Parlano / Microsoft: MindAlign software

Discovery

Parlano's MindAlign enterprise chat software was technically superior, but lacked visual sizzle and improved user experience to get attention of the decision-makers at large corporations to buy or upgrade the software sooner. We identified an opportunity to better understand the end-users and listen to the existing developers to improve the brand and user experience in pursuit of increasing upgrades and eventually selling the software to a larger concern (Microsoft).

• Collaborated with a team of software developers to harness their vision alongside the business goals
• Understand the user and software interaction to the point where tasks could be simplified into a single unique icon, while also ensuring they work together as a family.

Design

Billups Design worked closely with the Parlano team to improve the overall brand and user experience, especially from a visual perspective.

• We leveraged existing strengths and streamlining the avatar, typeface and color system to convey strength and elegance.
• Created a system of well planned and widely approved scalable icons for new Windows Vista, Mac, and Java, while retaining backward compatibility for older systems.
• Improved the interface for many of the key screens – reduced friction and anxiety and improved visual hierarchy through layout, color, shape, size, iconography, etc.

Delivery

The software brand and interface redesign was very weel received by existing and new software users (fortApplication received unprecedented number of upgrade orders and much of this was attributed to the much lauded new visual brand and interface.

• Application was purchased by Microsoft shortly thereafter and visual interface was again attributed to brand and interface experience. Application became the core functionality of Microsoft’s Communication Server (SharePoint).