed a fresh Look & Feel for their design system.
Details
2023
Code and Theory
Role
UX Research
Wireframes
Interaction Design
Functional Annotations
The Challenge
Maru’s web application had several areas needing improvement to enhance usability and functionality for users. The homepage lacked a clear overview and personalized experience. The project list and project view required enhancements for better project management and detailed insights. The project creation wizard needed to be more user-friendly, especially for newcomers. Additionally, the document storage app lacked organizational features and needed better functionality.
UX Phase
During the UX Phase, we conceptualized and designed features and components for key areas of the Maru Hub: Global Navigation, Homepage, Project List, Project View, Project Creation Wizard, and Document Storage App. Our design explorations focused on high-level ideas such as rethinking space utilization, revamping the project view page, making help contextual, and enhancing the document storage app.
Visual Design
The Visual Design process for Maru involved conducting creative workshops to explore two distinct visual directions that capture Maru's essence. After multiple iterations and workshops, a final direction was chosen. This new look and feel was then applied to the page templates and components identified in the UX Phase. Additionally, the visual design system was designed with themability in mind, allowing Maru’s clients to customize their instances of the Hub according to their company branding.
Outcome
At the conclusion of our client engagement phase, we provided our design work and functional annotations to the client's internal team to begin development.
More Work
