SphereDx
Centralized place for patient care
Role
Lead UX/UI Product Designer
Timeline
12 weeks
Process
Design Thinking, Usability Testing, Branding
Team
Product Managers(2), Program Managers(1), UI/UX Designer(1), Engineers
w/multiple levels(4), Eng Leads(2), Marketing Specialist(1), Regulatory Officer(1),
CX Managers(4)
Disclaimer: Some project details have been modified to protect confidentiality.
Impact
Background
SphereDx, formerly known as the Result Portal, allows customers to access patient results. As the customer base grew and user needs diversified, the platform faced challenges due to missing critical features and gaps in information architecture, making it difficult to support different user workflows effectively.
Users
There are the responsibilities of top 3 user groups:
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Operators: Patient information and results management
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Physicians: After-exam patient care
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Admins: Organization oversight and employee management
Business
Goals
SphereDx aimed to build a secure, scalable portal to:
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Centralize result distribution and management.
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Simplify workflows and enhance the customer experience.
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Unlock new monetization opportunities by offering valuable tools, such as reporting features.
Initiate Customer Research
I led a series of conversations with our existing customer to learn their needs. We quickly learn that there were 3 top user problems they were facing:
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Manual report distribution lacked visibility into usage metrics(every 30 days)
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No centralized system for physicians to manage patients
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The current information architecture cannot serve complex multiple user flows
Collaborate w/ Internal Teams
Partnered with Customer Success Managers, I collected information and built customer profiles for all our existing ones. Documented their background, team structure, history of our collaboration, and their wins and wishes.
Identify Unique User Needs
Follow up on the initial research, I partnered with Customer Success Leads and analyzed each user group and identified their goals and struggles with the current product.
Complex User Workflows
After the research, I quickly identified a critical problem in the information architecture. With the fast-growing products, the old IA was not sustainable for product growth and serving each unique user flows.
Problem 1:
Chaotic IA and Navigation
The initial hamburger menu was:
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Less discoverable, hard to explore new features
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Less sustainable, not good for long-term development
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No access control based on user roles
Redesign the IA
In the current architecture, all items are placed on the same level. The shallow hierarchy increases cognitive load. It is also not sustainable for long-term product growth.
I regrouped the page content into 3 categories:
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Patients
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Performance(report&analysis)
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Admin features(setting&configuration)
Navigation Design Iterations
I worked with our Engineer Architect and mocked up different design options to compare the pros and cons, and tested with internal team.
Dynamic Navigation
After rounds of testings, we made the decision to combine side-bar navigation and tabs, to support the presentation of page content. The reasons are:side-bar navigation saves horizontal space top tab serves as quick filter to sub-pages under each navigation optionscombination of both supports a dynamic navigation and better access control
Enhancing Patient Management Workflows
The problem
Physicians relied on multiple platforms to complete after-exam patient care flow.
Test Assumptions with Internal Teams
I drew some wireframes to test some assumptions and get initial feedback from internal folks.
Design Iterations with Product and Eng Teams
Solution
Layout Consistency
To remain consistency across the product, I chose the table layout for the worklist which was similar to other tabs.
Task Prioritization - Interview with Physicians
I interviewed 25 physicians from various organizations, and found that an overview of tasks was helpful for them to prioritize their work
Enhancing Reporting & Analytics Tool
The problem
Past Workflow Challenges:
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No self-service reporting feature in the portal
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Internal teams manually pulled data, causing delays and extra work
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Reports lacked granular insights like operator-level or site-level comparisons
User research
I conducted use case research
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10+ customers show interests in analytics tool that can lead to monetization
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In-person testing with internal folks with little to no experience with our products to test usability
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Survey results collected from 25+ customer success team members for feature prioritization
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3 interviews with physicians on overread and patient referral features to determine must-haves
Solving tech and time constraints
Our team faced 2 problems:
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Not enough time to finish self-built report within the current release
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There are data dependencies on other releases
I proposed the idea of breaking this large initiative into a phased plan, starting from building MVP by embedding a third-party tool, to a self-built multiple-levels report
Solution
Desired Improvements:
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Instant, self-service access to data
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Visual dashboards with filters and breakdowns
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The ability to export reports independently
Built and maintained the design system
Along with this release, I found many UI inconsistency across design, engineering and marketing teams. I built and maintained a design system for all the UI components and their variants, templates, typography, color palettes etc.
Reflections
Working on SphereDx taught me how to design for complex, multi-user workflows while balancing usability, security, and scalability.
Collaborations
Engaged stakeholders early to align goals, gather feedback, and ensure designs met user and business needs.
Process
Partnered closely with engineering to define task flows, streamline handoffs, and create robust testing plans.
Scalable Execution
Split complex projects into manageable chunks, enabling faster releases and keeping ahead of competitors.