The UX Visual Design Team at Ferguson was a team I managed for several years. Our main goal was to provide custom designed and coded banner graphics, and other various interactive elements for numerous internal departments and users of the business' CMS.
This case study takes a deep look at one of the last sizable and impactful projects we worked on together.
PROJECT GOAL
Historically, this team had worked in an outdated, antiquated, non-agile workflow for a number of years. Operating largely on a ticket and intake-based system, and single-request type projects, it was evident that in order for the team to grow and further align with the overall direction of the UX team, things needed to change. I took the lead on developing a roadmap on ways to become a more transparent and flexible team, as well as charge down the path towards self-service within a more UX-friendly framework.
EXPERIENCE
Working closely with business leaders within the Merchandising org (the Visual Design Team's main contributor and collaborator) and several of the Visual Designers themselves, we set out to craft an experience and model that would deliver on several promising aspects.
1. Improved workflow management by way of leaving behind the old waterfall-type, and adopting a more agile approach.
2. Increased visibility into overall state of work by working within a roadmap framework.
3. Decrease the turnaround time of providing custom deliverables.
4. Increase autonomy of requestors by giving them power to self-serve on less taxing requests.
OUTCOME
The team worked tirelessly for months on end to reach this goal before the ultimate disbanding and dissolving of the team entirely. A sharpened light design system and standards were put in place within Figma, extensively documenting and demonstrating all aspects of the work the Visual Design team could output. Partnering with the engineering team, custom code banks were created and baked into the CMS to allow for requestors to seamlessly self-serve on a number of assets they would need created, replete with numerous options for a quick custom experience. And finally, steps were put into place to evolve the request system to adhere to the existing UX and Product way of working with internal stakeholders.
Unfortunately, we were unable to see this vision fully realized before the team was dissolved. We were anticipating seeing improvements upwards of 80% reduction in turnaround times on deliverables, as well as greatly improving requestors ability to quickly see their assets live and on site within minutes, as opposed to days. Not to mention, being able to tie projects and results back to a clearly defined roadmap with sharpened outcomes and goals in place.
TEAM ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Justin Jackson | UX Visual Design Manager
Alex Feller | Visual Designer
Caroline Martorell | Visual Designer
Hope Skinner | Senior Visual Designer
Molly Farina | Sr. Merchandising Manager
Liz Gilbert | Sr. Merchandising Manager
Dyrone Bailey | Sr. Engineering Manager
