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City of Norwalk City Service Interface Redesign @Saira Solutions

Enabling citizens and officers to use city services seamlessly

Context The City of Norwalk aimed to redesign its city portal, covering property details, public records, business licenses, and an AI chatbot.

As the sole Product Designer, I led the development of a key feature using the new Saira Solutions theme, which provides city-tailored software solutions. Working with a talented team, we successfully delivered the first project milestone in under three months.

Role Product Designer

Timeline May - Ongoing 2024

Team

Gaurav Garg | Product manager

Rohit Chandrasekar | Product manager intern

Akshay RP | Software engineer

Mukesh Rout | Software engineer

Mukta Chaudhary | Software engineer

Levi Schoeben | Graphic designer

Rob Schoeben | Advisor

About

Smart City

Saira Solutions offers a cloud-based platform that streamlines permitting and licensing for local governments, saving time and costs. With real-time data access, it simplifies city services and enhances engagement with businesses and citizens.

What does Saira Solutions solve?

  • Inefficient and time-consuming city operations

  • Fragmented data management, slow service delivery, and lack of citizen engagement

    Helping cities save time, reduce costs, and improve access to real-time information.

What does Saira Solutions provide?

  • Planning

  • SAIRA Analytics

  • Community Access

  • Code Reinforcement

  • Citizen Access Portal

  • Ask Saira AI chat bot

  • ePALS™ online permitting and licensing software system

    (These are my focus area)

My Impact

Expanded Design System 

Improved User Flows

Improved User Interface

Project List

Project 1

ePALS™ online permitting and licensing software system

Project 2

Ask Saira AI chatbot (Currently ongoing)

Goal - Project 1: ePALS™ online permitting and licensing software system

Finding the best filter

Background

The original filter faced issues with: Limited functionality & Poor readability

Challenge

Analyze the features and identify the best filter based on research findings.

How I tackled it

Competitive analysis, user research, and design iterations.

My design goal

Gain a comprehensive understanding of the filter.

To achieve this, I focused on the following design improvements:

  • Improve Usability: Ensure the filter is intuitive and easy to user for all users.

  • Increase Efficiency: Optimize the filter to reduce the time users spend finding what they need.

  • Improve Aesthetics: Create a visually appealing and cohesive design for the filter.

  • Boost User Engagement: Design the filter in a way that encourages frequent use and satisfaction.

  • Maximize Performance: Design the filter to handle large amounts of data without compromising speed.

Problem

“Font size is too small, and everything is too complex."

Interface

  • The overall font size is too small.

  • The information feels overwhelming.

  • The filter is complicated.

Icons

  • It’s difficult to figure out what the icons represent.

  • Is "go" on the list necessary?

- Norwalk City Officer

Filter

  • The filter categories are complex.

  • The "VALUATION" field doesn't indicate that users should enter a range.

List

  • Why do checkboxes take up so much space?

  • The description (DESC) has the longest text, but its section is too small.

  • Does every category need to be shown?

Final

Interface

  • The overall font size has been increased.

  • The information still feels overwhelming.

  • The filter remains complicated.

Icons

  • Icons now include text to reduce the user's cognitive load.

  • Unnecessary icons have been removed.

Filter

  • The filter has been simplified and relocated.

  • The "Date" category has been re-categorized.

  • Other features are now organized under "All filters."

List

  • Columns have been resized according to the proportion of information.

  • Only the most prioritized categories are displayed.

Approaches - How did I get there?

Where should the filter be placed?

While discussing content adjustments—such as decreasing, increasing, removing, or adding information—the primary focus was on the location of the filter. Considering the users' goals and the information presented, the filter's placement should be based on logical and user-centered reasoning.

Filter placed on the left

Filter placed above the list

Filter placed on the right

Filter overlaps in the list

Overall Considerations:

  • Left placements are more stable for persistent filters and when users need constant access to filter options.

  • Right Ideal for keeping the focus on results, allowing users to adjust filters after reviewing content.

  • Above the List is ideal for immediate discoverability but should be carefully designed to avoid taking too much vertical space.

  • Overlapping the List offers a clean, space-saving option but could cause frustration if it obscures key information.

Decision 1

The filter is placed on the left, with added filter chips.

Placing the filter on the right poses a challenge, as it doesn’t align with users' need to frequently adjust results. I positioned the filter on the left with a collapsible feature for flexibility. To address the drawback of hidden filters making selections hard to remember, I added filter chips. These provide a quick view of selected options, allowing users to easily modify or remove them with a click, enhancing usability.

What type of filter aligns with the goal?

Saira Solutions offers a cloud-based platform that streamlines permitting and licensing for local governments, saving time and costs. With real-time data access, it simplifies city services and enhances engagement with businesses and citizens.

Filter Style 1. Blocks

Pros

Button like

Cons

Is this the most effective

Filter Style 2. Blocks

Pros

Button like

Cons

Is this the most effective

Filter Style 3. Blocks

Pros

Button like

Cons

Is this the most effective

Filter Style 4. Blocks

Pros

Button like

Cons

Is this the most effective

Filter Style 5. Blocks

Pros

Button like

Cons

Is this the most effective

Decision 2

The filter chips became the filter above with ‘all filters’.

Filter chips help reduce users' workload, but they pose a challenge in this case. The filter was more complex than usual. To address this, I revisited the filter options and placed the filter at the top, prioritizing key categories, while the remaining categories were grouped under 'all filters.

Final Decision

필터의 항목들 나열 (이미지로), 그리고 나머지 항목들은 필터 안에 넣기로,

이로 인해서 필터를 굳이 열어야하지 않고 중요한 대부분의 필터의 접근성을 높였다.

Take away

배운점