Feb 12, 2024
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As we close in on the release of Accelo v4, the largest single upgrade to our platform in six years, I want to keep you abreast of the “why” behind this exciting change.
We hosted a webinar series earlier this year for our clients, and now we’re sharing these conversations with all of you.
➡️ Get up to speed by first watching the replay of our tech and architecture webinar, where I talked to our Head of Engineering, Jim Culverwell, about how and why we’ve upgraded our technology and the impact it will have on product performance and development speed.
In the second behind-the-scenes conversation, Head of Design Eamonn Bell and I walked through the investment we’ve made in design over the past year, how our focus on brand archetypes and UI consistency will help you better navigate the platform, how we’re using code to bring design to life with our new design system and how we’re iterating with help from users like you.
Here are a few highlights of what we discussed, with the full video embedded below!
The Objective of Accelo’s Redesign
Accelo’s interface has largely looked the same since we launched v3 back in 2015. We aspire to continuously improve, making our incredibly powerful product easier for you to use. This is a big undertaking when you have a large platform and user base!
To keep Accelo feature-rich while reducing cognitive load, we’re incorporating new tab placement, deliberate color usage and more.
The revamped title and info bar highlights key details — in this case, sale status, value and created date.
The improved tab experience allows users to navigate the view screen easily and select their preferred secondary tabs.
These changes will visually surface the most important information so users aren’t overwhelmed. More in-depth details will still be there and accessible in just a few clicks, but they’ll stay hidden until you need them.
An Archetype-Inspired Aim
Source: Flux Branding
Eamonn explains that our philosophy was not just to make our platform look better. Our Design team wanted to align Accelo v4 with our goal of facilitating professional services teams to support their clients and perform efficient work in a uniquely flexible way.
To define our theme, we decided to apply a brand archetypes strategy. A brand archetype is a personification of a brand based on desired traits and company values.
Based on who you think we are and who our team wants us to be, we’ve identified three core archetypes that inspire Accelo’s personality: the Caregiver, the Magician and the Sage.
Fast and Consistent Design via Components
We’re implementing a design system that will help us maintain user interface (UI) consistency and speed up design and development. A design system is a repeatable and clear approach to product design.
Thanks to new tools, including Figma and Storybook, we’re implementing a design system we've created, which we call Crayon. The reusable components we build will help us quickly deliver consistent design going forward.
Accelo’s internal design system helps us collaborate efficiently and execute new designs more quickly.
The Value of User Validation
We aren’t doing this in a vacuum — we’re using feedback from our clients and internal users to validate the new designs. We’ve had long beta periods to allow ample time to iterate.
Thanks to Figma’s interactive prototypes, we’ve finished the validation phase for all the new screens we’ve designed and are continuing to gather feedback in user interviews.
Want to know more? Watch the webinar replay below to hear the full conversation and discover how we’ve designed Accelo v4 to be more user-friendly for service professionals like you.