While working at Develocraft (software house) our IT team received a task to estimate and develop an app with "already finished" designs. Our client provided the design file and our developers were struggling to estimate the development as there was no design system and provided designs were lacking consistency and clarity.

I have been introduced to the project to review the design deliverables and prepare a small design library in a professional way, which will make the development much easier.

I have found following issues in it:

• Not coherent components system, components were sparcely used - often mistake done by designers in a hurry, that will lead to almost non managable design file in the future

• Multiple UI flaws - lack of a grid system and inconsistent layouts, there also was no spacing logic applied, making everything live it's own life on the screen

• Interaction problems - there was no information about different states of the elements (e.g. active, hover) - which leads to dev's making the design choices and incurs even more inconsistency into the system.

• Incomplete or non existent user flows - the client was convinced that they have everything covered but the truth was devastating. There was no information about around 50% of application fundamentals and user flows. This required to be covered before any development estimations would be done.

• Accessibility and Usability heuristics- several other issues found besides interaction problems. Hard to read system copy or no system status information were just some of them.

Actions taken

• Design system - I have prepared a basic set of components that would cover 100% of designs at that time.

• Information architecture diagram - I've covered what is actually in the designs and what is missing in terms of information and user flows. Additionally I have pointed out design/logic mistakes in various areas of the application.

• Wireframe and prototype creation - after discussing the diagram with the client, I went on into creating designs for the improved app, which in fact ended in a full redesign. To allow our client to better understand the changes and test it with the users I have created a full prototype of the application.

Effects

Our client had to change his perception about the development of the app. Thanks to my work, we were able to precisely estimate the time and cost of the development phase.

Even with the approach to use as little system components as possible to create the product, the size of the system grew to cover the required (not initially provided) elements. Cost of the development was more than doubled compared to the initial expectations.

Our client had to make a tough decision to not develop the app. Our team had "lost" the development opportunity but both sides were happy with it.

If Develocraft would not do this step, this project would end up in a total disaster. Our client would learn along the way, that the estimations were based on insufficient data. If the product would be somehow delivered (extended financing), the general user experience would be impacted by the provided (flawed) designs.

This partnership approach did not result in development of the product but the level of professionalism and commitment ended up with gaining trust of our client.

The final effect was a long term partnership in several other projects of this client. Taking care of our partners did pay off in the long term.