reimagining customer experience

The engagement was strategically split into two phases to ensure we delivered immediate value while simultaneously working on a long-term, validated redesign. I led the offshore team in crunching through a vast repository of existing research, translating it into the core insights that would drive our design decisions.

phase 1: quick wins & tactical improvements

We needed to stop the immediate bleeding on the site. We initiated a comprehensive content audit and reviewed existing heuristic studies and web analytics.

• Visualizing the Problems: We collected and categorized findings on a virtual whiteboard using InVision Freehand, utilizing affinity mapping to identify recurring user pain points.

• Prioritizing Impact: We facilitated a collaborative workshop with key stakeholders, utilizing a "Value vs. Complexity" matrix and dot-voting to identify quick, actionable improvements that could be sent straight to the development team.

phase 2: strategic redesign & information architecture

With the immediate fires addressed, we focused on the long-term solution. Based on our analytics and expert evaluations, we pinpointed three critical user journeys—such as the new customer purchase journey—that would yield the highest impact on customer experience.

• Solving Content Discoverability: HomeServe’s content was incredibly difficult for users to find. To fix this, we conducted remote card sorting and affinity mapping workshops with stakeholders to redefine the website's taxonomy, content hierarchy, and sitemap.

• Skeleton Templating: Before diving into high-fidelity design, we created skeleton templates for unique pages. This allowed us to ruthlessly prioritize content and establish clear focal points without the distraction of visual aesthetics.

bridging the geographic divide

Managing a distributed design team required strict alignment and continuous communication. We relied heavily on tools designed for remote collaboration, using Trello for sprint planning, Slack for daily stand-ups, and InVision Cloud to keep the onsite and offshore team design assets synced.

A core pillar of our strategy was bringing stakeholders into the heart of the design process. By syncing all deliverables and assets to InVision, stakeholders could leave granular feedback directly on the designs. This transparent, inclusive approach turned potential compliance blockers into collaborative discussions, ensuring everyone felt ownership over the final product.

iterative prototyping & usability testing

We built our prototypes in Adobe XD, establishing a foundational grid system, type-scale, and component library early on. This ensured visual consistency across the distributed team and allowed us to iterate at a rapid pace.

To ensure our solutions actually worked for HomeServe's demographic, we executed a two-phased testing strategy utilizing a mix of new and existing customers across both desktop and mobile devices:

• Low-Fidelity Validation: We first tested structural wireframes. This allowed us to validate our new Information Architecture and user flows before committing to visual design. We recorded mobile interactions using a gooseneck camera setup and captured desktop sessions via screen recording.

• High-Fidelity Confirmation: After refining the wireframes based on user feedback, I worked with the visual designers to apply a new creative direction—derived from competitor analysis and HomeServe’s brand guidelines. We then tested these polished prototypes in a second round of testing to confirm our micro-interactions and visual cues.

streamlining the hand-off

To wrap up the design phase, we prioritized a frictionless hand-off to HomeServe’s in-house development team. By utilizing the Zeplin plugin for Adobe XD, we bypassed the need for tedious, manual style specification documents, saving crucial time as we approached the end of our 10-week sprint.