First American: Palomar
- Responsive_Website
- Information_Architecture
- Living_Style_Guide
First American is one of the largest providers of real estate and mortgage services in the United States. Their Natural Hazard Disclosure team approached Slalom looking to revamp their website, ordering process, and Customer Service Representative workflow.
Getting Embedded
To understand the entire ordering process we started by shadowing employees, from initial order placement through order fulfillment. This included learning about internal document hand-off and communication, billing, and customer support. We interviewed several current customers and First American salespeople to understand how they used the current product, what features they would like to see, and in what environment (office, on the road, etc.) the site was being accessed.
Because of the massive amount of logic that goes into generating a report and the large number of stakeholders invested in the redesign, we knew everyone needed to have an understanding of the entire ecosystem. By creating application flows and site maps, stakeholders could easily see how users would move through the site. This allowed development teams to start database and endpoint design without waiting for wireframes.
Streamlining the Process
Using a combination of Sketch for design and InVision for rapid prototyping, ideas were quickly tested and iterated upon. Comments could be added directly to the prototype, allowing changes to be tracked and eliminating lengthy email chains.
By integrating design and development in order to move swiftly, a "Living Style Guide" was utilized. Developers were able to start front-end coding using wireframes, eliminating the need for full fidelity design comps. Visual design, responsive breakpoints, and interactive elements were added and updated directly in the codebase.
