Web Application Redesign for an Aerospace Company

Overview

A major aerospace company—one of our agency’s top clients—sought to modernize a suite of internal business applications. The project had two primary objectives:

1. Migrate to the latest version of the OutSystems platform

2. Redesign the user interface and experience to improve performance, responsiveness, usability, and overall efficiency

To lead this effort, we focused first on one of their most complex tools: the RFP (Request for Proposals) Bid Processing Portal. This application plays a critical role in how the company handles incoming bids and manages procurement, making it a strategic starting point for the broader redesign initiative.

We conducted an in-depth analysis of the RFP application—gathering product requirements, identifying pain points, and aligning with business goals. These insights informed the creation of improved user flows, optimized information architecture, and more efficient data interactions.

Once finalized, the new design model for the RFP application served as a scalable foundation for redesigning the rest of the product suite. This approach ensured design consistency across applications while allowing for custom adaptations based on each product's unique workflows. 

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My Role

As the Lead UX/UI Designer on the project, I was responsible for:

• Conducting stakeholder interviews
• Synthesizing requirements and identifying usability pain points
• Creating wireframes, user flows, and high-fidelity mockups
• Building interactive prototypes in Figma
• Collaborating closely with developers to ensure design feasibility
• Establishing a scalable component library and style guide

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The Problem 

The client struggled with outdated tools and applications that hindered productivity and led to inconsistent user experiences across departments. Key pain points included:

• Outdated interfaces that were not optimized for tablet & mobile devices often led to errors when sales teams attempted to update bid statuses on the go
• Confusing data management and inefficient workflows resulted in repeated data entry and delays in bid processing, impacting response times
• Slow performance due to legacy architecture
• Inconsistent and poor UI patterns across different tools
• Poor user satisfaction among internal teams

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Goals

• Streamline the RFP bidding workflow and reduce time-to-task
• Ensure seamless integration with the upgraded OutSystems platform
• Improve data visualization, information architecture and reduce cognitive load
• Enhance accessibility and responsiveness across devices
• Deliver a cleaner User Interface with updated components 
• Create a reusable framework of design patterns for future apps

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Process

1. Discovery & Research

• Conducted stakeholder interviews and shadowed end users
• Audited existing workflows and documented UI/UX issues
• Assessed current user journeys and pinpointed bottlenecks

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2. Information Architecture & User Flows

• Ideated and developed new information architecture and screen hierarchy
• Designed optimized user flows for submitting and reviewing RFPs

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3. Wireframes & Prototypes

• Sketched initial wireframes to validate structure and layout
• Built mid-to-high fidelity prototypes in Figma for testing

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4. UI Design & Components

• Created a fresh visual language rooted in usability and scalability
• Developed a component library aligned with OutSystems UI framework
• Designed responsive templates and widget patterns

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5. Collaboration & Iteration

• Held weekly design/dev syncs to iterate and refine in parallel
• Incorporated stakeholder and user feedback throughout the process
• Updated documentation and component usage guidelines

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The Solution

The redesigned RFP Portal featured:

• A streamlined, task-driven interface with role-specific views eliminated unnecessary navigation and presented users only with relevant information, reducing cognitive load
• Real-time data tables and improved filtering for quicker task management allowed users to instantly find critical information without complex searches
• Clear, accessible form layouts for faster RFP submissions and processing 
• Reusable UI components for scalability across applications
• Fully responsive design to support desktop, tablet and mobile workflows

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Impact

• Initial feedback indicated a significant reduction in RFP submission time 
• Increased stakeholder satisfaction with improved UI consistency
• Notable improvement in useability and end user satisfaction  
• Provided a scalable system for redesigning five other core tools

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Reflection

This project highlighted the importance of deeply understanding business processes and scaling design thinking across complex enterprise ecosystems. One particular challenge was integrating the new design system with the OutSystems platform's existing constraints; we addressed this by consulting with development teams to estimate efforts of custom code solutions and if those efforts would be beneficial and cost effective. Collaborating closely with both users and developers was essential to delivering not just a UI refresh, but a truly efficient, cohesive product experience.

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Tools Used

• Figma
• OutSystems UI Framework
• Confluence
• Jira
• Slack

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