The Advisory Board
WITH GIGSTER.COM
The Brief
The Advisory Board, based in Washington DC, provides an open work space for health care advisors. They needed a solution that would allow these busy professionals to reserve a desk with as little friction as possible. Simple, right? For the user, yes.
Considerations
While this is a digital product, it facilitates a real-world process. Sucessful UX in this instance is when these interfaces go mostly unnoticed.
These people are extremely busy and don’t need any impediments to their work day. We need to be precious about how and when we ask them to interact.
Components
Mobile
A mobile-first web app that primarily addresses two scenarios: “I want a desk” or “where is my desk”. We use algorithms to place users in their preferred spot or close to colleagues. This leaves the effort with the technology, not the user, however manual intervention is at hand if necessary.
Desk Displays
Interactive desk displays are mounted at each desk in the work space and your reserved desk will display your name and avatar. The header on each display orients the user to which neighbourhood they are in as they walk past rows of desks. If you had no reservation, free desks are easy to spot at a glance. Cleaning staff can also easily identify which desks are ready for cleaning.
Hands-free check-in
Designated bluetooth dongles allow for hands-free proximity check-in, walk up and sit down. The interface allows for both automatic wireless and manual interaction.
Are you sure? Yes / No
I wanted to avoid unnecessary confirmation dialogs, however, we still needed to be mindful of curious or accidental interactions. I used a 10 second countdown (animated circle) after any important interactions which offered an opportunity to cancel your action. Otherwise the intended action went ahead. No panic.
Admin System
The system will mostly run itself but the admin system allows overrides when necessary. New users can be set up at the front desk, users can be manually assigned desks and holidays can be defied. It also serves as a reservation overview with capacity statistics.
Process
Feedback
"Cillian delivered great UI/UX and visual design in a short timeframe. He not only knows design, but he also gets the overall process of creating a new product and spent time understanding our business goals. Overall Cillian is one of the easiest designers I have work with and delivered just what we needed."
- The Advisory Board
