Transforming a 15-year old utility into a platform of innovation
Revitalized a 15-year-old product, transforming it from a problematic and outdated utility into a robust, user-friendly platform. By overhauling both the front and back end, I facilitated innovation for 500 million users and ensured future scalability.
Role
Senior Product Designer
Year
2017
Team
Myself
2 PMs
15 Devs
3 QAs
1 User Researcher
Deliverables
Competitive Analysis
Mockups
Prototypes
Final specs
Asset production
Revitalizing an outdated system: Laying the foundation for innovation and addressing user needs
Indeed’s job alerts platform had become cumbersome, built on 15 years of legacy code that restricted flexibility and experimentation. Alongside technical issues, user complaints about receiving emails late at night or early in the morning were increasing, as users had no control over when alerts were delivered. I led a redesign that not only revitalized the platform’s infrastructure but also addressed key pain points. This combination laid the groundwork for both short-term user satisfaction and long-term innovation.
The subscription managment page when I started.
Key Takeaways
Limited options to manage alerts
Confusing information hierarchy
Unclear email management control
Non-compliant with CANSPAM
Unable to withstand any further additions
Not utilizing the new design system, with its shared components and cohesive visual design language
Can only accommodate management of email subscriptions, even though alerts were being sent via mobile push notifications and WhatsApp, with an imminent venture into other methods
Other teams needed to add the ability to manage subscriptions for their products here as well, but couldn’t
A single user story that exposed the need for a full-scale redesign
The project began with a seemingly simple request: send users an email suggesting they expand their job search radius. However, the existing infrastructure made it almost impossible to execute in a user-friendly way. After assessing user complaints and uncovering a major need to upgrade the infrastructure, I proposed a redesign that not only resolved technical limitations but also set the stage for ongoing innovation.
A simple flow, a complex requirement.
After several conversations with product and engineering, a total redesign made the most sense.
Utilizing the design system to accelerate development and future-proof the platform
While designing the new alerts management experience, I consulted with the design systems team, of which I was also a memeber, to ensure my designs aligned with the broader system. The design system helped me work more efficiently, allowed developers to build faster, and set us up for future compatibility. By leveraging the design system, we ensured that our team stayed at the cutting edge of innovation and that the platform could easily evolve with new features moving forward.
Initial design language contrasted next to the ultimate design system integration.
Impact and conclusion: A platform built for the future of job search
The redesign transformed Indeed’s job alerts platform into a robust foundation for innovation, while also addressing long-standing user complaints. Click-through rates improved as users received more personalized and relevant job recommendations, and the streamlined design reduced the number of support tickets related to alert management. By overhauling both the front and back end, we created a scalable, user-friendly platform that could adapt to future needs and continue driving innovation in the job search space.
“Clay goes above and beyond to collaborate with others. He’s open and responsive to bounce ideas off of you and he executes on work with much speed. He jumped on Job Alerts and made a huge impact within weeks of joining.”
“Clay was super easy to work with on both the Subway UserTesting research and (in limited scope) the Job Alerts emails research. I appreciate that Clay shows clear desire to find out what’s best for the job seeker and uses that in his design decisions.”
“As usual, I referred to Clay when there’s a design judgment call and question. Clay is always accessible, responsive, and helpful. I frequently check in with Clay before making design decisions on Subway web app.”
“Clay has helped us with such a wide variety of things since joining the team from small tweaks to designing a whole new subscription management UX and a new job alert experience for Google amp. He’s a fast worker and good at communicating the status of what he’s working on.”