Overview-
Ack’d is Azure Cloud’s internal resource application, built to help employees quickly find the tools and information they need to work more confidently and efficently from understanding unfamiliar technical terms to writing customer updates and opening support cases. Over time, the app became cluttered and hard to navigate, which slowed employees down and increased reliance on Teams for answers.
Roles-
UX Designer- Jenny Pham
Developer- Juniper Hester
I led the UX design for the Ack’d redesign. From research through prototyping and delivery, I redesigned the app’s structure, layout, and experience to make it faster, cleaner, and genuinely useful for Microsoft Azure employees. I also had a hand in being a developer for the app under the guidance of my lead developer.
Pain points-
Employees were overwhelmed by disorganized, hard-to-find resources
Content was outdated, inconsistent, and hard to scan
Teams relied heavily on messaging over a Teams chat to get information that could’ve been found in a centralized resource
Main goals!
Improve usability and design a more intuitive interface
Reorganize content around real employee tasks and priorities
Build trust in the tool and reduce friction/ time in everyday work giving employees confidence that they can work independently with the Ack’d app as their disposal
Revamp the menu and app for a more organized flow
User interviews
To better understand how employees were using the original Ack’d app, I conducted 3 user interviews with my colleagues on the Live site communications teams.
The goals for the user interview was to discover
How they currently searched for resources like definitions or templates
What tools they used when the app fell short such as messaging a team member
Pain points in finding, trusting, or applying the information
User interview findings-
Key insights- All interviewees reported that while they knew Ack’d existed, they only used it as a last resort. They often turned to messaging team members on Teams app or messaging team leads directly because the app felt “less appealing to use,” “hard to navigate,” and “outdated.”
User interviews
To better understand how employees were using the original Ack’d app, I conducted 3 user interviews with my colleagues on the Live site communications teams.
The goals for the user interview was to discover
How they currently searched for resources like definitions or templates
What tools they used when the app fell short
Pain points in finding, trusting, or applying the information
“I prefer to message on the teams chat, rather than use the app” -User 3
Heuristic Evaluation
I conducted a heuristic evaluation of the existing Ack’d interface. The goal was to identify usability issues and friction points before proposing design improvements. I used Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics as a framework and evaluated a typical user flow, searching for a definition and accessing related resources.
Key Findings
1. Visibility of System Status
The app does not provide feedback when actions are taken, such as clicking the "Search" button or flagging a term. Users are left unsure whether their input was successful.
Proposed solution: Add clear visual cues such as loading indicators or confirmation messages for key interactions.
2. Match Between System and the Real World
The use of internal terms like "Comm Reference" or “Not customer-facing language” may confuse users unfamiliar with team-specific language.
Proposed solution: Replace jargon with plain language or provide tooltips to define internal terminology.
3. User Control and Freedom
Once a user navigates to a term, there is no easy way to return to the previous screen or home view. Navigation options are limited.
Proposed solution: Introduce breadcrumb navigation or a persistent home/back button for easier navigation.
4. Consistency and Standards
The interface shows inconsistencies—for example, the “Wikipedia” button is stylized, while other actions are plain text links. This inconsistency reduces visual clarity.
Proposed solution: Apply consistent styles to interactive elements to guide user expectations.
5. Recognition Rather Than Recall
Information such as synonyms and tags are present but visually subtle, requiring users to read rather than quickly recognize content relationships.
Proposed solution: Use visual grouping, icons, or color-coded tags to make supporting information easier to scan.
6. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
The content is densely packed with little spacing or hierarchy, making it harder for users to scan or absorb information efficiently.
Proposed solution: Introduce improved spacing, clearer section headers, and a more minimal layout for better readability.
Before vs. After
Usability Testing for the Original Ack’d Application
Before redesigning the Ack’d app, I conducted usability testing on the original experience with three internal Azure Cloud employees. The goal was to uncover friction in everyday tasks, like looking up unfamiliar terms or finding communication templates.
Sessions were moderated and observed to track confusion, delays, and success rates.
Goals
- Identify how easily users could find and understand technical terms
- Evaluate the process of locating prewritten communication templates
- Highlight navigation and usability pain points
Method
I asked each participant to complete two tasks:
- Look up the meaning of a common Azure acronym
- Find a customer-ready communication template
Key Insights
- Participants struggled with inconsistent search results
- Terminology was too technical without context or definitions
- Navigation lacked clarity — users often got stuck or restarted
- Templates were difficult to locate due to poor categorization
Next Steps
- Redesign navigation and home experience for clarity
- Introduce plain language and definitions across all content
- Restructure search and content tagging to improve discoverability
Usability testing for New Design of Ack’d Application
Task 1
Users had to search for a communication template that was virtual machines and find the process on how to proceed.
2/3 users were able to locate the Virtual Machines template without much difficulty, especially if they were already familiar with the Ack’d app’s layout. However, one participant struggled to find the process for communications. The label "Comms Service Alignment" was unclear to many, and some assumed it linked to a different tool or team resource.
This caused delays and confusion. All users expressed that they liked how icons were labeled.
Task 2
Looks up “Virtual Machines” definition
3/3 were able to complete task in under 30 seconds.
Users expressed how clear the navigation is
Users expressed the layout was more clean
Requirements
Before redesigning I had a couple of requirements I had to adhere to one was choosing color schemes that were similar to Microsoft. The other was to include Toby a beloved team’s member cat!
New design
I have the Toby logo inserted to be the main logo for the ACK’d App and centering it.
I have also turned it into a circle shaped logo for a sleeker appearance.
I have the Toby logo inserted to be the main logo for the ACK’d App and centering it.
I have also turned it into a circle shaped logo for a sleeker appearance.
This is the Ack’d homepage. It gives users an onboarding experience.
I have also added links on the homepage for an easier navigation experience and it also ties in with Microsoft’s home page lay out.
For one of our resources page, I have organized it by sections
I have also turned it into a circle shaped logo for a sleeker appearance.
I have the Toby logo inserted to be the main logo for the ACK’d App and centering it.
I have also turned it into a circle shaped logo for a sleeker appearance.
I took inspiration from Microsoft’s homepage, some of my inspiratioins are:
The color schemes
The logos with the links right on the homepage
The CTA
This New Design was built in Power Apps, that I had a hand in designing. I also did some low coding in order to assist with the vision of the app. My lead developer was Juniper Hester!
Next Steps
We added Rinat Dzyub a communications manager for live site to assist with the design of the App. His idea was to add dark mode to the App.
For dark mode, we added a toggle on the right hand corner for users to switch back and forth for dark mode.