Streamlining Product Design: When 3D and 2D work together
This was an R&D project for a leading 3D software company specialising in engineering and industrial design. Initially, management aimed at developing a cloud-based app for computer-aided design (CAD). However, findings through the process gave me the opportunity to propose something different.
Note: To protect some sensitive or proprietary information, some details, strategies, product names will not be specified in this case study.
Introduction
Before a physical product is manufactured, there’s an important step of definition. It involves specifying all the physical details and measurements of the parts of a product.
In the early days, designers and engineers used to draw these details by hand. However nowadays, thanks to specialised software, users can make this process easier and faster. For these tasks today exist 2 types of softwares:
Drawing apps
Users add dimensions, tolerances and annotations on 2D views of a part generated in a 3D software.
MBD (Model-Based Definition)
It’s the evolution of drawings apps, where dimensions, tolerances and annotations are added directly in a 3D environment.
The requirement was to develop a cloud-based web app for the definition of physical products following the MBD approach.
Key challenges
Designing this type of application requires an expert understanding of its functionality and possible scenarios.
I had my previous experience as mechanical designer in my favour, where I used to use these tools. It helped me to come up with ideas and assumptions faster, that I could validate with users later.
The greatest challenge was making an app easy to use, since generally in this field the apps are really complex.
Another thing to consider was that I had to match the app styling with the rest of other apps of the brand.
Design process
When I joined to the team, the project manager had a roadmap for the definition of the product. They provided a list of features that we required for MVP and I negotiated with them the UX priorities.
I started my work by understanding the existent MBD functionality. This company already had a standalone MBD product. I tried it myself to discover my own challenges as an user and I contrasted my experience with user feedback. which provided the first insights to design the features flows.
This way I got the first insights of the usability. I grouped different features to define the most basic flows and envision the organisation of toolbars and menus. I shared with the team and stakeholders and got initial feedback.
At the start the prototype was tested with 10 people, and the feedback overall was very positive. Users were able to follow the instructions and complete the tasks without major problems.
I prepared reports and presented the findings to the team and stakeholders. This brought unity, awareness and support to move forward in the implementation steps. Consequently, I provided detailed design specs for implementation.
For following cycles of development, for every new feature, usability testings were always part of the process and with the feedback, I made adjustments.
A new turn
The cycle of development took several quarters. During this time management also required the development a new complementary drawings application.
Although the goal was to design an MBD app, many users still preferred to work in 2D (drawings apps). For this reason, the directives wanted to define an application that provided those features too.
At this point, after the previous numerous usability testings and user feedback, I saw the opportunity. For a while I was thinking that it would be great to have a drawing environment integrated 1-1 with MBD.
Although senior leadership wanted a new app, I thought we could offer a smarter and more flexible way to use MBD embedding a drawings environment.
For this reason, I pushed this approach and tried to prove that it could be a better direction.
The new iteration
While I still provided designs specs for the current MBD app development, I explored different concepts to make the puzzle fit. During this iteration I also made sure to get feedback from the engineers, so it also could be feasible.
The final outcome was to allow users to have interchangeable ways of work. The idea was that the software first provided the option to work in 3D or 2D. Consequently, the data could be transferable between environments.
In other words, the purpose was to be able to reproduce what is in 3D, also in 2D (and vice versa).
I made a prototype and I tested it with 10 users. I asked them to complete different tasks going through both environments. For example, generating views and adding dimensions in the 3D environment and then making them to discover the 2D environment.
- 100% of users found the concept a great way of working.
- Most of drawings users found in it a great opportunity to gradually upgrade to MBD.
- Some users also mentioned this would help to adapt to different clients who still used drawings apps.
This feedback was the final proof to move this concept forward. The initial vision of the app evolved to become an app with two compatible environments. Now users could work in 2D or 3D within the same app.
Having the approval to develop this concept, I participated with the team in the planning, considering the limitations and current challenges.
Achievements
One of the biggest achievements of this work resulted in an innovation in the field that led to a utility patent.
Other achievements came from being able to lead the UX design implementation in a journey full of uncertainty and unexpected deviations due to technical limitations and limited capacity.
And finally, influencing in the vision of the product and strategy. With this approach we saved to create a full new app, and instead, focus the resources in making the current one better and smarter.
Next steps
With the full vision of the product, the team focused in delivering progressively what was planned. The focus was to deliver the MVPs and progressively implement any gaps that affected the desired UX as well as missing features.
By this time, I needed a rest and pursue new challenges, so I decided to continue my own path, looking for new opportunities.
Outcomes
I continued to monitor the development of the product from the outside, as I was really interested in knowing its progress. Its development took at least 2 years for it to be robust enough to be publicly announced, which excited different stakeholders.
I can’t talk about real numbers, but the trend I’ve observed says that it has helped to increase the user adoption of the cloud based app service.
The company has a voting system to propose new features where users and stakeholders can participate. Their traditional CAD software offer doesn’t have this feature, but if there are users requesting to include it as an enhancement, is a clear insight of its success.
