UX DESIGNER
Designing for speed, clarity, and reliability
Transforming a desktop-dependent workflow into a mobile-first system built for speed, clarity, and reliability.
01. Project overview
The alert system consists of two separate applications. Field teams subscribe to a mobile app where they receive safety alerts about incidents and risks. These alerts are created by internal staff using a separate web portal designed for alert creation and management.
Because the alert portal was designed for desktop use, broadcasters struggled to send alerts quickly when working in the field. This project focused on improving the alert creation workflow to better support mobile use and enable faster communication.
02. The Challenge
While alerts are received through a mobile app, the staff responsible for creating them must use a desktop-based web portal. Broadcasters are often mobile when incidents occur, working under time pressure and with unreliable connectivity. The existing workflow made it difficult to create and send alerts quickly in these conditions.
The challenge was to design a faster and more reliable way to create alerts on mobile devices within limited development capacity and without rebuilding the system.
03. Project constraints
Development capacity was limited, and a full platform rebuild was not feasible. Any solution had to integrate with the existing infrastructure and be delivered as an incremental improvement.
Operational continuity also had to be maintained, as the platform supports critical safety communication. The focus therefore remained on optimising the alert creation workflow without expanding the system’s scope.
04. Design goals & success metrics
To ensure the solution delivered measurable impact, each design goal was tied to a clear success metric.
Design goal 1
Enable broadcasters to create alerts while mobile
The solution needed to remove the dependency on desktop devices and support real-world mobility.
Success metric
An increase in the number of alerts created from mobile devices.
Design goal 2
Enable faster alert creation under high-pressure conditions
The workflow had to reduce friction, simplify inputs, and support quick decision-making.
Success metric
Reduction in the average time-on-task for alert creation.
Design goal 3
Improve reliability in unstable connectivity environments
Broadcasters needed confidence that alerts would still be sent despite poor network conditions.
Success metric
Higher success rate of queued submissions being automatically sent once the connection is restored.
05. Research & discovery
This phase was informed by previously collected organisational insights and a review of the existing alert submission flow.
Broadcasters are frequently mobile when incidents occur, and alert creation takes place under time-sensitive, high-pressure conditions. In many operating regions, connectivity is unreliable, adding further complexity to an already critical task. It was also understood that the current web portal does not function effectively on mobile devices, despite broadcasters having access to smartphones or tablets capable of supporting modern web applications. Adoption of a mobile solution was considered likely, provided it remained reliable and did not slow down reporting.
A heuristic evaluation of the current interface revealed several usability concerns. The layout had high visual density with heavy borders and dividers, increasing cognitive load. Terminology was ambiguous, and the submission flow lacked clarity. There was no visible cancel option, no clear progress indicator, and no accessible help link or contextual guidance. Input methods were inefficient, further slowing down alert creation during urgent situations.
These findings shaped a clear design direction to simplify the workflow, optimise for mobile use, and improve reliability in low-connectivity environments.
06. Key pain points
Analysis of the existing workflow highlighted several barriers impacting speed and reliability.
The key pain points were defined as:
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Device constraints
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Time pressure
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Connectivity issues
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Cognitive load
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Slow reporting process
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Data entry errors
07. Solution direction & rational
Based on the defined constraints, I explored two feasible solution directions and evaluated them against development effort, time to launch, system complexity, and long-term scalability.
Concept 1
Role-based mobile app
This concept explored extending the existing mobile app to support broadcasters as well as alert recipients. By introducing role-based authentication, broadcasters would gain access to alert creation functionality directly within the app, while regular users would continue to use the app only to receive alerts.
Concept 2
Responsive web app
This concept focused on refactoring the existing broadcaster web portal into a responsive web application. By introducing responsive behaviour and mobile-first layout adjustments, the current alert creation interface could become usable on smartphones and tablets through a browser.
Advantges
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Uses an existing platform already familiar to users
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Allows for a more mobile-optimised experience across devices
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Opportunity to leverage native mobile capabilities such as location, camera, and offline storage
Advantges
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Lower development effort compared to building new mobile functionality
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Faster time to launch by building on the existing system
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Minimal disruption to current infrastructure and workflows
Limitations
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Requires additional development effort to expand the current mobile application
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Introduces new role management and permission logic
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Higher implementation complexity compared to adapting the existing web portal
Limitations
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Limited ability to leverage native mobile capabilities
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Offline functionality would be more constrained than in a native environment
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Mobile experience may still be less optimised than a dedicated mobile solution
Final concept selection
After evaluating both options, the responsive web app was selected as the most practical solution. Adapting the existing broadcaster portal to support responsive behaviour provided the fastest way to improve mobile usability while working within limited development capacity and existing infrastructure.
While extending the mobile app with role-based functionality offered stronger long-term potential, it required greater development effort and system changes. The responsive web approach allowed for a faster, lower-risk improvement to the current workflow.
08. Ideation & creative thinking
To begin the design phase, I translated the user needs and design goals into a set of actionable design considerations. This helped guide the redesign and ensured the solution focused on speed, clarity, and usability under pressure.
09. Exploring layouts
Using these considerations, I began restructuring the existing interface to better support mobile use. Starting from the current desktop layout, I explored a stacked, single-column structure suited for responsive behaviour.
This vertical layout made the interface significantly more usable on smaller screens and created a strong foundation for a mobile-first experience.
10. Product roadmap
Given the limited development capacity and the need to avoid a full platform rebuild, the solution was structured as a phased rollout, giving priority to portability.
Phase 1
Mobile usbility
Responsive layout refactor
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Vertical, mobile-first structure
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Reduced visual density
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Improved field grouping
Phase 2
Optimise for speed
Replace slow inputs
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Reorder fields by urgency
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Replace slow inputs with faster selections
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Optimised text entry for mobile
Phase 3
Mobile capabilities
Leverage mobile functionality like
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Offline functionality
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Location services
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Photo capture and upload
11. Impact & results
The proposed solution enabled broadcasters to create alerts while mobile by removing the dependency on desktop devices.
A simplified layout and faster input methods helped reduce the time required to create alerts under high-pressure conditions.
Reliability improvements such as draft saving, retry logic, and offline support helped ensure alerts could still be submitted in environments with unstable connectivity.