Mod Pro

3D Animation Software

My UX Design team was hired by Mod Tech Labs to audit and evaluate the UI and user flows of its new product, Mod Pro, prior to its launch. Mod Pro is an optimized AI powered 3D animation tool that simplifies the 3D design process.

Role

UX Prototyper & Tester

Timeline

1 month

Team

1 Prototyper/Tester, 1 Researcher, 1 Designer, 1 Project Manager

Tools

Figma, Maze, Keynote

View Mod Pro

Mod Pro's 3D animation software faced UX challenges, with nearly a hundred screens lacking design consistency, navigationally sound prototypes, and essential testing. Key concerns included problems with 3D design import/export process, notification features, terminology, and call-to-action elements. These challenges impeded the launch of the product.

Problem

Solution

Our solution involved creating an MVP with rearchitected and prototyped user flows. Through user research and testing, we optimized design, navigation, and animation capabilities for 3D animation beginners and professionals. Key improvements included optimized task efficiency, organization during import/export, and call-to-action elements. We delivered a thoroughly prototyped MVP ready for launch after undergoing additional testing.

21 seconds

decrease in average time taken

26%

increase in user success

FINAL SCREENS

SCOPE

Let's Talk About the Project

Mod Pro is an innovative 3D animation software that utilizes AI automation to streamline 3D content creation and optimization. It offers a user-friendly interface, lowering the skill, time, and cost barriers for content creators in the film and entertainment industry.

VALUE PROPOSITION

Reduce skill requirement

Accelerate content creation

No-code

TARGET AUDIENCE

3D Animation

Professionals

3D Animation

Beginners

UX Process

These are the processes that my team pursued through research, design, and testing to inform our final MVP.

We asked ourselves...

How might we

optimize Mod Pro 's 3D animation interface and content creation processes, with both 3D professionals and beginners in mind? We turned to a series of research methods to glean insights on the user.

RESEARCH

Getting to know our Users

By recruiting users according to Mod Pro's target audience we conducted interviews to uncover user perspectives, needs, and challenges faced in the animation industry. We interviewed both beginners and professionals in 3D animation to obtain diverse feedback for our research goals listed below.

RESEARCH GOALS

Learn about the workflow of users that utilize 3D animation tools

Explore opportunities for growth with 3D animation platforms

Learn about pain points of 3D animation users

USER INTERVIEWS

5 users:

3D Animation

Professionals

3D Animation

Beginners

Affinity Mapping

We scripted a discussion guide and compiled notes during interviews. These notes were then written on post-its and mapped together into logical groups. Our research was organized into these insights to ensure later design decisions were grounded in user research and effectively addressed the problem.

FINDINGS FROM USER INTERVIEWS

The insights we gained from user interviews set the stage for the core features that were later incorporated into the MVP. These insights would be implemented as the first set of features that would add significant improvement to the overall product:

Pain Points while Importing/Exporting

Issues encountered transitioning between platforms

Pain Points in Learning

Challenges in mastering complex tools

Online Learning

Online video tutorials play a large role in learning

Updates

The importance and frequency of software updates

Complexity of Interface

Industry standard tools are more complex than necessary

Trouble collaborating with teammates

Troublesome to collaborate with teammates across complex 3D animation softwares

PERSONA

Putting a face to our user

Meet Jimmy

We found it important to put a face to the user in order to build empathy and assimilate with the target audience's goals, needs, and frustrations. We decided to focus on an Aspiring 3D Artist because Mod Pro's competitive advantage is its ability to optimize animation for non-professionals.

Full Persona

JIMMY...

faces challenges in maintaining clear communication and organization across 3D animation platforms

wants more efficiency in transitioning assets between 3D animation tools

finds the process of importing/exporting files cumbersome

PRODUCT EVALUATION

Let's examine the initial product

Usability Audit

With a clear idea of who the user is, we then jumped in to Mod Pro's current product to evaluate where users' pain points would reside. This evaluation would offer the necessary details to cater a more seamless user experience.

Mod Pro Usability Audit Results

We conducted a Usability Audit of Mod Pro's current user interface to discover room for improvement in visual queues, copy, and navigation processes. We evaluated based on the Nielsen Norman groups 10 principles for interaction design (above).

MAIN ISSUE: CONTROLLABILITY

Inability to traverse platform routes without accessing the main menu

Confusion discovering where a user is located in the interface

Certain user flows were not fully built out

Analogous Research

While developing Mod Pro, we analyzed industry-leading softwares to ensure that we followed best digital practices. This inspired us to optimize features that the client and users found problematic; specifically in features for exporting, intuitive pop-up design, and activity bars (as shown below).

FEATURE INSPIRATION

Adobe Premiere

Warning pop-ups are actionable directly from the pop-up

Figma

Export feature is clearly available on the side panel

Google Drive

Activity side bar shows history of updates

PRODUCT EVALUATION

Recommendations made prior to Usability Testing

By interviewing 3D animation users, analyzing Mod Pro's current product, and evaluating Mod Pro's competitive advantage, we were able to make recommendations prior to Usability Testing, intended to establish the groundwork for product testing to gather valuable feedback.

Menu Drawer

Customization Drawer

Textures Drawer

Drawer panels block view of design

The drawer system dominates the screen, creating excessive unused space

Fix

We consolidated excess panel usage into other categories

BEFORE

All functionality can be reached through this panel

AFTER

Simplified UI design avoids overwhelming users with excessive options, making it more approachable

Focus more on the design at hand and only offer full display of functionalities when necessary

Fix

Update pop-up does not allow user to make update directly from pop-up

User flows within Mod Pro often follow a highly linear path which limits user flexibility

We consolidated excess panel usage into other categories

Fix

BEFORE

AFTER

Terminology of the UI Design can be improved to speak a more universal language

Fix

We tested how users responded to industry-specific versus universal language

ARCHITECTURE & PROTOTYPING

Mapping use cases to the product

App Map

One of the most laborious tasks to prepare for Usability Testing was taking all user flow patterns and mapping them to a new framework in a way that made sense. To build this new framework, I formulated screens based on use cases collected from user interviews, then visualized this in an App Map as a unified workflow for the client and our own understanding.

App Map of Mod Pro

User Flow Walkthrough with Client & User

Based on the App Map I strung together, we sat down with the client storytell potential use cases. This step was fundamental in deciding on tasks for users to pursue during testing. This is known as a Cognitive Walkthrough, frequently employed in Service Design projects, it involves researchers simulating a user's experience by navigating through a prototype.

Business Evaluation

Client 's Vision

User Flows

Key topics of our Walkthrough

TESTING

Putting the product to the test

I created a prototype and recruited 10+ participants who closely resemble Mod Pro's target audience. It's one thing to map a bunch of screens into a diagram, it's another to experience them. A huge part of our job was to make the product come to life so that users can understand our design intent. 2 Rounds of tests were run which were derived from the client and users' feature concerns.

2 Rounds of testing:

FEATURES WE FOCUSED ON

Import & Export Flows

Notification Flow

Overall Audit & Evaluation of Prototype

Round 1

TESTING

We conducted 11 testing sessions, all in person with folks aged 23 to 40. Being 3D animation software is so complex, we found it imperative to test 10+ users per round.

11 testing sessions

3D Animation

Beginners

Ages 23-40

Users who tested were well versed in modern day softwares, but not in 3D animation. Let's call them 3D Animation Beginners.

Updates made based on Round 1 testing

CUSTOMIZATION SCREEN

BEFORE

AFTER

Reorganize the panel navigation

CUSTOMIZE PANEL SCREEN

BEFORE

AFTER

Update terminology and call-to-action

PROCESSING POP-UP SCREEN

BEFORE

AFTER

Improve coloring of buttons for call-to-action elements

UPDATES POP-UP SCREEN

BEFORE

AFTER

Make notifications more actionable

EXPORT POP-UP SCREEN

AFTER

BEFORE

Flesh out export/import process

Round 2

TESTING

We conducted 13 testing sessions, with folks aged 23 to 40. Users included 5 users outside of the 3D animation industry, and 8 3D animation industry professionals (to establish a baseline for comparison).

We decided to include 3D animation professionals in Round 2 of testing to ensure that these users could still effectively adapt to Mod Pro’s optimized functionality, and most importantly, their feedback would advise us how to optimize less experienced artists' workflow.

13 testing sessions

3D Animation

Beginners & Professionals

Ages 23-40

Recommendations from Round 2 of testing are listed in the Next Steps section of the case study (scroll down).

TESTING RESULTS

Results of 3D Beginners

Over our 2 Rounds of Testing, we conducted 16 testing sessions with 3D Animation Beginners. Here are the results of this cohort.

3D Animation

Beginners

Increased user task success by 64% by listening to user expectations of how features are organized

EDIT THE TEMPLATE

50 second decrease in completion time due to color scheme update that makes notifications more distinguishable
With this success, we made multiple other color scheme improvements across Mod Pro

CHECK THE PROGRESS OF YOUR DESIGN

42% decrease in misclicks
We attribute this improvement to removing checkboxes and adding a hover element to the pop-up to choose design process type

CREATE A NEW DESIGN ASSET

Mod Pro on Maya Landing Screen (Round 1)

Mod Pro on Maya Landing Screen (Round 2)

24% decrease in misclicks and 14% increase in task success
Improvements were due to removal of the unnecessary “Preview” feature
Updated terminology to export from “Send to Project” to “Export As”

EXPORT BETWEEN DIFFERENT 3D SOFTWARES

TESTING RESULTS

Results of 3D Professionals

During Round 2 of Testing, we conducted 8 testing sessions with 3D Animation Professionals. Here are the results of this cohort.

3D Animation

Professionals

Results from Round 2 Testing (3D Professionals)

Industry professionals were generally successful in tasks. The first task was troublesome due to user exploration of the platform, being this was their first task. To improve this, we decided to implement a tutorial phase out of learning moments which is shown in the recommendations section (below).

Professional feedback helped us confirm that our updates made in the first round of testing with 3D Beginners would translate to a 3D Professionals as well.

NEXT STEPS

Recommendations for future iterations

Create a History View for Undo Function

Consider including a history view for when users import/export designs. Also, create a feature that allows users to undo changes when importing/exporting.

Create learning moments out of pop-ups

Sometimes to make an interface more friendly, you literally need to be more friendly. In this way, we suggest presenting warnings and pop-ups as learning moments instead of issues.

Breadcrumbs mockup we created for future iterations

Add Breadcrumbs

Add a breadcrumbs feature across screens for further navigational understanding

Notification screen mockup my team created for future iterations

Improve Notification System

Continue to iterate on the notification system by making updates easily completed as soon as update is necessary. This ensure the program runs properly. Also, ensure notifications are accessible from every screen

Keep color schemes consistent

Ensure color schemes of of screens and call-to-action buttons remain consistent with our recommendations, all back and features are fully fleshed out in final version for hand off to developer

UNIQUE VALUE PROP

How we helped

With our valuable insights, updates, and recommendations, Mod Tech Labs is extending the launch of Mod Pro as our consultation of the current product has improved expectations of the final product, hence expanding its scope. Our team is continually iterating to improve the platform.