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Final Design - File Protector Page
Digital Data Security Systems
for Seclore
The Job
Seclore, a data security company wanted us to look at their existing line of products and help them debug, streamline and while doing so create an application to ease file sharing capabilities.
Client
Seclore
Deliverables
Desktop & Mobile Application (Saas),
Secure Email Client, Design Systems & more
Role
UIUX Designer
Ideation, User Interviews & Testing,
Wire Framing & Prototype, High Fidelity Screens, Design Systems
Team
Sudhir Bhatia, Zubin Dalal, Chaitanya Dhande
Problem Statement
Remove fear among users while sharing data in a way that is
not intimidating but welcoming.
My Impact & Deliverables
The File Protector and IT Admin Dashboard along with other systems like the Mobile Application, Secure Email Client, Browser File Viewer Application, Email Rule Protector were the main accomplishments by the entire team
Through our discussions we observed that currently the system shed more light on activities that were authorized and used fairly. Hence we needed to change that as if as long as file is being accessed fairly nobody should actually care and focus more on unauthorized ones. This was central to our process.
File Protector
First lets Understand their Eco-System
We started to peel off the multiple layer of complexity in their main product line, the Admin Dashboard and worked our way through the End User Dashboard. During this process we touched on their other product lines; Secure Email Desktop Client, Online Email Browser for desktop & mobile
Seclors Eco-System of Different Product Range
Conducting Secondary Research
While the research team conducted user research, i took this opportunity to learn more about the product and did some digging of my own to learn more about the product and data security. I looked in the leading data security experts and analyzed how they manage risk. The application though powerful and secure were not user friendly and intuitive.
image 1, Microsoft Azure and image 2, ForcePoint
What are users' challenges?
Never has there ever been more emphasis on data security than now. Users are more cognizant and mindful of how and with who they are sharing information with. This has made them more nervous than ever and our job was to remove this uncertainty and fear.
"There are so many different systems to monitor, its scary and confusnig " - User
Users' Explicit & Implicit Needs
To monitor that existing Licenses / permissions are properly utilized. To revoke/ grant permissions on multiple files/hot folders if employee resigns / joins
To help other protectors in the the organization regarding their issues related to Seclore software, file protection, etc.
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To see how Seclore software is getting utilized. To comply file protection across department / organization. During first few months after buying, OU admin is interested to see the value of Seclore product.
Information Architecture & User Flows
By continues user research and aligning users requirements to theirs needs and goals, we started to lay out a detailed information map for all their systems and process flows.
On several occasions the product team would collaborate with us in sketching and brainstorming sessions
Establishing Main Deliverables
Re-build the product from ground up to streamline user tasks and flow.
Align existing supporting functionalities to the main product also needed work, Secure Browser Email Client, Outlook Client, User Guides Mobile app, hot folder optimization and more
All the re-evaluation and restructuring lead to another fun project of re-branding their old identity.
My Challenges
Being the UIUX lead for this project and with the help of my colleagues i was about to undertake this mammoth project. Coming from a purely design background this wasn't an easy transition for me. I needed to own up and be responsible and most of all, be collaborative
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I had to trust my judgment and rely on research learning and analytics to guide me in the right direction, while making calculated risks
Our Approach
As we neared the completion of our research phase we needed to chart our path in the next direction. Our main mission was to provide a tool that eliminates the fear behind data security in a complex product environment.
The dashboard gave use a good starting point to understand the products and its core features. While understanding the functionalities of users ,It became evident that ‘Unauthorized’ activities is where we needed to focus and highlight and draw the users attention to.
Early wire frames for desktop and mobile
Iterations of wire frames with more details
Working with the Product team
There have been many instances where the product team and product owners felt comfortable sitting down with us to sketch out and create flows and wire frames.
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We realized that involving them during some of the design phase was helpful and informative
What is Agile? How does it affect design?
This was the first time i had ever heard of the name 'Agile' . The product manager and their team gave as a thorough run down of whats it like to be working in and Agile environment.
To be honest it wasn't as intimidating as i had thought, it hardly affected my typical workflow and problem solving methods. Yes we had to align to the working methods of the development team but it wasn't the first time i had to change my way of working to suit the project.
Concept Development
The client needed the application be to have a friendly and welcoming feel, and had specificaly requested us to experiment with some colours and gradients early on to see the direction of the design language
Deciding to go ahead with a gradient background was an interesting and practical decision, as some of the data cards on the dashboard were collapsable and having a solid color caused the background to dominate the visual hierarchy. This was successfully validated during user testing.
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Many of the deliverable were very outcome based and did not necessarily demand
testing and evaluation
Early iterations for testing layout and gradient
Weekly Site Visits
As part of Agile development and increasing the overall though put, it was decided that i wold go on site every week for a couple of days and provide instant design collaterals and over see QA changes on the fly. Never had i been in this kind of work environment and it was an interesting learning experience.
Conducting User Tests
As i started to get my hands dirty in the world of UX, Agile and so many other challenges i was pumped with learning these new design methodologies that i volunteered to conduct user test under supervision. These were moderated as well as unmoderated tests. I also conduct A/B and Card sorting exercise these tools open my eye to new possibilities in human centred thinking.
A snapshot of one the Card Sorting exercises.
What we Accomplished
A simple and user friendly admin dashboard, a secure email client for easier and secure file viewing for none app user users, adding features to outlook email client, adding Hot Folder functionalities in windows, a mobile application among other features
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Creating an Email Protector which required a deep understanding in rules and restrictions There was never a dull moment throughout the entire project.
End User Dashboard
High Fidelity Screens
Managing and classifying files is a very important and crucial feature in bulk actions. Adding rules to email clients without users knowing or initiating any actions works flawlessly and it doesn't require any input from the users side
"While emailing files, i just click the 'LOCK' icon before sending them and thats it, its like im not using any thing " - User
Offline Security Application
All users need to install a offline client to view downloaded files. In the event these files were protected with restricted use the user can request the desired permission. It was an interesting opportunity designing this use case as many users didn't know the difference between having Full Control and features not part of it. This too was beautifully tested (scroll above)
Secure Email Viewer
Many users didn't have any kind of integration of Seclore in their enterprise email client or didn't have access to it. For that use case we had to build a fully working Email Viewer. This tool has to allow user to create, reply and see threads.
Activities Screen
Users could quickly analyze their recent activities and see which file were shared or accessed without proper authorization. This included even if someone tried to open a file or tried to print them.
Bulk actions saves user times, these are but not limited too, Blocking files, Granting Access, Revoking Access and more. Here you can also observe that the color of the CTAs are very consistent across the board and making it easier for users to locate.
Can You Alert via Emails?
We increasingly heard a chatter among users and payed attention to it. What they wanted is to have some kind of a summary of their daily activities where they can quickly at a glance see the number of Authorized or Unauthorized activities. And we delivered exactly that.
Mobile Application
The mobile application is a very secure handy file viewer. Accessing you sensitive information anywhere securely has never been easy .
Not only can they view confidential data they can also send & reply encrypted emails and its content vie an secure browser email client.
Design System
The more products we designed to bigger the components library started to get.
We designed over 80 Symbols/Icons, 24 Error messages, 32 Hot Folder Icon versions & 6 Unique Sets of Design Library
My Learnings
This has to be one of the most elaborate projects i'v been a on. Working with a data security company makes you sensitive to how we share and access files online and offline and designing for such systems is complicated yet fun.
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Working with multiple developers on site and aligning everybody's point of views to a consistent design language is important and a necessity.
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I had the amazing opportunity using Axure RP to create highly detailed interaction prototypes, another addition to my skill set.
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Working with Seclore also made me better at compromising and accepting feedback better.
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