Redesigning the OSCAR web application
Role
Full-Stack Product Design
Tools
-
Adobe XD
-
Adobe Illustrator
-
Adobe Photoshop
Summary
OSCAR (Online Sustainable Conservation Assistance Resource) is a web application that guides architects and preservationists through the process of designing sustainable improvements for existing buildings while maintaining significant character defining features.
To improve the utility and usability of the OSCAR platform we redesigned it from the ground up with a focus on ease of navigation; flexible, project-driven workflows; and presentation-ready report generation.
The project also encompassed a logo design, however this case study will focus solely on the web application.
About APT
The Association for Preservation Technology (APT) is the premier cross-disciplinary organization dedicated to promoting the best technology for conserving historic structures and their settings. Founded in 1968 as a joint venture among Canadian and United States preservationists, APT now has members in more than 30 countries.
OSCAR wasn't living up to his full potential
The OSCAR platform consists of a collection of databases of improvement solutions organized by category: Preservation, Sustainability, and Inherently Sustainable Features (ISF). A multi-page form stepped users through the process of selecting solutions for the improvement of building components to meet project goals. The completed list of components and improvements could then be exported as a report.
Unfortunately, the valuable tool was hampered by the user interface which was rigid and unintuitive. For example, one user might want to create multiple collections of improvements to compare possible implementations by price while another might want to compare them by category of improvement. The tool did not provide that flexibility. It also only integrated information from two of the three databases. The ISF database had to be accessed outside of the tool and was therefore unable to be included in generated reports.
Lastly, the report generation tool was limited in functionality and produced barebones reports that were unsuitable for professional presentation. All of these issues and more would need to be addressed in the redesign.
How OSCAR got his groove back
The project kicked off with a research and interview phase to understand what architects and preservationists wanted to accomplish with the tool. We found that there was a surprising amount of discord among the interviewees and that their needs were just as unique as the challenges they were attempting to solve. This led us to confirm what we intuited was the main goal of the redesign: to give users the tools to intuitively construct bespoke collections of solutions and reports tailored to the unique requirements of each project.
We explored multiple architectures and user flows for the tool and supplemental site features before settling on the following architecture:
Wireframes were developed through ideation, iteration, and evaluation with project stakeholders to create an intuitive, flexible workflow that provided project structure without requiring users to adhere to a particular model. Users could create, name, and add improvements to any number of collections for each building component. This allowed projects to be designed to best suit project goals.
To ensure the tool was intuitive it was important to provide quick, persistent navigation between collections and databases and the solutions contained therein. Users could jump back and forth as needed without losing their place while also maintaining any filtering. A unique UI color for each database, combined with the highly visible tabbed navigation, ensured the user was always oriented to their location in the tool.
The tool also featured a number of quality of life features such as the ability to note the character defining features of a building component, a progress tracker, a building climate calculator, drag and drop item management, and both desktop and mobile layouts.
Project reports could be generated from customizable subsets of collections to provide maximum flexibility in reporting. Supplemental information could be added to reports through use of the building profile feature. The reports received a complete visual overhaul with professional formatting and a cover generated from user-provided photography.
Reception
The OSCAR MVP received rave reviews from project stakeholders, architects and preservationists who previewed the tool, and the APT committee funding the project. The next phase of the project would have been to flesh out the databases with additional sustainability improvements for an alpha release but the project was unfortunately sidelined due to competing priorities. The project is still on the APT radar as evidenced by a presentation of the tool in 2022 but at this time its future is unknown.