Deanna Lam

/ ReSci

ReSci uses artificial intelligence to let marketers manage personalized email campaigns. The Cortex algorithm produces product recommendations that are tailored for each customer, and uses self-optimization to send only the highest performing content.

As a Product Designer, I reimagined the Cortex interface and defined our visual language by creating our first design system. These guidelines ensure a consistent look and feel for designers and development teams.

• Earlier-years efforts were focused on creating algorithms that worked. But making sense of customer data can be complicated—and we have the Help Desk tickets to prove it. Our users struggled to understand what Cortex could do (and the role that they, as users, played).

  Over a seven-month period, we took Cortex apart, designing a new workflow and interface for creating emails that felt easy, light, and digestible. We wanted to help new users become empowered and informed decision-makers. We didn't want to focus on pushing users through Cortex as quickly (and thoughtlessly) as possible. To achieve a frictionless solution, we purposefully slowed down our users.

  Making Cortex make sense to our users

  It wasn't enough that Cortex was functional. It also wasn't great that people kept telling us that Cortex "looked like it was designed by engineers." In this project (affectionately dubbed "Face/Off" in internal documentation* by our COO), we sought to transform moments of frustration into moments of lasting positive impact.

  Our process began with restructuring our information to provide better usability. Early versions of Cortex were difficult to navigate: buttons led to unpredictable pages, and the information users needed was never where they currently were. We need to present information in a logical and obvious way. By mapping user stories and focusing on the tasks that users performed in the order that they typically performed them, we were able to make Cortex more organized and clear.

  We wanted to let our users see, at a glance, what they'd created in our platform. We cleaned up our tables to show more relevant information, like the lifecycle phase where the email belonged, when the email was scheduled to send, and whether the email was sending at all.

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• Turning actionable insights into completed actions

  Fast users aren't necessarily better users. In our case, when appropriate, we lengthened the pace of a workflow to make sure our users had a strong grasp of Cortex and how each setting impacted their campaign. We used to cram all of an email's settings under one tab—this wasn't particularly helpful. Some of the settings, especially ones related to how our algorithm displayed product recommendations, are more complex, and the abundance of fields without any context or explanation felt overwhelming and confusing.

  As part of this redesign, we implemented an email wizard that divided all of the email settings into distinct pages. Initially, users could create an email in a single click: one page controlled both email settings and template design. Our new email wizard uses smaller, simpler pages with fewer fields and better in-app documentation, including dynamic image cues that explained how some of the settings worked. We wanted users to take their time through the setup process to reduce user error and ensure that emails are correctly set up before users start designing them.

• With their email now properly set up, our users could focus on creating content that engaged their customers. We separated the email's form and function to craft an experience that felt premium. We released a more advanced HTML editor that includes syntax highlighting, helped marketers a stronger, more cohesive With their email now properly set up, our users could do what they do best. Separating an email's form and function helped our users Now that an email was properly set up, we wanted to help our users—most often, marketers—be their best and most creative selves. Separating form and function let us direct our users into what they do best.

  The email wizard also paved way for a more advanced HTML editor that includes syntax highlighting, in-line error messages to help users identify and fix issues in their code, and an adjustable workspace.

ReSci / MedMind / Infusion / ATTN: / MomentFeed / Tai Pei Frozen Foods / Snapple / Pizza Hut / Move Shapes With Me / 5 Hours of Bojack Horseman / 3D / Lettering / Illustration