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Boost Productivity with Infoblox's Search

Infoblox BloxOne's search did not function as users expected. We identified a way to help users navigate, find, and take action more effectively.

Infoblox BloxOne's search did not function as users expected. We identified a way to help users navigate, find, and take action more effectively.

Infoblox BloxOne's search did not function as users expected. We identified a way to help users navigate, find, and take action more effectively.

Infoblox BloxOne's search did not function as users expected. We identified a way to help users navigate, find, and take action more effectively.

Role
Role

Lead UX Designer

Lead UX Designer

Timeline
Timeline

January 2023 - April 2023

January 2023 - April 2023

Team
Team

1 UX Designer, 1 Product Manager, 1 Architect, multiple engineering teams

1 UX Designer, 1 Product Manager, 1 Architect, multiple engineering teams

Challenge

Objects in Infoblox's B1DDI exist in a nested hierarchy, making them extremely difficult to locate because the current global search doesn’t direct users to the object's context after performing a search.

Many customers on the Customer Advisory Board have raised this issue, noting that the product requires excessive clicking as users must navigate through a nested list or rely on memory to locate an object, making their daily operational tasks inefficient and frustrating.

The business objective is to help network administrators find and drill down more effectively so they can be more efficient during troubleshooting or configuration processes.

Impact

The improved search function (both global and local) now allows users to navigate and find relevant information with fewer clicks, reducing the number of clicks required to locate an object by over 3 times. Additionally, the new search input design enhances global search discoverability and nearly doubles feature adoption.

Challenge

Objects in Infoblox's B1DDI exist in a nested hierarchy, making them extremely difficult to locate because the current global search doesn’t direct users to the object's context after performing a search.

Many customers on the Customer Advisory Board have raised this issue, noting that the product requires excessive clicking as users must navigate through a nested list or rely on memory to locate an object, making their daily operational tasks inefficient and frustrating.

The business objective is to help network administrators find and drill down more effectively so they can be more efficient during troubleshooting or configuration processes.

Impact

The improved search function (both global and local) now allows users to navigate and find relevant information with fewer clicks, reducing the number of clicks required to locate an object by over 3 times. Additionally, the new search input design enhances global search discoverability and nearly doubles feature adoption.

3x

Faster to find an object

4x

Increase discoverability of search feature

65%

Increase in search adoption

OVERVIEW


Solution Summary

The redesign enables users to navigate, find information, and take action three times faster than with the current interface.


Our Approach

We came to this conclusion by:

  • Interviewing 15 external and internal Infoblox users to understand their expectations of global search

  • Talking to 23 PMs, Solutions Architects, Professional Service Consultants, etc.

And redesigned global search based on:

8 rounds of usability tests with a total of 65 participants, including 49 external IT professionals and 16 Infoblox users.


My Contribution

As the sole designer and researcher, I led scoping, research, design iterations, and final prototypes. I collaborated with the Product Manager on the project scope, presented design rationales, and worked with engineers on design specifications, documentation, and queries.


Skip to the final design deliverables

OVERVIEW


Solution Summary

The redesign enables users to navigate, find information, and take action three times faster than with the current interface.


Our Approach

We came to this conclusion by:

  • Interviewing 15 external and internal Infoblox users to understand their expectations of global search

  • Talking to 23 PMs, Solutions Architects, Professional Service Consultants, etc.

And redesigned global search based on:

8 rounds of usability tests with a total of 65 participants, including 49 external IT professionals and 16 Infoblox users.


My Contribution

As the sole designer and researcher, I led scoping, research, design iterations, and final prototypes. I collaborated with the Product Manager on the project scope, presented design rationales, and worked with engineers on design specifications, documentation, and queries.


Skip to the final design deliverables

Jump to final design

Jump to final design

Jump to final design

Jump to final design

RESEARCH


Customer Interviews

I screened, recruited and interviewed 10 Infoblox customers to gather their thoughts on the current search experience.

Key insights that defined the initial designs


Primary User: Network Administrator

The Pareto Principle deeply influenced my approach to this project. Given the broad scope, I needed to maximize the benefits of this feature by identifying the primary personas, most frequently searched objects, and essential workflows.

We focused on network administrators' use cases because most of their daily operational tasks involve configuration, resource management, and troubleshooting, which often require locating specific objects within a nested list.

We drafted a persona to help our team empathize with our users:


Mapping Users' Expectations


Identifying frequently searched objects

I asked each user to list the top 5 objects they would search for and to walk us through their workflow from beginning to end. We also collaborated with the engineering team to extract data on the most frequently searched strings.

List of frequently searched objects:


Understanding common tasks and user goals

Then, I created interaction maps and task flows to capture the paths that users take when and to help stakeholders visualize existing inefficiencies.

RESEARCH


Customer Interviews

I screened, recruited and interviewed 10 Infoblox customers to gather their thoughts on the current search experience.

Key insights that defined the initial designs


Primary User: Network Administrator

The Pareto Principle deeply influenced my approach to this project. Given the broad scope, I needed to maximize the benefits of this feature by identifying the primary personas, most frequently searched objects, and essential workflows.

We focused on network administrators' use cases because most of their daily operational tasks involve configuration, resource management, and troubleshooting, which often require locating specific objects within a nested list.

We drafted a persona to help our team empathize with our users:


Mapping Users' Expectations


Identifying frequently searched objects

I asked each user to list the top 5 objects they would search for and to walk us through their workflow from beginning to end. We also collaborated with the engineering team to extract data on the most frequently searched strings.

List of frequently searched objects:


Understanding common tasks and user goals

Then, I created interaction maps and task flows to capture the paths that users take when and to help stakeholders visualize existing inefficiencies.

DESIGN & EVALUATION


Co-Design Sessions with Stakeholders

After I facilitated a co-design session using Crazy 8s to explore design ideas, we selected a few concepts to expand on and created our initial designs.



Starting small, testing fast

I conducted 8 rounds of usability tests with 65 participants, each focusing on different aspects of search, such as navigation behavior, the search results page, input behavior, filters, and search box visibility. I shared insights from each test with the team and incorporated them into the next design iteration.

View detailed usability test plans here.


Search without losing context 

Search box takes up too much space and users lose context of where they are. Reducing the width of the search box while keeping the same amount of content and allowing users to return to their recent search results quickly.

DESIGN & EVALUATION


Co-Design Sessions with Stakeholders

After I facilitated a co-design session using Crazy 8s to explore design ideas, we selected a few concepts to expand on and created our initial designs.



Starting small, testing fast

I conducted 8 rounds of usability tests with 65 participants, each focusing on different aspects of search, such as navigation behavior, the search results page, input behavior, filters, and search box visibility. I shared insights from each test with the team and incorporated them into the next design iteration.

View detailed usability test plans here.


Search without losing context 

Search box takes up too much space and users lose context of where they are. Reducing the width of the search box while keeping the same amount of content and allowing users to return to their recent search results quickly.

Global Search 2.0

A new global search experience enables easier navigation, and finding relevant information with fewer clicks

KEY FEATURES


Hyperlinks enable users to navigate to the object's context in less than 3 clicks.


Users want to quickly see where an object exists within their data structure. We incorporated breadcrumbs into the search results so users can easily trace down information in their portal and take action effectively.


Users want search results to use consistent terminology and show contextual information about specific objects so that they can drill down and take action more efficiently.

The new design displays consistent naming conventions and object specific information to provide better context for various operational use cases such as troubleshooting. For instance, we would include FQDN for DNS records, and IP utilization info for subnets, lease information for DHCP Leases.


We addressed usability issues by improving the visibility and distinction of the global search bar and decluttering the search results page.

KEY FEATURES


Hyperlinks enable users to navigate to the object's context in less than 3 clicks.


Users want to quickly see where an object exists within their data structure. We incorporated breadcrumbs into the search results so users can easily trace down information in their portal and take action effectively.


Users want search results to use consistent terminology and show contextual information about specific objects so that they can drill down and take action more efficiently.

The new design displays consistent naming conventions and object specific information to provide better context for various operational use cases such as troubleshooting. For instance, we would include FQDN for DNS records, and IP utilization info for subnets, lease information for DHCP Leases.


We addressed usability issues by improving the visibility and distinction of the global search bar and decluttering the search results page.

IMPACT


The global search feature successfully went live in mid-November 2023. 🎉

Faster Navigation, Smarter Insights

We not only reduced the time taken to locate an object in context by 50%, but also displayed relevant, essential object specific information that would aid user’s operational workflow.

Increased Search Adoption by 65%

After the release of this new search experience, we saw a 65% increase in the utilization of global search, local search and filter features.

Here’s what our customers said about the new designs

IMPACT


The global search feature successfully went live in mid-November 2023. 🎉

Faster Navigation, Smarter Insights

We not only reduced the time taken to locate an object in context by 50%, but also displayed relevant, essential object specific information that would aid user’s operational workflow.

Increased Search Adoption by 65%

After the release of this new search experience, we saw a 65% increase in the utilization of global search, local search and filter features.

Here’s what our customers said about the new designs

REFLECTION


  1. Data-Driven Design to garner support from stakeholders

    Revamping the search function involves overhauling the database and changing how objects are indexed.


    As one of our first UX-led improvements, we used data to drive design decisions and demonstrated the project's importance to PMs and engineering teams, securing their support.


  2. User Research helps us remediate problems early

    Our assumptions about how users perform may not always be accurate. User research helps us understand how users are actually behaving.


    Conducting user research early in the process allows us to identify and address problems before they create friction for our customers. We should take on a proactive approach to product development.


  3. Include engineers earlier in the process

    Involving the engineering team from start to finish helps them understand the design rationale and customer pain points. This reduces surprises and friction during the implementation stage.

REFLECTION


  1. Data-Driven Design to garner support from stakeholders

    Revamping the search function involves overhauling the database and changing how objects are indexed.


    As one of our first UX-led improvements, we used data to drive design decisions and demonstrated the project's importance to PMs and engineering teams, securing their support.


  2. User Research helps us remediate problems early

    Our assumptions about how users perform may not always be accurate. User research helps us understand how users are actually behaving.


    Conducting user research early in the process allows us to identify and address problems before they create friction for our customers. We should take on a proactive approach to product development.


  3. Include engineers earlier in the process

    Involving the engineering team from start to finish helps them understand the design rationale and customer pain points. This reduces surprises and friction during the implementation stage.

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kadenceyy@gmail.com

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© 2024 Designed by Kadence Tang

Let's connect!

kadenceyy@gmail.com

LinkedIn

Dribbble

Instagram

© 2024 Designed by Kadence Tang

Let's connect!

kadenceyy@gmail.com

LinkedIn

Dribbble

Instagram

© 2024 Designed by Kadence Tang

Let's connect!

LinkedIn

Dribbble

Instagram

© 2024 Designed by Kadence Tang

kadenceyy@gmail.com