Figma Compass

Organization guidelines for UX Designers’ file management

Research Question

What pain points do users have while interacting with Figma Compass?

Method(s)

Usability Testing

Impact

Adjustments by design and content teams based on 15+ actionable recommendations

Background

Hack for LA is the Los Angeles chapter of Code for America, a nonprofit organization that performs UX research, UX design, content design, and development work for government agencies and other nonprofit organizations.

Hack for LA has 15 active projects, with the Design Systems project aiming to empower volunteers at other projects within Hack for LA with the tools, documentation, and templates for creating and maintaining a design system.

  1. The stakeholder assignment that birthed the Design Systems project was making a baseline starter kit for UI Designers and Front-End Developers that other project teams at Hack for LA could modify to make their design system.
  2. However, when prior UX Researchers conducted generative research, they realized the main obstacle for this starter kit was disorganized Figma files—which is where their design systems would eventually live.
  3. Therefore, the Design Systems project team made a document with organization guidelines called Figma Compass.

🌱 Learning Moment #1

We should’ve made our research questions more specific, practical, and actionable so we could’ve answered them definitively within the scope of the research study instead of being as broad as “What pain points do participants have while interacting with Figma Compass?”

Role: UX Researcher

  • Delivered 15+ actionable recommendations for design and content teams by grouping notes into 6 distinct themes via real-time affinity diagramming
  • Created a research plan with 2 core research questions by transforming 15+ reactive research questions from 4 UX Designers
  • Conducted desk research to triangulate findings across 9 research studies with cross-functional collaborators like Product Managers

Team

Product Manager (1), UX Researchers (6), UX Designers (4), and Content Designers (3)

Duration

Jan 2023 - Mar 2023 (2 Months)

Usability Testing

  • We conducted 5 total moderated usability testing sessions via Zoom.

I chose usability testing because I wanted to collect both attitudinal data (e.g., pain points users had while generally interacting with Figma Compass) as well as behavioral data (e.g., problems users faced when completing task scenarios). Moreover, our participants were scattered throughout the globe so the ability to conduct them remotely was very appealing.

4 UX Designers and 1 Content Designer who were working on other Hack for LA projects.

🌱 Learning Moment #2

Asking Likert Scale questions where the lowest value was positive and the highest value was negative caused confusion for multiple participants. Instead, I should’ve advocated for the opposite direction in order to better adhere to prevailing mental models (low number = bad, high number = good).

Outcomes

  1. Improved organization of Figma files → Increased efficiency of collaboration by UX Designers
    • I can validate this with future research such as performing another audit of UX Designers' files and comparing this to the prior benchmark audit in 2021
  2. Adjustments by design and content teams based on 15+ actionable recommendations
  3. Enabled a mindset shift in prioritizing adjustments by Content Designers more than UX Designers
  4. Informed the decision to rename the product due to consistent confusion among participants
    • Hack for LA Figma Kit → Figma Compass

Challenges

  1. Collaborating across various time zones
  2. Volunteering → Lack of accountability
  3. Differing interpretations of stakeholder interviews
  1. I facilitated discussions during periods where stakeholders’ schedules aligned
  2. I inquired about the trajectory of the project to stimulate momentum
  3. I respectfully acknowledged and considered multiple viewpoints while developing my own perspective

Reflection

  1. Patience
    • As a moderator, it is essential that you remain patient when participants have technical difficulties.
  2. Listening
    • Listen attentively to those who have more experience than you (especially when three of your colleagues have PhDs).
  3. Multidisciplinary Advantages
    • Multidisciplinary teams can create better outcomes via their varied expertise.
  4. Previous Research
    • It is very important to have a sound understanding of prior research studies before conducting more research in order to avoid duplicate efforts.
      • This is why I then spearheaded triangulating findings across 9 research studies in collaboration with cross-functional partners.

Thank you for reading! 😁
Contact me at me@uxeli.com

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