Fresh And Practical CRM Redesign for Law Firm
What could be more exciting for a design agency than a new project to work on?
Our team at Flexy Global recently received a request to re-design a custom-made CRM software interface and assist with designing new functionality. What was the aim of the project? By doing this, the client had in mind to improve their team interaction, shorten the learning curve of new recruits, and make the system more intuitive. As it often happens, one design project leads onto ongoing cooperation with a client. Here, we are proud to present our initial CRM project that guaranteed a successful cooperation with the client in the future!
Much like we approach any project, the team started the task by conducting research. We had to understand what we were dealing with before diving into an oh-so-tempting creative process. To begin with, we analyzed the client’s needs, the use of CRM in their industry, and the existing user flow.
A Little About Our Client
Concern Dialog is a leading full-service law firm established in Armenia in 1998. The firm provides most reputable services in practically all areas of Armenian laws and is at the top of respected international rankings. To summarize, Concern Dialog specializes in legal advisory, employment law, real estate, and many other cases. Aside from one-time services and monthly subscriptions, the Law Firm also stands out in the Armenian legal market by regularly assisting the local start-up community.
The Challenge
Our research showed that our client has a quick flow of projects across a wide range of legislative issues and was in need of a fresh and structured CRM design. Their existing software interface was somewhat bulky, it relied on pop-up elements, and had an unnecessarily complicated user flow. Although the firm’s existing CRM design embodied all of the most critical elements necessary for upholding functionality (search bar, designated pages, project statistics, and ‘add client’ buttons), it had room for improvement.
“Don’t limit your challenges. Challenge your limits.”— Jerry Dunn
The challenge was to develop a refreshing design that can facilitate smooth user experience for workers of the Law Firm. Our aim was to create an interface that would be easy to navigate and identify valuable information. At the same time, the design was to be a harmonic cross of color sectioning and interactive elements. The main task lay in the creation of an interface that would hold the Client and Project management pages, along with other data.
The Project Timeline
The CRM design project for the Law Firm was developed over the course of 3 weeks! On its journey to the final product, the project underwent a series of steps:
- Interviews to determine the challenge and our client’s wishes.
- Analysis of their existing CRM interface and determining what could be improved.
- Developing main screen prototypes.
- Creating a mood board of potential interface structures and palettes.
- Making first drafts of the future interface.
- Proposing our solutions to receive feedback on the UI from our client.
- Proceeding to scale the approved UI across the entire user flow.
Project Outcomes
With all our research and feedback collected, it was time to systematize the design process. We began by refining the user flow into a simplified and optimized structure.
The original CRM had certain redundant layouts and repetitions which only added a sense of clutter. To rectify the issue, we changed the user flow into a series of logical steps. First, the user would enter the Client page via the menu on the left, after which they can add a client and save or edit existing data. The client can then be attached to a Project with detailed information.
Developing a human-centric user flow is at the core of a successful UX and UI. The UI kit we designed only eases the developer’s design process as it includes the system of components and interactions needed in context. Knowing how interactive elements and palettes look like is especially useful for future CRM growth. Seeing as the company logo and website were based on a blue toned palette, we decided to stick to a similar color scheme but refreshed it with color sectioning, spacing, and vibrancy.
We improved the page and data legibility by designing a spacious and color coded interface. By leaving some air to navigate, the users will be able to see all elements at their disposal. The interactive menu elements were designed to highlight opened pages and differentiate them by a bright blue font. Similarly, toggles are made to stand out when adjusted, making the data easy to identify.
As part of our project, we improved the CRM data filter options to meet the client’s needs. Considering the limited filters in the original version, which consisted of four options, we provided a ‘search by client’ addition. That way, the user can search for all existing activities requested by a client or organization. To ease project management even further, we designed a way to assign each project to designated workers in charge.
The interface was made easy to navigate, leaving all information in the palm of the user’s hand. All data is formatted into tables and forms. Instead of having a tediously long scroll-down table of contents, we distributed data among pages so that everything remains on the screen in plain sight.
Another challenge of the original CRM interface was the use of pop-ups. We decided to remove all pop-up pages involved in client/project creation. Instead, we designed individual pages for each operation and a practical form for adding new client data. Instead of a complex user flow, Concern Dialog will have a minimum-click CRM interface.
In the end, we successfully delivered the project under tight time and resource constraints. As mentioned, this led to the development of a Part 2 where we will design a convenient document flow for invoicing, reporting and analytics tools, billing and debt management processes and other essential improvements for the Law Firm CRM software. Make sure to keep an eye out for the second part of the case study, coming soon!
Commentary
“We, at Flexy Global, have a mission to help people be happier and more productive through human centric product designs; and we are reaching our mission one project at a time. Hope we made work for people at Concern Dialog more fruitful.“
Nastya Saroka
Art Director and Co-founder at Flexy Global
