Overview
Role
User Experience Design | User Research
Timeline
Tools: Figma / Miro
Background
ETQ is a software company that provides its services to customers all around the world. What makes ETQ unique is the range of services that customers can benefit from.
Problem
When I first stepped into the ETQ team, I was struck by how powerful their compliance platform could be—yet I felt daunted by its steep learning curve. Onboarding took hours of guided training, and the dated login screen and dense homepage only amplified that friction. It was clear: we weren’t just updating visuals; we needed to rebuild first impressions and empower users to jump right in.
My mission was twofold: refresh the login experience to greet users with clarity and confidence, and redesign the homepage to spotlight key tasks without overwhelming them.
Collaborative Workshop with Product
We kicked off our research by facilitating a cross-functional workshop with the Product team. Through open discussion and hands-on activities, we evaluated the existing homepage and captured feedback on what was working, what wasn’t, and what was missing. This session sparked alignment between UX and Product and helped us prioritize the most pressing usability issues.
To supplement internal feedback, we tapped into UserVoice. A platform where current customers submit real-time suggestions and complaints. This gave us direct access to daily user frustrations, such as:
“It takes me too long to find what I need after logging in.”
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Survey Questions and Responses
We asked users, if you could wave a magic wand, what would you want to see on the first page when you sign in to Reliance? And this is exactly what they said...
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Charts, Important Views, Top Modules, My Assignments but all customizable by me
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A tailored view that I set up for me. The "My Views" are default and unchangeable. They provide only scant information about the record, I have to open to see what it is . Makes prioritizing work inefficient. My views column withs are typically too small. I would like to add the title so i know exactly which Audit is due.
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Unique, personalized chart/graph that can be designed by the user (e.g. one user would like to see the status of overdue document revisions, but another user would like to see the severity of NCMRs for this fiscal half.)
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Metrics for specific modules.
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The ability to rearrange the data that’s displayed. Currently it’s fixed. Better visual identification of data; currently it’s all washed together.
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A designer view for the portal page. It would be nice to shrink the width of the boxes and show double the info.
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Ability to create records in any module I have access to do so in.
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Things that require my attention. Work Inbox, Key KPIs and a way to get to them quickly. Calendar idea is interesting, but not if it eats the entire screen.
Wireframe
Design
Mood
As we progressed from wireframes to polished high-fidelity screens, we explored color options that would better reflect ETQ’s personality and product goals. At the time, ETQ’s brand color was a vibrant magenta pink. While it helped the brand stand out, it felt too intense for the new dashboard design, which needed to support focus and ease of use. We chose a more subdued, professional palette that was easier on the eyes and better suited for extended interaction.
After rounds of refinement, we applied the updated color scheme to the dashboard to enhance usability while maintaining brand consistency.
User Testing
To validate our homepage and login redesigns, we conducted seven moderated remote usability tests with real ETQ Reliance users, including both admins and end users. These sessions focused on common workflows like locating overdue assignments and navigating the new “Favorites” system.
🎯 Goals:
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Understand whether users could efficiently find tasks and critical information
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Gather feedback on the new homepage layout, widgets, and login interactions
🧭 What We Learned:
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4 out of 7 participants found the assignment list overwhelming without filtering
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The “View All” button was missed by multiple users—its placement at the bottom of widgets was unintuitive
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The new calendar widget stood out positively, with all participants using it successfully to locate a task
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Users loved the global favorites concept, saying it “saves time” and “makes everything easier to find”
🔧 What We Changed:
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Moved the “View All” button to the top of widgets for visibility
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Made workflow types collapsible and added pagination for cleaner scanning
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Fine-tuned the language and icons in login and assignment cards to reduce friction
Group Challenge
After speaking to users and fixing some usablity issues, our development team came accross some constraints of the designs that were not caught earlier. Our original designs that users were happy with had to be changed which was very disappointing to the UX team.
Competitors
We reviewed competitor platforms to identify best practices and modern patterns in login flows and dashboard design. This helped us benchmark where we stood—and where we needed to evolve.
Want to see what we looked like at this time? 😶
Discovery and Research
As a newly formed UX team, we knew we needed to ground ourselves in user needs before making any design decisions. We began by crafting a detailed research plan to guide our approach, outlining the methods, goals, and key questions we needed to answer. Our primary focus was understanding what users hoped to accomplish the moment they logged into ETQ Reliance, so we could design an experience that aligned with their top priorities.
To design an experience that truly supported our users, we needed to understand where they were struggling and why. We set out with two core research goals:
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Uncover the pain points users face when logging into the platform
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Identify challenges and gaps in the current homepage experience
