Project Monocle
IBM Power Systems
—
Visual Design Lead
2015 – 2017
In 2015, I began my IBM journey with a project that ultimately became one of my fondest accomplishments.
Project Monocle began as a design bootcamp “incubator” aimed at exploring the future of server patching. Our executive mandate was to build a “one-click update” patching solution. Through 6 weeks of discovery research and rapid prototyping with users, a “one-click update” was the last thing they wanted.
This was a revelation for the sponsoring IBM team. They knew there was an opportunity here and when supported by user feedback such as “this is the first time we felt listened to,” IBM turned this conceptual incubator into a full time project—one I was fortunate to deploy to soon after.
“the best story of design
at IBM in 3 years.”
— Phil Gilbert, GM of IBM Design
My Role
I was Monocle’s primary visual designer throughout and laid the groundwork for how Monocle felt, operated, and looked—predating IBM’s Carbon Design System.
Working closely with research, UX, and development, my design choices were entirely user driven. From its signature dark UI—a rarity in 2016—to finely tuned type scales, this product prioritized users that had to act quickly and accurately.
I developed the Monocle brand for use in executive visits, a studio-wide critique showcase, and multiple conference talks given by IBM Design leaders. This was the first project I owned every pixel of, and I loved every minute of it.
Monocle UI Walkthrough
Outcomes
As Power Systems’ first ever web-based app, Monocle changed the very culture of the organization. We proved to a historically engineering driven part of the business that user-centered design yields outcomes.
Soon after the beta launch of Monocle, we received dozens of design thinking workshop requests to coach teams how to do this. The number of requests grew so much, I co-founded Power Systems’ first facilitation practice.
This is a story of doing one thing really well. And that caught the eye of Phil Gilbert, GM of IBM Design. In addition to that killer quote in the middle of the page, Phil put us on the circuit. In the span of 6 months, we went on to be featured in various internal videos, InVision’s “The Loop” documentary, and at the O’Reilly design conference.