AutoCAD Palettes Navigation

Overview

AutoCAD mobile app had 6 palettes (components used for management of complex entities and information). To open a palette, the user had to expand palettes and use inner-tabs in order to navigate.

The problem is that there was no room to add another palette to the navigation as it was not scalable.

As a product designer, I was asked to design a scalable navigation method for the palettes.

Product AutoCAD mobile app

Role Product designer

Industry Computer-Aided Design

Year 2020

The Problem: beyond the scalability problem

Based on a vast marketing and user survey conducted by IsraelCredit, tracking app usage patterns, and complaints from customer success we created clustering map of the following perceptions and habits that customers own

Task flow analysis (before)

Insight and problems

New palettes cannot be added
Inefficient path to open the desired palette
Current flow does not reflect frequency of use

Out of sight - out of mind
Entities from different levels of hierarchy
Lack of alignment with the Ui of other platforms

Exploration: improve palettes navigation

After exploring competitor we came up with optional scalable concepts:

Scrollable tabs

Exapnd/ collapse icons rail

Dropdown

We choose to have side rail that can efficient by exposing palettes icons. As a user I can have it expanded while working on canvas, or minimized to increase canvas size

The solution: Side Rail

As an iPad user, I will see all the palettes icons on the side rail so I could recognize the palette I need and open it directly without unnecessary taps.

Due to limited screen space, the iPhone app will have a floating button that can be expanded during working on the canvas if the user chooses to