Target
Streamlining Search, Improving Task Completion, and Nearly Eliminating User Abandonment in a 3D Product Visualization App
33% better search quality · Up to 43x more search results · 40% faster task completion
A Product Design and UX Case Study by Brendan Stern
*Some items are blurred or recreated for privacy.
Project Overview
Client: Target, Duration: 4 Months
Goal: Improve a 3D application that allows Target employees to create, organize, and showcase collections of 3D product assets for collaboration with coworkers and leadership. Improving the experience had the potential to save thousands of hours annually in product visualization work.
Users: Nearly 70% of the app's target users had minimal or no experience with technical 3D software. The challenge was to create an intuitive interface that could support a wide range of users and encourage adoption across Target.
Problems to Solve:
- Users couldn't find the 3D assets they needed unless they already knew specific product IDs.
- Users were slow to complete tasks because of extraneous controls and insufficient guidance.
- Users abandoned the app during rendering, often before high-quality images were finished.
Team: UX Designer and Subject Matter Expert (Me), Director of Product Management, 3D Content Manager, Engineer, 3D Artist, and Product Owner.
My Role
- UX Design: Led the redesign of key workflows and interface elements, from problem identification through implementation.
- Research & Testing: Conducted user research, observations, and testing with 21 users; synthesized findings and validated design updates.
- Agile & Product Initiatives: Translated user feedback into a prioritized Jira backlog, contributed to Agile ceremonies, and facilitated collaborative ideation in Miro.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Served as a Subject Matter Expert, connecting development, design, product, and leadership to resolve complex application issues and move solutions into production.
User Journey and UX Improvements Made
Our internal 3D application had four major tasks: onboarding, finding assets, building 3D scenes, and sharing results. But usability issues surfaced throughout the journey, particularly for users who weren't experienced with 3D software. This often led to abandonment.
I mapped the experience from onboarding through sharing results to identify where users encountered friction and where targeted UX improvements could make the greatest impact.
Onboarding
The first thing you see is a menu and a blank screen making users wonder what to do next.
Added a welcome screen with options for scene templates and help menus.
Further personalize onboarding with user success stories and videos showing the full application process.
No indication that the scene was being automatically saved making users nervous about losing their work.
Added an autosave indicator so users could see that their work was being saved.
Provide additional save history or recovery options for greater user confidence.
No available help documentation.
Added help documentation and chat support.
Expand documentation and develop more contextual, in-app guidance.
Find Assets
Search was functional when users knew the correct asset IDs, but filters were confusing.
Made ID search options more apparent and used recognizable patterns for filters.
Continue simplifying filters and improve search based on user behavior.
Asset icons were difficult to distinguish and understand.
Introduced perspective-based icons to make assets easier to recognize.
Improve asset naming and consistency throughout the underlying database.
Users couldn't browse assets by category (like furniture, art, clothing, etc.).
Added category-based browsing so users could explore available assets.
Expand and refine asset categories as the database grows.
Build 3D Scenes
Items loaded slowly without feedback, causing users to question whether the action had worked.
Added loading pop-up indicators so users could see when assets were being processed.
Reduce asset loading times and provide more detailed progress feedback (loading bars, etc.).
Users struggled to place items on walls and ceilings.
Introduced a model HUD that allows users to quickly place objects on the floor, walls, or ceiling.
Created and duplicated assets could be hidden within the scene.
We made a position offset for created and duplicated assets so they were easier to locate.
Advanced 3D terminology and controls made common actions difficult for less experienced users.
Reworked or removed terminology and interface controls around users' goals.
Share Results
The application appeared to freeze when users started rendering.
Added rendering feedback so users could see that the process was active.
Provide more detailed render progress and estimated completion time.
Objects could accidentally be moved while rendering.
Prevented objects from being moved while a render was in progress.
Scene renders could contain scale errors.
Fixed scene-scale issues affecting final renders.
Solution Details
In just four months with a small agile team we made great strides in transforming the application into a user-friendly, high-performing platform by focusing on human-centered design principles and iterative feedback. The team was impressed (testimonials).
Key Features Delivered
Enhanced Asset Browsing & Search
- Introduced thumbnail previews in three-quarter views to provide users with a better visual understanding of 3D assets, increasing search comprehension and quality by 33%.
- Designed a revamped search panel, ensuring the search bar was always visible and assets could be found easier with better keywords during search.
- Developed intuitive asset categories, streamlined filters for improved discoverability, and created breadcrumbs for product category navigation.
- Coordinated teams to enhance search data, increasing search results in some instances as much as 4,300%.
- Gave helpful search hints letting users know what they could search for, like specific ID's or categories of products called Workspaces.
- A future possible feature was adding a number next to each category icon to show how many assets you may find there. This helps a user know where they may find the most content.
Intuitive Interface Design
- Renamed categories, buttons, and functions with human-centered language, reducing user confusion.
- Integrated popup notifications to inform users about app processes (e.g., autosave, completed uploads).
- Reworked 3D rendering workflows, simplifying the creation of high-quality images and automating repetitive tasks.
Streamlined User Experience
- Made users aware of autosave functionality to reduce user anxiety about losing progress.
- Designed over 500 interface elements, ensuring a cohesive, accessible experience while maintaining Target's internal design system.
Created Help Screens
- I created a help file based on what we saw users have issues with during tests.
- Many users needed training on the basics of navigating a 3d camera along with other features that don't come natural to non-3d users.
- Having a help file allows them to get key information without contacting support, and also gives them other online resources and slack channel support.
Created Quick Start Guides
- My background in game design and e-Learning helped me put together a one page Quick Start Guide for users to get up and running quickly.
UX Design Process
Research & Strategy
- Collaborated with stakeholders to understand user needs, technical constraints, and business goals.
- Conducted qualitative research through interviews, testing, and observations to understand the challenges faced by non-technical users.
Wireframing & Prototyping
- Created wireframes to illustrate new layouts and interactions using Target's internal design systems.
- Iteratively refined designs based on user feedback, ensuring they aligned with best practices for usability and accessibility.
Implementation & Delivery
- Delivered redesigned interfaces, search tools, and rendering workflows, ensuring seamless integration with the existing application.
- Collaborated with developers to implement autosave, category enhancements, and model database updates.
User-Centered Research
- Conducted user interviews, observations, and testing sessions with 21 participants to uncover pain points and usability issues.
- Created a user synthesis document comparing findings, which guided targeted design updates.
- Focused on user's actions and non-verbal cues during tests. Read into how people say or express their use of the product. They may say it is great, but their body language may indicate when something wasn't quite working for them.
User synthesis document.
Here I am with the team enjoying conducting a user interview for our software. I really enjoy working with users, asking about their needs and how to make the software most useful for them.
Agile Development Collaboration
- Added over 150 user-centric tasks to the Jira backlog, addressing critical UX concerns.
- Participated in Scrum events, including backlog prioritization, sprint planning, and feature brainstorming.
- Managed the Miro board for feature ideation and team collaboration.
Key Results
- Increased search result quality and accuracy by 33% through visual thumbnails and human-centered language.
- Boosted asset discoverability by up to 4,300%, with search results quantity and quality drastically increased both in search or category navigation.
- Improved usability and adoption among less tech-savvy users with human-centered terminology.
- Made the render process more intuitive, letting users know their scene has not crashed, but is instead loading, and letting new users create quality images quickly.
- Delivered a cohesive, intuitive interface with over 500 new elements implemented.
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication you put into helping us bring [Internal Software] to life...You brought so many great ideas and are leaving us with a really solid MVP that I know our users will love...We really appreciated having you on our team.
Technology Innovation Director
Target
Brendan did an incredible job moving this work forward. With Brendan’s help, the tool was ready for an alpha launch prior to our goal date! I was especially impressed by how quickly he engaged the stakeholders, got up to speed, and activated the work.
Sr. Project Manager
Target
Takeaways
This project highlighted the importance of designing for users with varying technical expertise. Through human-centered design, iterative testing, and agile collaboration, we delivered a solution that simplified 3D workflows and empowered users to adopt the application confidently.
[Internal Software] is great because it takes advantage of a massive repository of 3d models from [Internal Database] and you can easily drop them into a scene, get some really nice imagery out of it, share it with the team in an assortment review, and show them to leadership. [Internal Software] is as high a quality as I could ask for on tasks like this.
Product Designer
Target
Bonus Questions
How did you start with an opportunity and produce real value for Target?
The biggest value created on this project was making this app easier to use for their target audience. There is big potential for this product to improve turnaround time on product presentation and save tremendous cost by using digital assets to gain approval instead of shipping and approving physical product.
What did you want to add to the design that didn't make it in?
I hope to see some key features like enhanced comments and collaboration as well as some features that will make 3d content creation and navigation easier.
Can you show me some documents about your process?
Our initial Miro board got quite full with features we wanted to add, but it took a lot of discipline to prioritize the ones that would most likely help our users and the business.
Tools & Technologies Used
- Miro: Feature ideation and collaboration.
- Figma and Adobe Creative Suite: Wireframes and prototypes.
- Jira: Task management and backlog organization.
- Adobe Creative Suite: UI design elements.
- 3d Studio Max, Vray, Babylon.js: Creation and revision of Target 3d digital assets.
Have a UX Challenge?
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