Stephanie K. Olson
Product & Experience Designer
Windows 365
OVERVIEW
Windows 365 allows users to securely stream their Windows experience from the Microsoft cloud to any device.
ROLE
Senior User Experience Designer, Web UX
Responsibilities: Lead UX/UI designer // conduct customer and market research // create empathy mapping, user journeys, and flows // explore navigation and information architecture // design wireframes, prototypes and high fidelity comps // collaborate on user testing, A/B testing and iteration
Case Study
PROBLEM
The world of work has changed. People need flexible and accessible ways to enable a hybrid way of working.
SOLUTION
Windows 365 allows customers to securely work wherever and whenever they want by streaming their Windows experience to any device.
TARGET CUSTOMERS
Small to enterprise level businesses
PROCESS
Discover // Define // Ideate // Design
DISCOVER
RESEARCH
To begin, I gathered and analyzed existing research around Microsoft customers and our target customers to better understand their motivations, pain points, and needs. We clearly had two customer bases: small to medium sized business (SMB) customers and enterprise customers. Both of these groups had very different needs.
Key findings
SMBs don’t often have the IT support to manage and customize solutions for them
Enterprise customers have their own IT support and would like a more customized experience
Security is a concern for both SMBs and enterprise
SMBs and enterprise want to quickly and efficiently onboard new employees
DEFINE
USERS
Based on the research, there were several scenarios and needs that varied depending on specific business needs. I focused on two customer bases that represented two common scenarios:
SMB decision makers: These users are not necessarily technology experts. They care about how the tools can empower their work and help them grow their business.
Enterprise decision makers: These users want customizable solutions that are easy to execute and scale. They care about how the tools are managed, secured, and enable their employees’ work.
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS AND RESTRICTIONS
Designs needed to be exciting, educational, and relatable.
Designs needed to align with the Microsoft Fluent Design System.
The overview pages needed to use existing patterns and not require any development time. We could use development time to create the configuration and SKU pages.
Designs needed to be scalable and flexible enough to evolve alongside the product. (Web plans and scope were not clearly defined at the start of the project).
IDEATE
GENERATING EMPATHY
Unlike Microsoft 365 and Surface, this product was not going to be immediately recognizable nor tangible. It could easily be perceived as too complicated. We wanted to tell a story that would be relatable to each of our customers.
To do this, I created an empathy map and user journeys to better understand their motivations and fears.
Knowing that there could be a range of expertise among our customers, we needed to tailor the experience to each audience.
DESIGN
STRATEGY
Windows 365 is an invisible and abstract product. We couldn’t lean on market recognition or flashy product images. We were going to need to focus on educating customers around what the product was and how it can empower their businesses. We spent a lot of time creating a narrative that could gently guide the customer down the funnel. One way we did this was by not leading with a buy CTA. Instead we focused on off-ramping customers into SMB or enterprise overview pages. This allowed customers to learn about what the product would specifically do for them.
CONCEPTS AND WIREFRAMES
After narrowing in on the scope and design strategy, I started with a mood board and sketches to start the conversation around the tone. Then, we moved to wireframes which evolved along with the visual ID and product.
We wanted to generate energy and excitement so a layout focusing on full bleed images was selected for the home and announce pages. The wireframes evolved as the content and assets were created.
USABILITY TESTING AND ITERATION
We expected if we were going to lose any users, it was going to be at the customization experience. It was vital that the journey was easy, cohesive, and friendly. We wanted to provide helpful tips but we didn’t want to lose or overwhelm anyone. Interactions such as tip drawers, off ramps to learn more, and a free trial were developed to gently aid the customer in the decision making process.
Focusing on the customer, creating an easy purchasing path and ability to configure your own Cloud PC were among our highest priorities. We conducted user testing throughout the wireframe stage to ensure we were on the right path.
Key learnings
There is crossover between SMB and Enterprise customers so it was valuable to make it easy to switch between the product offerings. We didn’t want an Enterprise customer backing out of the path because they wanted to look at the SMB offerings.
Showing too many options resulted in information paralysis.
PROTOTYPES, COMPS, AND DESIGN SPECS
Prototypes were built as we collaborated with product, marketing, and development stakeholders. As different teams owned different areas of the experience, we worked with the product and commerce teams to ensure consistency throughout the customer journey.
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
We designed for four primary viewports: desktop, tablet (vertical and horizontal), and mobile. This proved to be the most challenging aspect of the project as we were limited in our ability to customize designs for tablet and mobile viewports.
results
Shortly after launch, capacity was reached for Windows 365 trial offers due to significant demand.
Windows 365 is still currently a work in progress and we continue to iterate as we monitor traffic and scale the product.