Agradoot Ghatak: UX/Product design. Manager, Mentor, Strategist

Complex long forms or horizontally extended data sets infamously intimidate users and cause them to leave the webpage without finishing the form or reading it. Because long forms look like they require a lot of effort to complete (and they do), an extended dataset brings a horizontal scroll that users hate.

Long form scenario

Long forms cause frustration, the most infamous of which is when a user enters data and accidentally reloads the page, losing their progress. They also infamously intimidate users—and cause them to leave your webpage without finishing the form—because they look like they require a lot of effort to complete (and they do). While clever designers and writers can simplify forms somewhat by cutting unimportant fields, in many cases, long forms are essential and unavoidable.

But in the logistics world, ocean shipments are infamous for their massive number of items and descriptions, which we can't avoid.

Also, there were other challenges. Based on the HTS code (Harmonized Tariff Schedule), a Partner Government Agency requires the importer to fill out additional paperwork alongside the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that regulates commodities entering the U.S. Some PGAs include the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), etc.

design approach

I took a narrative design approach to ground the team in the overall journey, leading them to create design concepts for core screens and develop innovative solutions to our key customer pain points.

With an understanding of the experience and the customer, I led the team through a 4-part sketching exercise. Everyone, non-designers included, sketched a number of ideas that would help Freedom meet their long-term goal, choosing one to refine. We presented and gathered feedback for these refined sketches, voting on specific features we thought would best solve our customer problems.

Using this list of prioritized features, the big ideas from our sketches and the thinking from our original strategic vision, I worked closely with the product team to plan our sprints and build the entire high fidelity design specification.

Feedback loop and visibility

Pain point:
I called over 20 customs brokers to find their pain and expectations.

Sticky note exercise:
Internally brainstorm with the product manager, marketing, and engineering. Design a quick paper prototype and collect instant feedback.

Design a high-fidelity static page to collect external feedback.

Run many remote mini-usability tests

Constant iteration.

Finalize the design and push for engineering 'story'

“I have been impressed with how forms over one thousand lines are handled seamlessly and efficiently. I have never seen such an approach in any other application.”

interaction design

Expand collapse line items- the sense of minimalism:
According to Jacob Neilsen, "They simplify the page, lowering users' cognitive load and allowing them to concentrate on the information immediately at hand."

Find and replace feature:
The Customs broker loves this feature, which was revealed in one of our usability tests. It allows users to modify data quickly.

Show useful information even when the form is in a collapsed state:
Such as error, warning, PGA, or other vital details help users quickly click on the correct line item and correct the field.

Using micro animation:
Such as dissolve, blink, and fade in or out, which are suitable for holding user attention.

long data in horizontal format

One of the most significant drawbacks of horizontal scrolling is that it can be jarring for some users, resulting in poor UX.

I have placed over 40 data columns without having horizontal scroll

When a project demands showing data more like an MS-Excel-like column, how can we build an effective user experience that still gives a sense of minimalism and clean data visibility? We may need to compromise some sort of clutter, but what we learned about the users who are dealing with 40-50 columns of data of over 1000 lines is that they are visually trained to move around their eyes.

However, Excel can not provide a structured data display with enhanced visual cues, powerful sort and search, and group options, allowing users to access and edit the desirable data segment quickly, and indeed, no AI tool can guide the most effective design.

selected projects

I am selecting eight projects out of over 70 enterprise applications with 20-plus years of design experience in various platforms such as desktop, mobile, TV, Hardware, etc.