In 2017, Motorola Solutions (MSI) acquired Kodiak Networks along with its business-critical push-to-talk software platform. A core component in the platform is a web-based dispatch and console application. It was identified by MSI as an app that could be transitioned from the enterprise market to the mission-critical public-safety market.

Challenge

The dispatch console app was designed for an enterprise and mission-support user base. It needed to be redesigned to align with the requirements of the public-safety market that MSI served. The existing app lacked key features relevant to making the product viable as a mission-critical application. Additionally, the app experience did not align with the established MSI interaction models and design system. Lastly, the app did not reflect a user-centered design principle.

Solution

Two key features, simultaneous audio sessions and talk group patching, were added to the dispatch console which gave it capability parity with similar applications and would make it competitive in the public-safety market. The integration of these features required a primary user persona be created upon which to base the redesign. The MSI “Cobalt” design system was incorporated to bring brand and industry consistency to the dispatch console. Additionally, many common approaches to interactivity and component patterns being used in other stalwart MSI software were applied for brand and behavior consistency.

Redesign rationale and explanations of a key control component.

The master call control component screen position and size changed significantly based on persona need.

Take-aways / Results / Notes

• Personas were created that reflected usage maturity and most-common use cases.
• High-fidelity prototypes that included simulated audio and video yielded the most-valuable experience improvements and levels of constructive input from stakeholders.
• The design system needed to be adapted and expanded to accommodate an application that originated from outside the MSI ecosystem.
• Although the design system was quite flexible, there were use cases where it simply didn’t solve for an issue. In those cases, a solution was specifically designed that mirrored the system.