At M-Files, we are continuously striving to develop our product.
Our mission as a company is to improve and streamline business operations in today's location-independent digital world. M-Files integrates embedded systems, applications and data storages, providing a comprehensive view of all the information needed for day-to-day knowledge work throughout the organization.
In global B2B software market, we can see a strong trend shift towards consumerization: an increased focus on end user experience, usability and delight of use. Successful design and a smooth user experience are significant competitive advantages for software companies now and in the future. Recognizing this, M-Files is investing significantly in developing the digital user experience.
We also want to strengthen our focus on the end users and how they engage with our product. Therefore, we have redefined the core foundation of our design language - or Design DNA, as we call it internally. Here is a glimpse of our 7 Design Principles:
- Sense of Superpowers.
We want to leave the users with a feeling of increased brain power in their work through higher efficiency and less wasted time. Our system should hide the complications to the background and make tasks and events appear fast and easy to the user, giving them significant advantage of speed.
- Get Started Fast.
Recurring core tasks and functions, like creating or saving a document, should feel easy and fast to get started with. They should be assisted through smart algorithms, reducing manual steps and adapting to the user's work flow. Metadata-powered forms and templates should be easy to use, while reassuring user that all necessary information is there.
- Elevated Focus.
We present users the actions and events that are relevant to the moment, and offer also a clear prediction of what is coming up next, like workflow assignments with a deadline. Information is represented through time, context and relationships. We help user to follow the status of her/his work, especially when returning to M-Files after a break.
- Visual Hierarchy.
We create a sense of clarity through careful design, keeping the UI elements simple, avoiding clutter, and building a strong visual hierarchy of information. Minimized use of borders, bold infographics, animations, context-sensitive menus and dialogues all will make the usage easy and delightful.
- Guiding Interactions.
Product should guide the user actively through clear cues and prompts. Alarms, notifications, and required workflow actions are highlighted, triggering action. The interface must always provide feedback on user actions, growing the sense of security and control.
- Consistency.
All M-Files applications (Web, Desktop, Mobile) and embedded UI's (e.g. O365) should be consistent both in visual elements and their interaction logic. Plug-ins like login flows, electronic signatures etc. should work according industry practices, making user adaptation easier. Recovery from user errors should be logical and feel secure.
- Daily Reward.
We need to appreciate that users are investing time and effort to our product every day. Building simple yet meaningful rewards to compensate this investment, like listing a relevant task awaiting user action every time they return to M-Files, will help make them happier and also more empowered in her/his work.
To put these principles in practice, we are currently working on a significant UI update of M-Files Desktop client, coming out later this year. Stay tuned for more news!
