Ansys, Inc is a simulation software company that offers a comprehensive software suite that spans the entire range of physics, providing access to virtually any field of engineering simulation that a design process requires.

The main focus group includes design engineers & mechanical engineering students. Here although, my prime user selection for interviews were engineering students enrolled in school courses with a previous background in CAD design & simulation work.

The findings I learned from user interviews, helped me to work on the affinity diagramming with my team to view users’ patterns, behaviors, and needs for a simulation tool. Based on it we created 1 persona with whom we empathized to start our various projects in simplifying the Discovery tool. 

Mechanical Design student persona synthesis

Empathizing with Nick, I understood the goal for all my projects

Design Variation Generator Icon:

The previous icons in the UI were less relevant and not aligned with the user’s expectations. This affects the mental model of the user and decreases the usability of the product. Re-designing these icons, I improved their discoverability and usability.

Create Report Icon:

Message Icon:

Application Menu Bar Set Icons

I found that the current placement of each icon inside the application menu is not very intuitive. Also, the same image for different icons to manage different functions is unexpected for the users. I optimized the visuals by re-designing and modifying the icons with colors strategically, making it more seamless and cohesive.

Design Variation Table :

How I helped the users to understand the current value set in a Design Variation(DV) Table to make them more connected, discoverable, and easy to understand?
The Discovery tool is not intuitive in letting users know about the current value set while running various variations for a simulation. Understanding this scenario, I worked on optimizing an innovative flow of letting the users know about the current set value in the table.

Stage Navigator :

How I helped the users to interact between different stages of a simulation?
The present stage navigator feature has a complex interaction for the users with the arrows being present in the left and right corner of the tool. Understanding the scenario I worked on redesigning the interaction between the stages by depicting a small tray on top which will help in creating a color-coded distinguishment between different tabs (stages) to improve the user experience of the functionality.

Homepage :

How I helped in improving the user interface of the homepage?
The present UI of the homepage is not consistent with the entire UI of the tool, leading to a less optimized interaction. Hence I worked on optimizing the UI by focusing on a strengthened layout with tabs having accurate names & locations. Also considering the inclusion of an option for checking data files from the previous simulation saved, along with online help access.