CASE STUDY:
Comprehensive Drag-and-Drop Mission Builder
Secure
Role: Lead Product Designer
Timeline: ~6 Months
THE ORIGIN
The NGA project involved coordinating specialized teams nationwide to build a sophisticated management system for the NGA. Our team joined after significant backend and some frontend progress, requiring rapid adaptation and seamless collaboration with existing teams.
THE PRODUCT VISION
The vision for the NGA Internal Management System was to create a comprehensive, secure, and user-centric platform. The challenge was merging NGA’s graphical standards with Google Material Design—a workaround necessitated by earlier development lacking proper UX/UI guidance.
THE OUTCOME
Throughout the project, our collaboration consistently advanced client goals, allowing us to reach key milestones months ahead of schedule. The client repeatedly praised our work—especially my innovative insights—and at project end, I delivered a comprehensive hand-off with clear visual standards, an accessible toolset, and concise documentation.
Builder Interface — Mid-Resolution
Workflow Management — Mid-Resolution
Mission Pattern Builder — Mid-Resolution
Detail Modal — Mid-Resolution
THE PROCESS
Empathize: I conducted user interviews and thoroughly reviewed NGA’s documentation, noting nuances from peripheral discussions to understand their unique requirements.
Define: Reviewing past management system projects provided key insights into the project’s scope, clarifying legacy challenges and modernization opportunities.
Ideate: Collaborated with programmers and project managers to sketch and refine initial interfaces, resulting in approved designs and a unified design system.
Prototype: Developed interactive prototypes—from page expansions to data entry wizards—to illustrate dynamic behaviors not evident in static mockups.
Handoff/DX: Maintained meticulous, confidential documentation and shared clearly annotated design documents with programmers, ensuring smooth development and prompt clarifications.
Test: Conducted iterative usability testing at every phase to ensure the design remained user-centric and aligned with NGA’s evolving needs.
LEARNINGS & TAKEAWAYS
TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS
The NGA Mission Administration UI project required developing a robust, secure, and highly efficient interface for managing complex geospatial intelligence operations. We implemented a scalable design system that ensured consistency across multiple data-intensive workflows, optimized the UI for high-speed data retrieval, and integrated advanced visualization tools to enhance mission planning and execution.
USER-CENTRIC DESIGN
Given the critical nature of the NGA’s operations, the user experience had to prioritize clarity, speed, and precision. Through rigorous user research and testing, we designed an interface that streamlined mission administration while reducing cognitive load. The result was a UI that improved workflow efficiency and ensured mission-critical data was accessible and actionable in high-pressure environments.
STRATEGIC GROWTH
This project underscored the importance of balancing security, usability, and adaptability in high-stakes environments. By working closely with stakeholders, we developed a flexible system that could evolve alongside the agency’s needs. The experience reinforced the value of iterative design and cross-disciplinary collaboration in building enterprise-grade solutions for government and defense applications.