© 2024 Saawan Ebe. All Rights Reserved.
When the redesign was released, the app store rating in Japan jumped from 2.5 to 4.6
We released the redesigned app on both Play store and App store in November 2017. The rating on App store (Japan) went from 2.5 to 4.6. The number of users quadrupled since then. Beyond positive sentiment for the app, we also noticed an increase in signups from the mobile apps.
The marketing images I made for the iOS App Store.
Keeping the visual style consistent.
Early on, we decided that we will keep the visual style consistent across both Android and iOS while sticking to the respective platform guidelines. This helped us make the experience feel seamless across all the mobile platforms.
Multiple iterations and finding the optimal solution.
We made multiple iterations with the navigation bar and tested them with our users. Eventually, we replaced Home with “My Issues”, which the users felt was more useful to see once they open the app.
Items were made easier to access.
We placed popup dialogs, menus and buttons on the lower part of the screen so that the users find it easy to use one hand when using bigger screens.
Separating the issue page content into tabs helped us to display more information.
Helping our users to create an issue quickly was a logical place to start.
During user testing, one of the glaring feedback was that creating issue takes time as the users are shown a lot of options that they need to select. We made a three step process for the users to quickly create an issue without a hassle. As part of the second
step, we showed only highly-used options with a choice to see other options if the user wants to. This increased the number of issues created through mobile.
Structure of the information in the card (L). The structure applied to 50+ card instances (R).
Information in cards was methodically organized so that the user can easily parse updates at a glance.
One of the first things I did for the redesign was to arrange the information in recent updates as cards. I analyzed it and arranged it by the order of importance. That made it easier for the users to quickly understand the updates at a glance. I set a structure for each update which was then applied for the 50+ updates in the app.
Research
We conducted interviews with free and paid users of Backlog to discover users’ pain points. We also collected insights from Customer Support team and user behavior data gathered from Mixpanel.
As we sifted through the research data, these three common themes emerged as problem areas.
1. Unclear information
Information was not laid out logically and users couldn’t distinguish what’s important.
2. Dated design
The apps looked visually outdated and weren’t following the mobile platform guidelines.
3. Cumbersome to use
The user flows were complicated which made the apps hard to use for the users.
User engagement on Backlog’s mobile apps was low compared to its web app.
The goal was to increase user engagement on iOS and Android apps. I worked in a team of five including Product manager, iOS developer, Android developer and a Brand designer.
As the Backlog web app became widely used for project management, the usage grew but it wasn’t the same case for its iOS and Android apps. Users found them cumbersome to use and they had poor ratings on the App Store and Google Play Store.
Home screen of the redesigned Backlog iOS app
backlog mobile
Timeline
2017 - 2020
Responsibilities
User experience, User interface design, Information architecture, User testing and Prototyping
Backlog is a project management tool, primarily aimed at software developer teams. It is Nulab Inc’s flagship product that is used widely by companies such as SoftBank, Adobe, Amazon etc.
As the lead product designer, I was tasked with revamping the mobile experience of Backlog on both iOS and Android.
© 2024 Saawan Ebe. All Rights Reserved.
When the redesign was released, the app store rating in Japan jumped from 2.5 to 4.6
We released the redesigned app on both Play store and App store in November 2017. The rating on App store (Japan) went from 2.5 to 4.6. The number of users quadrupled since then. Beyond positive sentiment for the app, we also noticed an increase in signups from the mobile apps.
The marketing images I made for the iOS App Store.
Keeping the visual style consistent.
Early on, we decided that we will keep the visual style consistent across both Android and iOS while sticking to the respective platform guidelines. This helped us make the experience feel seamless across all the mobile platforms.
Multiple iterations and finding the optimal solution.
We made multiple iterations with the navigation bar and tested them with our users. Eventually, we replaced Home with “My Issues”, which the users felt was more useful to see once they open the app.
Items were made easier to access.
We placed popup dialogs, menus and buttons on the lower part of the screen so that the users find it easy to use one hand when using bigger screens.
Separating the issue page content into tabs helped us to display more information.
Helping our users to create an issue quickly was a logical place to start.
During user testing, one of the glaring feedback was that creating issue takes time as the users are shown a lot of options that they need to select. We made a three step process for the users to quickly create an issue without a hassle. As part of the
second step, we showed only highly-used options with a choice to see other options if the user wants to. This increased the number of issues created through mobile.
Structure of the information in the card (L). The structure applied to 50+ card instances (R).
Information in cards was methodically organized so that the user can easily parse updates at a glance.
One of the first things I did for the redesign was to arrange the information in recent updates as cards. I analyzed it and arranged it by the order of importance. That made it easier for the users to quickly understand the updates at a glance. I set a structure for each update which was then applied for the 50+ updates in the app.
Research
We conducted interviews with free and paid users of Backlog to discover users’ pain points. We also collected insights from Customer Support team and user behavior data gathered from Mixpanel.
As we sifted through the research data, these three common themes emerged as problem areas.
1. Unclear information
Information was not laid out logically and users couldn’t distinguish what’s important.
2. Dated design
The apps looked visually outdated and weren’t following the mobile platform guidelines.
3. Cumbersome to use
The user flows were complicated which made the apps hard to use for the users.
User engagement on Backlog’s mobile apps was low compared to its web app.
The goal was to increase user engagement on iOS and Android apps. I worked in a team of five including Product manager, iOS developer, Android developer and a Brand designer.
As the Backlog web app became widely used for project management, the usage grew but it wasn’t the same case for its iOS and Android apps. Users found them cumbersome to use and they had poor ratings on the App Store and Google Play Store.
Home screen of the redesigned Backlog iOS app
backlog mobile
Timeline
2017 - 2020
Responsibilities
User experience, User interface design, Information architecture, User testing and Prototyping
Backlog is a project management tool, primarily aimed at software developer teams. It is Nulab Inc’s flagship product that is used widely by companies such as SoftBank, Adobe, Amazon etc.
As the lead product designer, I was tasked with revamping the mobile experience of Backlog on both iOS and Android.
© 2024 Saawan Ebe. All Rights Reserved.
When the redesign was released, the app store rating in Japan jumped from 2.5 to 4.6
We released the redesigned app on both Play store and App store in November 2017. The rating on App store (Japan) went from 2.5 to 4.6. The number of users quadrupled since then. Beyond positive sentiment for the app, we also noticed an increase in signups from the mobile apps.
The marketing images I made for the iOS App Store.
Keeping the visual style consistent.
Early on, we decided that we will keep the visual style consistent across both Android and iOS while sticking to the respective platform guidelines. This helped us make the experience feel seamless across all the mobile platforms.
Multiple iterations and finding the optimal solution.
We made multiple iterations with the navigation bar and tested them with our users. Eventually, we replaced Home with “My Issues”, which the users felt was more useful to see once they open the app.
Items were made easier to access.
We placed popup dialogs, menus and buttons on the lower part of the screen so that the users find it easy to use one hand when using bigger screens.
Separating the issue page content into tabs helped us to display more information.
Helping our users to create an issue quickly was a logical place to start.
During user testing, one of the glaring feedback was that creating issue takes time as the users are shown a lot of options that they need to select. We made a three step process for the users to quickly create an issue without a hassle. As part of the second step, we showed only highly-used options with a choice to see other options if the user wants to. This increased the number of issues created through mobile.
step, we showed only highly-used options with a choice to see other options if the user wants to. This increased the number of issues created through mobile.
Structure of the information in the card (L). The structure applied to 50+ card instances (R).
Information in cards was methodically organized so that the user can easily parse updates at a glance.
One of the first things I did for the redesign was to arrange the information in recent updates as cards. I analyzed it and arranged it by the order of importance. That made it easier for the users to quickly understand the updates at a glance. I set a structure for each update which was then applied for the 50+ updates in the app.
Research
We conducted interviews with free and paid users of Backlog to discover users’ pain points. We also collected insights from Customer Support team and user behavior data gathered from Mixpanel.
As we sifted through the research data, these three common themes emerged as problem areas.
1. Unclear information
Information was not laid out logically and users couldn’t distinguish what’s important.
2. Dated design
The apps looked visually outdated and weren’t following the mobile platform guidelines.
3. Cumbersome to use
The user flows were complicated which made the apps hard to use for the users.
User engagement on Backlog’s mobile apps was low compared to its web app.
The goal was to increase user engagement on iOS and Android apps. I worked in a team of five including Product manager, iOS developer, Android developer and a Brand designer.
As the Backlog web app became widely used for project management, the usage grew but it wasn’t the same case for its iOS and Android apps. Users found them cumbersome to use and they had poor ratings on the App Store and Google Play Store..
The goal was to increase user engagement on iOS and Android apps. I worked in a team of five including Product manager, iOS developer, Android developer and a Brand designer.
Home screen of the redesigned Backlog iOS app
backlog mobile
Timeline
2017 - 2020
Responsibilities
User experience, User interface design, Information architecture, User testing and Prototyping
Backlog is a project management tool, primarily aimed at software developer teams. It is Nulab Inc’s flagship product that is used widely by companies such as SoftBank, Adobe, Amazon etc.
As the lead product designer, I was tasked with revamping the mobile experience of Backlog on both iOS and Android.