Server of Record

Overhauled our application for an entirely new market segment after we acquired a new product.

Design Lead - User Research, Product Design

AppNexus

The Premise

We acquired an established company with its own loyal client base. The Server of Record project was a major overhaul to integrate this new functionality and adapt our product to serve these new users. This project was an integral part of our business strategy for the years to come.

A diagram documenting the proposed hierarchy and navigation for this project

Where I started:

  • Investigated and learned about the newly acquired product.
  • Documented the hierarchy and workflows it prioritized.
  • Mapped a comparison to our existing product’s hierarchy and nav.

Field Research and Observation

Working together with the Product Lead, I conducted extensive field research, user interviews, and further competitive analysis to build our requirements document. We prioritized what workflows we’d support, and found several opportunities to eliminate long-standing painpoints for our new users.

I identified significant changes to our hierarchy and navigation, our object management workflows, and various new features as requirements.

A diagram documenting the extensive changes to our object management.

The Design & Outcome

We launched a major overhaul that touched almost every part of our app. We were successful in onboarding an entirely new user base and paved the way for our business strategy to proceed in the years to come. This project established our company as a viable “Server of Record” in the ad-tech space, and was a pivotal moment in our growth and eventual acquisition.