The Vision

About

I'm a big believer that anything we make can be improved upon. I believe this project is my crowning achievement to this sentiment.

This is a project born out of a task that started small but grew into a full blown holistic investigation of an entire product. During my onboarding phase at the Access group my manager tasked me with making sense of a somewhat obscure small part of a larger flagship product we have. Being naturally curious I couldn't help but feel the task was too small and I should be looking at a much larger picture in order to make sense of what I was looking at.

Over time this really grew into a large scale investigation of the positioning of the product and ultimately lead to a pitch-esque presentation to the CTO on how we might readdress, what was at the time called, 'Workspace'.

What I feel this project demonstrates is my newfound interest in full scale strategy, positioning and problem solving which transcends the standard role of UI/UX. I was able to show an ability to present at a very high level to stakeholders in the company that I could take something very complex and make sense of it. To this day the central division at Access is working on what this became.

Challenge

The product faced several critical issues that needed addressing:

• Feedback from customers was not great
• Lots of confusion about the product's purpose
• No clear 'why' of Workspace
• Outdated UI and look and feel was not contemporary to modern standards
• Had no 'heartbeat' - no sense of life or activity
• Dogma - This was a pet project and not to be ruffled too much

Research

Discovery consisted of:

• Interviews
• Observation
• Listening
• Assumptions

At the start of the project, I spent a lot of time doing nothing but observing, trying to learn as much as possible with as little bias input as possible. I attended any and every meeting, sprint, catch-up, mini workshop to start to build a problem space: What's the consistent message/narrative of Workspace?

During this time, I also poured over all the 'kicker' videos and presentation material from Steve Lane etc and wrote down some assumptions on what the business strategy and messaging was.

Once this was complete, I arranged several internal user interviews (External was not an option at this time though would prove much more valuable). This consisted of two groups, 'New people' & 'Experienced people'. The reason for this was to increase the diversity of opinion and measure how the interpretation of Workspace changes (if at all). This would help identify what the core intrinsic message of Workspace is and uncover opportunities/gaps.

The interviews consisted of lots open ended questions allowing the user to explain as abstractly as they wished, this helped in unshackling them from Workspace itself and allow them to speak in terms of task and experience. If something came up during these answers that could be investigated further, I would ask a series of closed questions to identify the detail of why they may think or feel a certain way about the context.

Define

After extensive research and interviews, several key themes emerged that helped define the core problems:

• Workspace lacked a clear value proposition that resonated with users
• The interface felt disconnected from daily workflows and lacked engagement
• There was no sense of activity or 'heartbeat' to indicate what was happening across the organisation
• The product name 'Workspace' was generic and didn't communicate its unique value

These findings pointed towards a need for fundamental repositioning - not just a UI refresh, but a complete rethink of how we communicate the product's purpose and value.

The synthesis process involved organising insights, identifying patterns, and building a framework for understanding the core challenges. This collaborative approach helped align stakeholders around the problems we needed to solve.

Through this structured define process, we were able to transform raw research data into actionable insights and a clear strategic direction for the product's evolution.

Sketches & Designs

The ideation phase involved extensive sketching and exploration. I created hundreds of concept variations, exploring different ways to bring life and purpose to the product.

These early sketches focused on creating a sense of activity and engagement - showing real-time updates, collaborative moments, and making the invisible work happening across teams visible and accessible.

The sketches explored various concepts including feed-based interfaces, activity streams, and new ways to surface relevant information based on user context and relationships.

Showcasing the Vision

The culmination of this work was a comprehensive presentation to the CTO and senior leadership team. This wasn't just about showing designs - it was about telling a story of transformation.

I presented a complete repositioning strategy that included:

• A new product vision and narrative
• Clear articulation of the 'why' behind the product
• Detailed design concepts showing how the vision could come to life
• A roadmap for implementation and evolution

The presentation demonstrated how we could transform the product from a generic 'workspace' into something with real purpose and engagement - a living, breathing platform that connects people with their work and each other.

Impact & Evolution

The vision presentation had a significant impact on the organisation's thinking. What started as a small task to investigate one feature evolved into a fundamental rethinking of product strategy.

Following the presentation, Access gained a new CTO (CPEO shortly thereafter). On Marko's 4th day I presented this work. Shortly after this, the central division at Access began working on developing this vision. The concepts and strategic direction I proposed became the foundation for ongoing product development and evolution.

This work directly influenced what would eventually become Evo - a more focused, purposeful product that embodies many of the principles and ideas explored in this vision work.

I was just four days into my role when Luke approached me with a comprehensive vision that would become the foundation of Evo. What struck me immediately was the clarity and depth of thinking he'd already invested. This wasn't surface-level design work; it was strategic product vision that demonstrated a genuine understanding of both our market opportunity and the technical constraints we'd need to navigate.

The work Luke presented gave us the framework we needed to align our product and technology strategies from day one. Their ability to translate complex user needs into actionable design principles accelerated our trajectory significantly. Within weeks, we had a shared language across leadership and a clear north star that united our engineering and product teams.

What sets Luke apart is their capacity to think holistically, balancing user experience with business viability and technical feasibility. He doesn't just design interfaces; he architects experiences that serve strategic objectives. The vision work Luke brought to Evo didn't just influence our roadmap, it fundamentally shaped how we positioned Workspace which became Evo.

— Marko Peresic, CPEO

"What I feel this project demonstrates was my newfound interest in full scale strategy, positioning and problem solving which transcends the standard role of UI/UX."