What Users Loved
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Ease of management: Tab and tile views significantly reduced window clutter.
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Effortless comparison: Tile view enabled users to compare plots side by side.
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Excitement for the feature: Users were eager to adopt the new system pre-launch.
Usability Flaws
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Lost tabs: Users couldn’t reopen closed tabs.
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Redundant options: Features like “Close All” and “Close Figure” were repetitive.
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Confusing layouts: Options like “Subtile” and “Alphabetize” were barely used.
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Complex grid setup: The layout process was unintuitive and time-consuming.
✅ Ease of management
Tab and tile views significantly reduced window clutter.
✅ Effortless comparison
Tile view enabled users to compare plots side by side without the hassle of manually dragging and arranging.
✅ Excitement for the new Feature
Users showed excitement and eagerness to try both the views in their workflows.
The good stuff
Improving MATLAB’s Plot Viewing Experience
Role
Design Lead
Timeline
Sep 2023 - Jan 2024
Team of
1 Designer, 1 Researcher
Skills
Usasbility Studies, Sketching, Wireframing, Visual Designs, Negotrations, Prioritizations
What is MATLAB?
MATLAB is a programming and simulation platform used by scientists and engineers worldwide.
From Tesla simulating self-driving cars to NASA planning space missions, MATLAB helps users analyze and compare data through advanced plotting features.
Let's set up some context first.
Understanding the Problem
Manual plot arrangement every time.
Each time users ran their code, multiple plot windows appeared and required manual rearrangement. If the code was rerun, all arrangements were lost, forcing users to start over.
Why users plot graphs?
To compare massive data visually.
Engineers and data scientists rely on MATLAB to handle massive amounts of data. They plot this data using various chart types to compare and analyze data and trends effectively.
The Idea
Introducing Tab and Tile View.
To address this, the team adapted a tab and tile view system from another part of MATLAB. However, it wasn’t optimized for plot viewing and needed significant simplification and decluttering.
I collaborated with a senior researcher & conducted usability studies on these new layouts and found:
Usability Study
Project Goal
How can we make these new layouts intuitive to use before we launch them in upcoming Beta release?
I studied several tools to understand how modern platforms handle tabs and different layouts.
This researched helped in identifying where we were falling short and what features could improve the experience. I organized and shared these insights with the team to guide our ideas.
Benchmarking
What Users Loved
-
Ease of management: Tab and tile views significantly reduced window clutter.
-
Effortless comparison: Tile view enabled users to compare plots side by side.
-
Excitement for the feature: Users were eager to adopt the new system pre-launch.
Usability Flaws
-
Lost tabs: Users couldn’t reopen closed tabs.
-
Redundant options: Features like “Close All” and “Close Figure” were repetitive.
-
Confusing layouts: Options like “Subtile” and “Alphabetize” were barely used.
-
Complex grid setup: The layout process was unintuitive and time-consuming.
⚠️ Lost tabs
Users couldn’t reopen closed tabs. Once the plot was closed, it cannot be reopened without rerunning the code.
⚠️ Redundant Options
Several features in the context menu like “Close All” and “Close Figure” were repetitive.
⚠️ Confusing Options
Few options like “Subtile” and “Alphabetize” were barely used.
⚠️ Complex grid setup
The process of setting up the tile layout was unintuitive and time-consuming.
Major Concerns
Next goal was to prioritize what to fix first. It was the switch between the views.
Using an Impact-Effort Matrix, I led my team to focused on feature that delivered the highest value with minimal effort.
Prioritization
A Practical Context Menu Redesign That Worked
After exploring and rejecting over 10+ ideas, I continuously refined and evolved my designs through collaboration with the team. Through these iterations, the redesigned context menu emerged as the most effective and achievable solution.
One-Click Layout Switch
The confusing layout setup is gone. A single click now arranges plots in the best layout automatically, saving time and effort.
Clear Organization
Menu items are now segregated into Global and Local actions, making navigation intuitive.
Meaningful Labels
All menu options have been renamed for clarity and better understanding.
Focused Features
Irrelevant and unused functions have been removed, keeping the interface clean and relevant for plot views.
Design Solution
Learning from Every Attempt
The journey to the final context menu redesign involved exploring several design ideas and approaches.
Some of these ideas are mentioned below. While these ideas were not implemented, they provided valuable insights and shaped the direction of the final design.
Failed Designs
Delivering Measurable Impact.
The redesigned plot viewing system achieved measurable improvements:
65% Faster
Plot arrangement time dropped from 35-45 seconds to just 5-8 seconds.
Improved findability
The layout feature became easily discoverable.
Enhanced usability
Decision-making time in the context menu decreased.
Positive feedback
Users praised the intuitive design and efficiency gains.