M360
I led the design transformation of M360, an innovative data management platform for real estate developers. I completed my mission by focusing on releasing a good product today and making it perfect tomorrow. This strategic approach helped secure more investments, expand to new markets, and build an impactful product.
Company
Marketer Real Estate Technologies
Role
Lead product designer
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Bring M360 to life through strategic design process
By leveraging my leadership and expertise in user-centric design,
the M360 platform went from a Figma prototype to a market success.
The impact
- Reach more clients
- By building a features prioritization system to ensure the team focused on high-impact efforts, we were able to reach more clients.
- Secure more investments
- By updating the prototype according to the client’s needs, we were able to showcase the potential of the platform to more investors.
- Expand market
- We presented the new platform during prop-tech events in other countries and expanded to new markets.
- Improve velocity
- Streamlining the design hand-off workflow and fostering collaboration between the engineers and designers accelerate the development process.
- Reduce costs
- Setting up an in-house design team and stopping externalizing design work kept the design team lean and saved on employee costs.
LET’S GO OVER THE DETAILS
The initial prototype was not ready for development
Before my arrival, they had ideated a full prototype of M360 to catch the interest of investors. Because their product was ground-breaking, they had to rely on their experience to build that first iteration.
Their goal was to become real estate developers’ ultimate data management platform. Their M360 product would fully digitalize the home buyer’s journey.
However, the initial prototype was built on insights and assumptions from the stakeholders. Moreover, they outsourced the design to a local digital agency with very little market knowledge.
They needed to set up the table for success.
My mission was to bring M360 to life by leading the product design team. I focused on quickly putting the first version between users’ hands, getting real-usage feedback, and optimizing the product accordingly.
The solution
Design a product our users need
with features they are willing to pay for
To ensure everyone followed the same North Star, I had to work closely with our CPO and CEO.
Now, let’s break down the solution!
Build a robust design system
Optimizing the design system was a key element of my mission.
I knew it would standardize the quality of the design and shorten the development cycle.
Improving components
I took ownership of the design system by improving the existing components and styles.
Using common name
To avoid miscommunication, I renamed some components and their variants to follow a common naming convention.
Testing for accessibility
I tested the component’s accessibility status by validating different characteristics such as color contrast, clickable area, and sizing.
Documenting components
I restructured the file and documented the components to make the design system more user-friendly.
Onboarding other designers
After designing a few key sections of M360 and explaining my work to the team, I could onboard other designers on the project. The goal was to produce good enough designs to stay on track with the release date and not fall into the perfection trap.
Bringing clarity to the team
Releasing the first version on time
Evangelizing UX best practices
I implemented design thinking processes to bring agility to the product department.
Establishing a prioritization methodology
I plan weekly with the product team to distribute tasks and build a design roadmap. Moreover, I wrote briefs for designers and led design walk-throughs with developers.
The future of M360
Now, the team needs to continue to track user behaviors and open more channels to acquire feedback and analyze. They must also improve overall satisfaction scores and onboarding more user segments by testing new features.
After harvesting all the low-hanging fruits, I would start testing with more high-risk/reward features. Also, revamping the UI and introducing micro-interaction would help keep users delighted.
Credit
Thanks to the following designers for their amazing work:
Ignacio De Villalaín Barbolla, Magnus Smogeli, Xia Li, and Jose Antonio Orellana