Power Plants

Design Strategy
Power Plant Outages

Overview

Nuclear power plants operate within strict regulatory frameworks and require scheduled shutdowns for critical maintenance and upgrades. The existing system, involving a complex interplay of schedules, regulatory requirements, and stakeholder approvals, presented challenges in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and adherence to safety protocols. This project involved analyzing the existing system, identifying key pain points, and developing a comprehensive strategy for improvement. We helped the plant optimize their maintenance schedules, reduce downtime, and enhance overall operational efficiency and safety.

The Problem
The existing shutdown scheduling software for the nuclear power plant was not effectively meeting the needs of its users, resulting in inefficiencies and potential delays in critical maintenance operations. This project hypothesized that a key contributor to this issue was a mismatch between the software's information architecture and the actual workflows of the operators.
My Contributions
  • Led the interaction design for the project, defining user flows and interaction patterns
  • Facilitated design workshops with key stakeholders to gather requirements, define user needs, and establish project goals
  • Developed a comprehensive design strategy, including journey maps and information architecture
  • Created detailed wireframes and interactive prototypes to communicate design concepts
Challenges
  • Defining the project scope and identifying the most critical areas for improvement
  • Aligning business goals with user needs
  • Navigating the complex information architecture of the existing system and designing a new user-friendly system
  • Creating a flexible and adaptable design system that could accommodate future enhancements

Scope of the Project

To ensure a focused and impactful project, we collaborated closely with the client to define the project. Through a collaborative workshop utilizing an affinity mapping exercise, we prioritized identified challenges and opportunities. This process enabled us to clearly define the scope of the project, focusing on the most critical issues for immediate resolution while acknowledging and prioritizing potential future enhancements.

Scope Targets

SCOPE TARGETS: This deliverable clarified what the project would focus on.

Keywords

To understand the language used by our target audience, we conducted a keyword exercise. We started by brainstorming a list of relevant terms related to the project. We then analyzed these terms to identify key themes and patterns, ultimately refining the list to a core set of keywords that accurately reflected the client's goals.

Keywords

KEYWORDS: These are the terms agreed upon for the future design of the project.

Continuums

To clarify the desired product vision, we presented the client with a spectrum of adjectives representing different product philosophies, such as 'innovative,' 'robust,' 'user-friendly,' 'efficient,' and 'secure.' We then conducted a voting exercise with key stakeholders, asking them to rank the adjectives based on their importance for the success of the project. This collaborative exercise facilitated a productive discussion about the desired product characteristics and helped to build consensus among stakeholders. The results of the exercise provided valuable insights into the client's priorities and guided subsequent design and development decisions.

Continuums

CONTINUUMS: These indicate the feel the stakeholders wanted for the product.

Out of the Room Thinking

To ensure that we explored a diverse range of design possibilities and avoided premature consensus, we implemented a technique to encourage divergent thinking and prevent groupthink. We did this by:

Concept Cards

CONCEPT CARDS: These demonstrated some design thinking we identified in a brainstorm exercise.

Journey Map

Once we had established the business direction, we focused on a key user types who frequently interacted with the system. The goal of this journey map was to understand interactions with the system at every stage, identify pain points and opportunities for improvement, and ensure that the design solution effectively met the needs and expectations of the users.

Journey Map

JOURNEY MAP: This map was used to understand the user's interactions with the product.

Storyboards / Wireflows

Storyboards are a valuable tool for visualizing basic design concepts and interactions to stakeholders. I often extend the storyboard process by developing wireflows, which combine the visual clarity of wireframes with the dynamic flow of user interactions. Wireflows effectively communicate the sequence of screens and the user's actions within the application, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the user experience and facilitating smoother transitions between different screens and states.I utilize storyboards and/or wireflows iteratively, gathering feedback from stakeholders to solidify the unified vision and design direction.

Storyboards / Wireflows

STORY BOARD: These small wireframes combined with the journey map help clarify what types of interactions this project was capturing.

Rethinking the Structure

The existing information architecture of the product was complex, characterized by inconsistent navigation, poorly organized content, and a lack of clear user pathways. To address this, I reviewed user research to understand how users currently interacted with the system and identified their information needs. Based on these insights, I developed a new information architecture that was more intuitive and aligned with user workflows. This process involved multiple iterations, with each iteration informed by stakeholder input. The resulting information architecture provided a solid foundation for the design and development of a more user-centered and efficient product.

Information Architecture

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE: Clarifies the structure of the product.

Wireframes

Once the information architecture and high-level interactions were established, the next step was to translate these concepts into concrete design solutions through the creation of detailed wireframes. Given the evolving nature of the project and the potential for future enhancements and customization, it was critical to create a flexible and adaptable design system. I utilized Sketch to create the initial wireframes, and today I would likely have used Figma due to its prototyping capabilities.

Wireframes

WIREFRAMES: Creating the details of the pages before visual design.

Interactions

To bring the interaction flows to life and effectively communicate the  experience, I created an interactive prototype that simulated real-world user interactions. Prototyping was crucial for identifying usability issues to iteratively refine the user experience to meet the needs and expectations of the target audience.

Interaction Flows

INTERACTION FLOW: These, combined with the wireframes, clarify the details of the page interactions.

Outcomes

This project was considered successful because: