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

Results

Surfacing the palettes outside the Hamburger button lead to higher usage of the palettes.

Keypad Awarness

Increase of

11%

in average number of palettes opened in a month per user