Overview
Oculid was a 12-person startup offering a SaaS platform to create remote eye tracking studies. It enabled user research of digital products on mobile, with advanced eye-tracking and attention computing metrics.
Oculid used custom AI algorithms and the user’s web cam to work.
Oculid’s marketing video when I joined the startup
Oculid products
Website
To showcase products and help users with guides.
Web Platform
For researchers to create eye tracking tests.
Mobile apps
For test participants to run the eye tracking studies.
When I joined Oculid, all products were in the MVP stage
🐣
Problems
This were the main problems Oculid faced when I joined the team.
Inconsistent design
Lack of visual unity and cohesion among different products.
Feature gap
Missing essential features like a sign-up process and advanced data visualisations.
Churn
Occurring at multiple points in the user journey in web platform and mobile apps.
Low data quality
Due to poor participant behaviour during remote eye-tracking tests.
My work
I focused on these key areas to drive improvements.
My work
🎯 Design strategy
🔎 UX research
✏️ UX copy
🎨 UI & Visual design
📐 Design Systems
🧑🏻💻 Web design & dev
Team collaboration
To redefine the roadmap and plan work:
👩🏻 1 Product Owner
👧🏼 1 UX Researcher
🧑🏻 1 Product designer 👈🏼 Me
To discuss design solutions and hand over end designs:
👨🏻🦱 2 Data Scientists
🧔🏼 1 Front-end dev
🧔 1 Back-end dev
🧔🏽♂️ 1 iOS dev
🧑🏼🦱 1 Android dev
Research 🔬
Previous research identified problems, but it wasn’t always clear WHY those problems occurred. I conducted these methodologies to better understand the roots of important problems.
Heuristic analysis
I tested the web app and apps documenting places for improvement.
Usability tests
I recruited real users to test designs while gathering user insights.
User interviews
helped gaining a better understanding of the experience and perception of the products by our users.
Persona profiles
I created persona profiles and progressively developed them to consolidate the information gathered about our users.
User journey mapping
I mapped user journeys noting places for improvement.
Solutions 🛠️
UX research helped understanding the “WHYs” of the problems. This is how I tackled some of them.
To reduce design inconsistency:
Design System
I expanded and improved the design system in Figma, adding important sections and components, progressively applying it to all products to enhance consistency.
Accesibility & consistency
Applied accessibility principles from WCAG and W3C, and a minimalist design approach to reduce cognitive load and improve clarity.
Custom graphics
Created icons and illustrations to unify the visual style across products and better support instructions.
To reduce churn and low data quality:
Fix user journeys
I designed new screens, UI elements, user guides, landing pages and emails to fix user journeys and help users achieving their goals successfully.
Build trust
I addressed the lack of trust in the mobile apps, which required a number of sensitive data to work, by emphasising privacy features early on, reorganising permission flows and improving the overall visual design to evoke a more professional and trustable look.
Improve Onboarding
I reorganised the screens in a more intuitive and logical way, and improved instructions applying story-telling and micro-copy techniques to better guide our users.
To reduce feature gap:
Sign-up flow
I designed a sign-up flow from scratch to automate account creation and gather relevant user data.
Email flow
I redesigned and recoded all emails derived from the platform usage to emphasise key information and enhance clarity.
Dashboard sections
I redesigned the analytics dashboard with eye-tracking metrics to enhance understanding and clarity, and designed new sections like AOIs (Areas Of Interest) visualisations.
Examples of end-designs with illustrations made by me:
Impact 💥
Measured through usability tests prior to launch and data analytics after production.
Reduced drop-off rate by 35% on mobile app
Clearer onboarding and instructions in the mobile apps improved test participant behaviour and proved to be effective in reducing participant’s drop-off rates by 35%.
Increased data quality rate by 20%
A better participant behaviour during the tests increased the number of participants that delivered high quality data by 20%.
Resolved 65% of found usability issues
Of the 120 usability issues identified through usability tests in the web platform, over 65% were successfully resolved, significantly increasing the user experience of the platform.
Cohesive and accessible design
By improving and applying the new design system across all Oculid products I significantly increased the visual and functional consistency of the Oculid product suit. This not only strengthen the brand’s professional appearance, but it also helped building trust with the users from the first interaction. By applying best UX design principles, it also improved usability and accessibility across all different touchpoints.
Company acquisition
The refreshened visual design and ease of use of the Oculid products were cited as a key factors in its successful acquisition by Tobii, the global market leader in eye-tracking software and technologies.
Career advancement
My contributions to Oculid’s growth and product quality enhancement led to a promotion offer during the Tobii acquisition. I was surprised by the offer, as I hadn’t asked for it, but it made me really happy, as it reflected the trust and recognition placed in me by my team.
Final thoughts:
Working at a cutting-edge tech startup like Oculid meant wearing many hats and tackling some of the most exciting design challenges I’ve faced. I conducted eye-tracking UX studies For the first time, literally seeing my designs through my users’ eyes, which was super cool for a UX designer. As the designer and the target user of the tool, I played a key role in shaping all Oculid products within a human-centered, AI-powered environment led by HCI-trained CEOs who valued full design processes. This allowed us to prove design thinking strategies with real outcome data, which is something rare in less mature design environments.
I also gained hands-on experience collaborating with data scientists, developers, sales, marketing, and product teams, learning to prioritize with an MVP mindset and support ideas with objective data. The fast pace taught us all to learn quickly and adapt constantly.
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