A few case studies that highlight my design thinking and user-centered design process.

1. experience design case studies
ux success stories lou susi

2. experience design case studies
The following case studies represent some
of my recent successful contributions to user
experience design at Monster and Dimdim.
My goal in collecting this work for your review
is to describe my experience as an ux design
professional, including: the challenges, the
process, my contribution to the project work
and the results.
By reporting from the field I hope to reveal some
of my strengths and weaknesses – my ambitious
intentions – the struggle – the core challenges
behind each step of a project – from initial vision,
to collaborative exploration and iterations, to final
release.
ux success stories lou susi

3. story 1. dimdim ux portal improvements
While working at Dimdim, one of the most valuable
experience improvements I am proud of involved
drastic clean up of the portal interface.
Dimdim’s online meeting application often left
users in an awkward spot with very little to
visually indicate where to begin, and even less
to let the first time user understand what
Dimdim’s software is all about.
ux success stories lou susi

4. story 1. dimdim ux portal improvements
This screen shows the original
interface a presenter user saw
following sign in.
The layout and visual hierarchy
are extremely flat. Three large
internal advertisements dominate
the top region of the screen and
provide little direct value to the
user. A large portion of the
screen potentially remains empty
for users with no currently
scheduled meetings.
The CMO, CTO and I held an
impromptu meeting to discuss
a quick way to begin optimizing
the experience flow.
ux success stories lou susi

5. story 1. dimdim ux portal improvements
Our discussion included an active
whiteboard session that led to
the following ux recommendation
to strip out many of the
superfluous affordances to
accentuate only the most
important actions. A thin but
sublimated universal navigation
would still allow users access
to all account and preference
settings without distracting them
from the primary, crucial
application launch points of
Share, Meet and Plan.
ux success stories lou susi

6. story 1. dimdim ux portal improvements
The final visual design direction
helped lighten the feel of the
experience by removing
container shadows and heavy
grey elements. Introducing a
more conversational tone brings
the app into a smoother, Web 2.0
space – establishing a more
playful yet professional
engagement with the
targeted user base.
The final release with these
experience improvements
brought greater clarity to
the product and enhanced
ease-of-use.
ux success stories lou susi

7. story 2. monster apply flow redesign
As the UX Lead for several experience chunks
at Monster, I had the amazing opportunity to
redesign one of the 2 core Seeker flows in 2008.
Applying for a job on the Monster website
previously involved encountering myriad of
potentially different flows, all dependent upon
the jobseeker’s user state and the application
requirements of 8 job type variations. Users were
confused and frustrated by a difficult and
seemingly inconsistent experience.
Our new experience direction would remove this
confusion by putting all the variation behind the
scenes. We would redesign the Apply flow to
create the illusion of a single, cohesive flow that
would resolve all of the complexity with a fantastic
new approach to the interface.
ux success stories lou susi

8. story 2. monster apply flow redesign
Monster UX, Product, Analysis and
Development spent countless days
and hours collaboratively card-
sorting, mapping and sketching the
entire Seeker redesign project.
Early on in the redesign process,
apply-related data provided from
recent EU success with an Ajax-
driven panel helped drive our
design thinking toward a similar
technical approach to solving the
bigger picture.
ux success stories lou susi

9. story 2. monster apply flow redesign
The initial wireframe
attempts to redesign Apply
indicated to me that the
complexity and confusion
we wanted to eliminate
were only compounded in
this new panel-driven
design convention.
Over the course of the
entire redesign initiative,
my team persistently
approached this flow
from every angle with
huge efforts put into
testing, prototyping and
iterative design changes.
ux success stories lou susi

10. story 2. monster apply flow redesign
Recognizing issues with
the panel convention,
I proactively suggested
alternative approaches
to redesigning Apply.
My heuristic insight and
initial research always
pointed to the logical
use of an entire page.
The recommendation shown
here suggests a way to split
the job description page,
allowing jobseekers to see
important job details while
choosing a resume and
writing their cover letter.
ux success stories lou susi

11. story 2. monster apply flow redesign
Although the panel-driven
redesign made it to release,
Monster’s latest apply flow
takes the apply experience
out of the panel. A much
less cluttered approach
( one of the original goals of
the redesign ). And far more
predictable and reliable
from a technical, system
performance perspective.
ux success stories lou susi

12. story 3. the monster dashboard
As part of the same Seeker redesign initiatives
described in Story 2 – I led the design and
development efforts to create a dashboard
for jobseekers on the new, career-focused
Monster.
The Monster Dashboard was an entirely new
feature for Monster. My research included looking
to similar key, existing experiences such as
iGoogle, PageFlakes and NetVibes. I also read the
book ‘Informational Dashboard Design’ by Stephen
Few and attended an invaluable UPA session at
Enernoc to learn about the latest thought and
trends behind dashboard environment design.
The dashboard project came together quickly and
rather successfully made the leap from
wireframes to visuals to full implementation.
ux success stories lou susi

13. story 3. the monster dashboard
After conducting some of
the original research, I
interviewed UX Leads from
each product segment to
rough out component
concepts for more than a
dozen widgets. The initial
wireframe layout set up a
unique center stage grid as
well as an affordance to
add more widgets to the
default set.
ux success stories lou susi

14. story 3. the monster dashboard
The basic design and
interaction for the widget
container included a drag
handle, a view and edit
mode, and a way to
expand and close each
widget.
One of the most important
concepts I wanted to
promote internally was the
ability to Share a widget
out to a user’s website,
blog or the social web.
Extending Monster’s brand
beyond the website would
help bring traffic back to
the core site.
ux success stories lou susi

15. story 3. the monster dashboard
The final dashboard design
and implementation
successfully allows users to
get a snapshot into several
key areas of the Monster
experience and allows for
a quick click over to take a
deeper look. Users can
easily add and remove
dashboard widgets by
visiting a separate page.
Certain widgets allow data
customization.
A few usability sessions
helped optimize certain
interaction design nuances.
ux success stories lou susi

16. further notes on the process
Although I originally intended to represent my full
set of processes in the presentation of these success
stories – one vital step along the way that I feel is
crucial is to literally sketch the story of the
experience.
I apologize for the lack of hand-drawn design thought
in this presentation. I find that returning to pencil, pen
and paper can save cycles and help bring simple
vision to the brainstorming and decision making so
vital to the overall process.
Many of these projects started on paper before
moving to wireframes. I find the number of steps,
the medium of artifacts and deliverables, and the
nature of the work all depend on the project timeline
and the culture of the organization. But lines on
paper at least begin to quickly tell the story.
ux success stories lou susi

17. lou suSi
617.750.2922
lou@bxos.com