Symplectic Public Profiles Platform
Designed a highly customisable public profiles platform that enables organisations to showcase experts profiles, including research outputs, collaborations, media, teaching activities and grants.
In March of 2022, in addition to the experts search, we added the equipment search to our Discovery platform. It helps organisations promote research equipment, facilities and services to maximise the use of these valuable resources, as well as opens potential new revenue sources and helps to foster meaningful connections and collaborations with industry partners and other research organisations.
Utilising the EDS (Elements Design System) enabled us to streamline the design and development of the equipment initiative. The equipment search (UI elements, design patterns, and microinteractions) is closely aligned with the experts search experience, making it really easy for the user to engage with the platform.
Based on the HotJar data analytics, at least 30% of the Discovery traffic comes from mobile devices, so I had to ensure feature parity between desktop and mobile experiences.
One of the key features of Discovery platform is customisation: for instance, on mobile we allow institutions to select between the dark mode and the light mode. Unlike Pittsburgh Innovation, UIC went with the dark mode for their mobile experience.
Discovery launched with just 1 development partner in 2018, currently 57 clients all over the world are live or finalising their implementation, including UCL, University of Arts London and La Trobe University.
Oxford University is considering replacing their public profile system with Discovery Profiles and is currently going through the trial phase.
I have conducted 2 rounds of user research (remote and in-person) using early low fidelity interactive prototypes talking to researchers, administrators and PhD students in University of Georgia and University College Dublin. Upon the completion, I had written a report summarising the research findings. The report was used to validate some of the design decisions as well as to inform the product roadmap.
Sample pages from user research (round 1)
In June 2022, we’ve added Department pages to Discovery that allow universities to showcase interesting department data (e.g. Sustainable Development Goals), jobs, opportunities and insights.
Discovery Department Page
I believe in working closely with our clients during all of the phases of the product lifecycle from understanding end user needs and conducting research when adding new features to assisting with customising and branding the product during the final (implementation) stage. I have created a guide explaining all the various customisation options that helps our clients to make the most out of the Discovery platform.
Service Design
