➡️ My role @Nokia
My responsibilities at Nokia were to:
⚪ Conduct a user research for Nokia AVA open analytics platform
⚪ Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including software architects and end-users
⚪ Design user personas and user journeys to empathize with the diverse range of users and their specific needs within the AVA ecosystem.
⚪ Create wireframes and interactive prototypes that translate complex analytics concepts into visually intuitive designs.
⚪ Prepare and conduct usability testing sessions with end-users.
➡️ Project Overview
I had the exciting opportunity to collaborate on a transformative project focused on enhancing the user experience (UX) of the AVA Open Analytics framework—an advanced platform designed to deliver cutting-edge analytics capabilities to Communication Service Providers (CSPs). This project aimed to create a seamless and intuitive user interface that empowers CSPs to accelerate AI projects and make intelligent, data-driven decisions within the evolving landscape of 5G technologies.
➡️ Project goals
⚪ Design a user interface of the AVA Open Analytics framework to provide an intuitive and user-friendly experience for diverse users, from data scientists, services engineers to business analysts.
⚪ Ensure that the UX design aligns with the core principles of AVA, such as streamlining MLOps, enabling cloud-native capabilities, and maintaining zero-trust security policies.
⚪ Enhance the overall user journey by making data cataloging, data governance, use-case creation and self-service functionalities easily accessible and coherent.
➡️ How we as a team solved the problem?
The services engineer at Nokia are those people who work at the customer end to deploy several use cases based on customer requirements. We started with understanding their problems and building empathy with the end-users. Our goal was to gather information about the end-users, their daily routine and behaviors affecting their work. Based on the insights, we defined a clear problem statement so that we solved a right problem. Then we started to brainstorm potential solutions, their feasibility and alignment with user needs. The next step was to create low-fidelity designs to get feedback on the initial concept from all the stakeholders. After getting feedback from them, we started to build high-fidelity designs that closely resemble the final product. These final prototypes had visuals, interactions, and animations giving the user a real look and feel when they interact with the product. In the end, we conducted usability evaluations to gather more feedback and improve our final design.
➡️ My contributions in AVA Project
⚪ Worked with a Lead UX Designer to prepare the whole user research plan
⚪ Interviewed around 10 Services Engineers from various parts of the world (mostly from North America) to understand their daily work routine and pain points
⚪ Led the UI design part
⚪ Gave several demo sessions to the technical team and end-users to gather their feedback
⚪ Handed over the design (including a prototype and design documentation) to the developers
➡️ Outcome
The revamped UX design of the AVA Open Analytics framework received positive feedback from users and stakeholders alike. The new interface simplified complex processes, encouraged user exploration, and aligned seamlessly with the framework's advanced capabilities. The project contributed to improving user engagement, fostering AI projects, and accelerating the CSPs' ability to harness the power of analytics in the 5G era.
Dashboard UI from where the users can view and manage use cases
➡️ My learnings from this project
This project reinforced the significance of bridging the gap between advanced technology and user experience. It highlighted the importance of collaborative design processes, iterative testing, and empathy-driven design in ensuring that a complex platform like AVA Open Analytics remains accessible and valuable to its users.
➡️ NDA
Due to NDA, I can't disclose the full design but if you would like to know more about my work at Nokia, you can always reach out to me at shoaibtahirqureshi@gmail.com or you can contact my design manager erno.kuovalainen@nokia.com
➡️ Design Days Participation
During my time as a UX Designer in Nokia’s Cloud and Network Services (CNS) business unit, I participated in Design Days, collaborative workshops uniting teams from Finland and Canada. These sessions were key to aligning on design strategies, brainstorming innovative solutions, and tackling complex challenges for enterprise-level products. I contributed by presenting user research insights, participating in ideation sessions, and sharing prototypes to ensure data-driven decisions. Design Days enhanced my skills in global collaboration, effective communication, and cross-functional teamwork, highlighting the value of diverse perspectives in creating meaningful user experiences.
