In December 2019, Telenet (a leading broadband and mobile service provider in Belgium) was in the midst of a digital transformation that included alignment of websites and portals across the company's brands. As part of this multi-year project, I designed several areas of the company's digital customer experience. One area was the hardware shop for Telenet's Subsidiary, BASE. The task was to design the shop using a basic structure that could be used across brands. BASE, a subsidiary of Telenet, is the third largest of Belgium's mobile telecommunications operators.
As a UX designer at Brilliant Basics (BB), I worked with UX, UI, a project manager, a product owner, a tech architect, and a go-to-market manager for over a year to deliver high fidelity screens for developers. Designs were informed by competitive analysis, user testing, business requirements, tech requirements, and client feedback.
The project started as an assignment to adjust old wireframes for telenet.be hardware shop to meet BASE's unique business requirements. To understand the context of the assignment, I reviewed telenet wireframes, the live BASE online shop, and the business's product roadmap for BASE store. In addition, I talked with analysts about the project and the target market (value-driven customers wanting a convenient and reliable service at a good price).
After reviewing existing designs, I mapped out the current process for purchasing a device on the BASE website. This flow diagram served as a starting point for designing revised wireframes.
After mapping out the current journey, I drafted a revised version that integrated new requirements from the product roadmap. This new flow acted as a guide to inform future sketches and wireframes.
Before I began sketching, I consulted the requirements and took note of the major components that were needed. Next, I conducted a competitive analysis to understand the approaches of other companies and read relevant articles to review current best practices.
After drafting the "to be" flow and looking at inspiration, I started to sketch initial ideas. Rough design were shared with colleagues (UX & UI designers) to get feedback that could help refine the designs.
After sketching a few ideas, I moved to Sketch to quickly create design variations, develop ideas at a more detailed level, and easily share the designs with colleagues in Belgium. Throughout the project, I shared wireframes with project's lead designer, other design colleagues, a functional analyst, and tech architects for feedback.
I presented designs to BASE and Telenet stakeholders in weekly reviews sessions. Presentations often sparked discussion amongst stakeholders that led to the refinement of BASE's online selling strategy.
After strategy refinements and design iterations, we tested a prototype with dutch customers via a 3rd party research contractor in Belgium that could run tests in users' native language. I provided the researchers with a guide and a prototype translated into dutch. Findings from the test indicated indicated the overall website structure was straightforward and easy to use. However, there was some confusion around the meaning of prices featured in the "select a plan" cards.
After analyzing the user feedback and speaking with various stakeholders, I updated the desktop and mobile wireframes to incorporate findings. For example, I updated the design of the "choose a plan" card to clarify the meaning of the pricing and communicated concerns about this element to the UI team.
Once stakeholders approved the wireframes, I collaborated with UI designers to create high-fidelity screens that aligned with BASE's visual identity and component library while maintaining the intention of the original design. This involved regular UI/UX collaboration sessions with clients (Telenet's UX Lead & UI Lead) and my internal team and one-on-one calls with UI designers.
When I rolled off the project over a year after joining, the BASE screens were headed towards development. A few months later, the new design went live (https://www.prd.base.be/en/smartphones-overview). In addition, the basic design for BASE became the template for the e-commerce shops for other Telenet brands. Wireframes for the MVP of Fleet's first online shop using the BASE template were passed to a UI designer in preparation for a 2021 release.
In this project, I learned what considerations need to be taken into account when designing experiences for multiple languages and cultures that are not my own. I also learned what it takes to design a part of a large system in a long-term project spanning many years. In addition, I learned that even in large organizations, little steps can go a long way in shaping ways of working.
If I were to do this project again, I would have scheduled more time earlier on to discuss and refine go-to-market strategy before going deep into designing. Working closer with stakeholders responsible for strategy earlier on could have saved time spent on revising designs and waiting for business to come up with answers to strategy questions asked during ux review sessions.
