WebEx
Enhancing virtual meeting experiences and productivity.
CLIENT
CISCO WEBEX DESIGN TEAMROLE
PROJECT MANAGER, RESEARCH, VISUAL DESIGN, PROTOTYPING, USABILITY TESTINGTEAM
4 UX DESIGNERSDURATION
10 WEEKSTOOLS
FIGMA Background
As the COVID pandemic unfolded across the world, remote meetings saw a substantial rise in adoption across companies. With virtual meetings becoming the norm, the focus on user-friendly and impactful meeting experiences—similar to those in traditional office settings—becomes increasingly crucial.Alongside the surge in virtual meetings came an alarming rise in meeting fatigue among employees. Spending prolonged hours in virtual meetings incurred significant costs, both in terms of productivity and employee well-being. Balancing effectiveness with efficiency in virtual gatherings became an urgent priority to ensure sustained productivity and a healthy work-life balance for employees.Design Challenge
Grateful for the chance to collaborate with the Cisco design managers, our team explored a challenge to enhance their WebEx virtual meeting experiences for users. This opportunity allowed us to craft a distinctive and impactful solution proposed as a new feature for remote meetings. With the background we had to focus on, we worked with our given problem statement:
How might we increase productivity and efficiency in real-time meetings, so that teams can meet less and do more?
Perspectives
Initially, our team laid out the basic perspectives of key roles involved:
User Perspective
Longer virtual meetings induce fatigue and reduce productivity.During the following phase, our team dedicated efforts to gaining a more in-depth perspective on users and exploring the potential causes of their meeting fatigue.Business Perspective
Meetings incur significant expenses. With a small market share, WebEx seeks growth in the competitive space dominated by Zoom, Teams, Google Meets, etc. By optimizing meeting efficiency and productivity, the goal is to attract more customers, gain market share, and improve the overall meeting experience.Objective
As part of our goals, I wanted our team to gather information regarding the experiences of users who use remote meetings for work. By surveying and conducting interviews, we discovered user’s preferences, critiques, and overall encounters with their company’s remote meetings software. In addition to these approaches, we explored WebEx to draw comparisons with other platforms as a competitive analysis.Research
With 23 survey participants and 9 contextual interviewees, I co-authored a list of questions for participants to answer which related to the following:OccupationsTime Spent in MeetingsMeeting software applications usedTheir likes/dislikes about virtual meetingsChanges they suggestIdeal vision for a virtual meeting platform
Need for Meeting Agenda
Participants highlighted the value of having a clear agenda to guide meetings, ensuring that everyone stays informed and enabling a more efficient discussion of key topics, which could ultimately lead to shorter and more focused meetings.
Less/Shorter Meetings
Nearly all participants in surveys and interviews voiced a shared desire for shorter meetings, aiming for around 30 minutes or less. They cited attention span challenges and identified redundancy or off-topic discussions as time-wasters. Shortening meetings could afford users more time to concentrate on their work.
Interactivity & Multitasking
Participants appreciate interactive features such as polls, Q&A sessions, and raised hands that encourage engagement and respectful expression of opinions during meetings.User Pain Points
Short attention spans
Easy to get off track
Lack of outlined goals
Difficulty sharing documents
“A 30 minute meeting is ideal because it doesn’t leave much time for people to overthink things or get distracted.”
- Research Participant
Design Process
From our insights, we shaped our goal to focus on finding ways to shorten meetings. For the first design approach, I recommended a collaboration of ideas by having each team member individually sketch out visions that tailor features to meet user needs. This helped to create a design goal that would enhance WebEx’s virtual meeting experience.Preliminary Sketches
The priority was to intertwine as many key findings as possible into one design solution. Each insight led us to conceptualize a meeting outline experience that would be integrated into both a pre-meeting and in-meeting experience for users who organize and/or lead meetings.
Design Solution
Create a multitasking agenda to streamline meetings and bolster productivity.
Meetings can occasionally feel rushed, with conversations veering off course and necessitating extra meetings. Implementing an agenda rooted in our UX Research can address these issues, ultimately boosting real-time productivity and efficiency. This allows teams to minimize the frequency of meetings and accomplish more.Ideation
From WebEx's current UI structure to combining our sketches, I utilized Figma to craft lo-fi wireframes, delineating outlines for each facet of the experience.Pre-Meeting Experience
For the pre-meeting phase, I designed an area where users can add an agenda to their meeting, and with team effort, evolved into a "Create an agenda" option within the modal window accessed through WebEx's scheduling tab.
Schedule a Meeting
Create an Agenda
In-Meeting Experience
Following the next phase, I designed a fresh left pane on the meeting screen that displays a timed outline for the agenda. With each topic, we assessed a color code for the status of each topic in discussion. The meeting host exercises control over this pane.
New Meeting Screen with Agenda Pane
Usability Testing
After outlining the expected user journeys from pre-meeting to in-meeting experiences, our team initiated usability testing on our prototypes over the following week. With the goal to capture participants' overall experiences and collect feedback, our attention shifted to assessing the following aspects during the finalization of our designs:Intuitiveness of the agenda
Ensuring clarity in the provided information
Ease of navigation through the process
Ability to discover key features
Testing Factors
Total Participants
6 participants
Interview Format
2 Virtual | 4 In-Person
Length
30 Minutes
Platform Tested
Desktop
Results
Through usability testing, we acquired valuable insights from participants, comprehending their perspectives on both prototype experiences. Taking this feedback into consideration, our team implemented revisions in the final prototypes to address each identified area.Pre-Meeting
Participants liked scheduling meetings via calendar click
Preferred flexible time frames vs. allotting minutes per task
Desired “Drag & Drop” functionality for rearrangement and attachment of the following:
Files
Agenda Topics
Breaks
Due to the allocated time frame and the primary project focus, the Drag & Drop feature will be postponed for future steps.
In-Meeting
Participants appreciated the color-coding status overall
Agenda status color caused confusion (current vs. finished topics)
Our team initially chose the color Red to warn users that the topic is nearing its end time.
Most participants expressed the Red color status gave the impression that the topic ran overtime
Final Design Concept
Pre-Meeting Experience
Revised Meeting Scheduler
Based on WebEx's existing UI design, our fellow prototype designer attached the Agenda feature within their current meeting scheduler modal.
To alert new users of the agenda feature, we've incorporated an animated blue pop-up designed to capture their attention.
Create an Agenda Modal
Once the user selects the Add Agenda link, a new modal screen overlays the meeting scheduler to create an agenda.
Directing Your Agenda Flow
Agenda Attached
After the user finishes outlining their meeting agenda, the user will click the “Attach agenda to the meeting” button. The overlay will revert back to the original meeting scheduler modal screen with the newly added Agenda in green.
In-Meeting Experience
Revised Meeting Screen
Utilizing the existing meeting screen layout of WebEx, I introduced a new left pane alongside attendee screens to integrate the previously established agenda.
In addition, I implemented a Files dropdown, housing documents uploaded during the meeting scheduler and those attached in the chat throughout a meeting.
Agenda Pane
In the agenda section, when the meeting commences, the timer will kick off the first agenda item based on the selected time frame.
Color Status
Green
Signals the current topic is under discussion.
Yellow
A warning to indicate the current topic is nearing its end, and the subsequent topic is about to begin. Yellow was substituted for Red, associating more as a caution.
Gray
Upon completion of the current agenda topic, denoting its fulfillment.
To accommodate users with monochromacy, I incorporated the following attributes:
Highlighted outline around topic
Status label at the bottom of topic list
Textual "2-minutes left" warning within the topic box.
Topic Completed Early Button
For topics that conclude earlier than anticipated, I created a checkmark button at the bottom of the agenda for the host to mark as complete, which in turn advances the agenda to the next topic.
File Dropdown Pane
I added a file storage pane below the agenda to centralize documents uploaded during the meeting scheduler or added in the chat. This facilitates attendees in previewing and downloading relevant meeting documents, eliminating the need to search through their computers and enabling easy sharing with project collaborators.
Design Feedback
We shared our outlines and garnered positive feedback from our stakeholders. They emphasized three key aspects they particularly liked about our concept:
They commended the ambitious scale of our project, recognizing its potential for significant impact.
The inclusion of breaks in the agenda received appreciation for providing users with flexibility.
They admired our effective color-coding system, providing clarity on the current topic under discussion.
Post Design Quotes
“I think you guys did really well to scope down extra stuff and focus on what was important for the user.”
— Keri Brady, Senior Product Designer at WebEx
“I don’t think we’ve considered this type of user before.”
“I love the iteration you did on the in-meeting experience!”
Future Concepts
In our ideation phase, I considered several concepts with the team to enhance the overall design for the future. However, given the time constraints of our project, we concentrated primarily on addressing the agenda and file dropdown as our key priorities. Below are some additional design concepts I envisioned that could further enhance the user experience for WebEx users in the next steps:
Scheduled Breakout Sessions
A checkbox which opens a new modal to pre-populate groups for breakout sessions to save time during meetings.
Activity Tabs
Enhancing the chat box pane with a feature reminiscent of internet browsers, introducing tabs for each plug-in used during a WebEx meeting. This eliminates the need for constant backspacing that WebEx currently has, allowing users to effortlessly navigate between opened plug-ins.
Notification Pop-Up
Receiving visual updates faster via a corner modal for new messages, updates, and more via local computer. This design is inspired by Macbook updates and other meeting softwares.
“Ariana was the glue that held our team together. She gave us direction and was a great mediator, able to juggle the different personalities in our team.”
— Keli Hurst, UX Designer