Martin Colebourne

Eikon 4.0 introduced the concept of an App Library. Initially this would contain a listing of existing tools within the product, but it would act as a stepping stone to opening up the product to third party apps in the future.

I took responsibility for turning the concept into a simple, implementable, first version – essentially a ‘minimal viable product’ version of the idea. I developed wireframes; iterated the design based on feedback from stakeholders; and worked with visual designers on the styling. As development progressed, I reviewed progress on a daily basis and made changes where necessary as challenges were identified.

The concept design for the App Library called for a rich landing page, with individualised app suggestions based for each user. Each app was intended to have a details page including multiple screenshots and video content. However, in the short time available for the first version, it was clear that much of this could not be achieved. Instead, the design focused on the Library as a list of Apps in a responsive, grid-like layout, with a simple filtering and search mechanism. Each app would be represented by an icon, name and an abbreviated description, with the full description shown in an overlay.

In addition to the user interface, it was necessary to identify which parts of the product should be represented as Apps in this first version. I took responsibility for the list, developing an initial version which contained around 200 Apps and then worked with business and technical contacts to revise and improve it.

For the App Library to function, it was necessary for every app to be identified in a configuration file, with it’s ‘Inventory ID’, launch parameters and a universal URL which could be used to access it across development platforms. I contacted technical and business personnel across the company to ensure that the right details were sourced and then tested every item to ensure that it worked. A process was put in place with development which allowed updates to the list to be uploaded onto the system overnight, allowing changes to be fully tested the next day.

In order to make the App Library visually attractive and impactful upon release, it was decided that we should introduce a new set of App icons. I worked with a visual designer to establish the basic style and brainstorm appropriate glyphs to represent the various Apps. As the icons were developed, they could be added to the configuration file controlling the App list and tested in the application the next day, allowing rapid feedback from stakeholders.