SentriKey Nav Redesign
Redesigned a confusing dual-application navigation system into an intuitive, icon-based vertical menu that improved user clarity and seamlessly supported migration from PHP to Angular.
Client
SentriKey Real Estate
Date
May 2022
Role
Product Designer
Website
lblba.sentrilock.com
The opportunity
At the intersection of two critical real estate applications - a lockbox management system and an appointment scheduling platform - users were experiencing significant navigation confusion. The legacy system, developed nearly two decades ago, prioritized sales objectives over user experience, resulting in a complicated interface where shared features and similar naming conventions caused frequent user frustration.
Our collaboration with customer support revealed persistent user confusion between the two applications. The challenge was amplified by a navigation structure that hid specific links based on user permissions, making it difficult for users to understand which application they were currently using. This confusion was consistently highlighted in customer feedback and support tickets.
With an ongoing initiative to modernize our technology stack from PHP to Angular, we identified a strategic opportunity to address these navigation issues. User research, including insights from our customer advisory group and established user personas, confirmed the critical need for a more intuitive navigation system that could serve both applications effectively.
What we did
We embarked on a comprehensive redesign process that involved four iterative cycles, focusing on simplifying navigation while maintaining functionality across both applications. Working closely with the customer support team and our customer advisory group, we conducted extensive user testing to evaluate different navigation approaches.
The testing phase began by exploring various groupings of sub-navigation menu items, aiming to minimize categories while maintaining clarity. We presented users with real-world scenarios to understand their navigation preferences and tested both traditional top-horizontal navigation and a left-aligned vertical navigation system enhanced with icons.
Throughout the process, we maintained strict adherence to our newly established design system, ensuring consistency across both applications. The iterative development included occasional feature deprecation, requiring careful stakeholder communication and numerous collaborative meetings to ensure alignment with business objectives while prioritizing user needs.
The outcome
The final design delivered a clear, visually prominent, and minimalistic navigation menu featuring descriptive labels and sizable icons. User testing consistently validated our approach, with all test participants favoring the vertical navigation with icons due to its clarity, conciseness, and alignment with industry conventions.
The new navigation system successfully bridged the gap between both applications while simplifying the user experience. The implementation of our design system ensured visual consistency and created a foundation for future feature expansions, making the platform more scalable and maintainable.
The modernized navigation not only resolved the initial user confusion but also supported the technical transition from PHP to Angular, demonstrating that user-centric design could successfully address complex multi-application challenges while facilitating technical advancement. The project established a new standard for how we approach user interface design across our applications.
Portfolio
Related Projects
Key Management Dashboard
Transformed a complex access management system into an intuitive dashboard that prioritized critical alerts and reduced response times.