Collaborative Design: designing the product together – Optum

Product Design/Ux

In this product design for an Optum Insight client, I employed collaborative design practices. The product was entirely new, and from the start of my engagement, the clients had a clear understanding of their needs, target users, and a general idea of how it should function. However, they struggled with the product’s design and how users would interact with it. 

After asking key questions and refining business requirements and defining expectations, I recognized the need for a highly collaborative approach. I organized a series of FigJam sessions where the team worked together to define user personas, their roles, and the screens each persona would interact with. Since this was a new way of working for this team, progress was initially slow. However, as we labeled stickies representing different screens–patterns and workflows naturally emerged. 

To deepen their engagement, I asked the clients to refine the sticky arrangements without me, structuring them in a way that felt logical to them. When we reconvened and reviewed their adjustments. We made refinements, and renamed labels as needed. Using this new arrangement, I developed rough thumbnail wireframes, which we reviewed together in a follow-up session. 

These quick visualizations helped solidify their understanding of the product’s structure, navigation, and user interactions. As we moved toward higher-fidelity wireframes, we maintained this collaborative approach, fostering trust and ensuring that every team member had a voice which allowed ideas to emerge from all perspectives.

This collaborative process helped us to determine the necessary UI elements and where they would appear across different screens.

I set up a FigJam board for the team to work together. These sessions helped guide the stakeholders through their thinking.

Along with some direction, I asked my clients to work together without me and refine the arrangement of the stickies into an order that made sense to them.

I created rough thumbnail wireframes for the team to review in a follow-up meeting. These quick visualizations provided the clients with a clearer, more cohesive understanding of the product’s layout, user navigation, and interactions.

Ux & Product Design, Information Architecture, Interaction Design