ROLES
Lead Designer, Facilitator
ACTIVITIES
Influencing, Brainstorming, Competitive Analysis, Concept Design, Research Artifacts
COLLABORATION
Visual Design, Brand, Research, Product Management
TIME LINE
3 months
Situation
Universal Help application was being represented by a blue “?” icon and the rate of engagement was extremely low in all properties.
Problem Statement
How might we investigate whether the “?” icon is effective.
Task
Run quantitative research studies to understand icon perception and determine if a new icon is needed.
Actions
I persuaded product management that quantitative research would help us understand the “why” behind the low engagement data. I kicked off the effort by engaging in a discussion with the researcher and visual designer to specify goals and elicit their expertise in pursuing this initiative. They were excited to be on board so we brainstormed research approaches and icon ideas and I created artifacts for testing across all geos and properties. Once we had selected the final icon, I worked with the product manager and scrum master to create JIRA stories and bring them into upcoming sprints.
Results
Partnered with lead researcher to investigate perception of different icons.
Ran 3 large sample studies with 2000+ participants from 35 countries
Research confirmed that “?” is perceived as generic, unhelpful help that would dissuade customers from engaging with it
“I would immediately try the AI assistant. This looks like a very quick way to get info.”
By the time we completed the first study, we learned that Autodesk was headed towards a re-branding so we quickly pivoted to align with this update
Ran additional study 2 months later with 477 participants to confirm perception of the new stylized-A icon
New icon resonates with help, support, intelligence, dynamic, AI and voice
Went further to formulated bot interaction principles and voice/tone guidelines