Quick Summary / TLDR
➡️ Problem: PortX Cloud’s growing product suite (Integration Manager, Payment Manager, and Data Manager) lacked a unified navigation system, creating inconsistency and friction.
➡️ Role: I led UX and UI design, building a scalable framework and design system.
➡️ Solution: Designed a global navigation that unified all products and established consistent interaction patterns across the suite.
➡️ Impact: Reduced onboarding confusion, improved cross-product flow, and created a foundation for future scalability.
Keep reading to see how it all came together.
Intro / Background
PortX is building a digital banking platform called PortX Cloud, home to three main products: Integration Manager, Payment Manager, and Data Manager. Each product includes its own layers. For example, Payment Manager supports Wires, ACH, and FedNow, while Integration Manager includes Design, Development, and Deployment tools.
As these products evolved toward MVP launch, navigation became a growing challenge. Each team was solving it differently, which made the experience inconsistent. This case study looks at how I unified navigation across the PortX Cloud suite.
The core question:
How can one consistent framework make switching between tools easier, reduce friction, and improve productivity?
How can one consistent framework make switching between tools easier, reduce friction, and improve productivity?
The Problem
Working in silos, each PortX Cloud product team had designed its own navigation. There was no shared model for how users should move between tools. This led to a fragmented experience and added friction. Early fixes included placing all products in a dropdown, tree view, or accordion menu. But testing showed these menus were hidden and inconvenient, especially when the cursor wasn’t near that part of the screen.
From a business perspective, the CEO also raised another concern. The platform’s full value wasn’t visible. During sales demos, hiding products behind a 9-dot or hamburger menu made the suite feel smaller than it actually was. The goal was to create one scalable system that worked across all products, balanced business and usability needs, and could evolve with the platform.
The key challenges or pain points were:
❌ Inconsistent navigation: Different products followed different patterns.
❌ Low discoverability: Menus were hidden, requiring extra clicks.
❌ Poor visibility in demos: The suite’s breadth wasn’t immediately obvious.
❌ Low discoverability: Menus were hidden, requiring extra clicks.
❌ Poor visibility in demos: The suite’s breadth wasn’t immediately obvious.
Research Goals + Methodologies
While this wasn’t a large research initiative, understanding user behaviors and team workflows was key. I focused on quick discovery methods:
✅ Reviewed and mapped navigation patterns across all products
✅ Observed how users moved between tools during real tasks
✅ Tested early prototypes through A/B sessions and short surveys
✅ Observed how users moved between tools during real tasks
✅ Tested early prototypes through A/B sessions and short surveys
My Role
➡ Sole UX/UI designer
➡ Conducted internal interviews with product, engineering, and leadership teams
➡ Mapped inconsistencies across the suite and identified opportunities for unification
➡ Designed a scalable navigation system for cross-product switching and growth
➡ Created and tested Figma prototypes for feedback and iteration
➡ Led usability testing and short user surveys to validate final concepts
➡ Tools used: Figma, Miro, Jira, PowerPoint, Zoom
➡ Conducted internal interviews with product, engineering, and leadership teams
➡ Mapped inconsistencies across the suite and identified opportunities for unification
➡ Designed a scalable navigation system for cross-product switching and growth
➡ Created and tested Figma prototypes for feedback and iteration
➡ Led usability testing and short user surveys to validate final concepts
➡ Tools used: Figma, Miro, Jira, PowerPoint, Zoom
Challenges + Learnings
Supporting three major product teams as the only designer meant managing multiple sprints and priorities at once. Without a shared system, maintaining consistency depended on close coordination and clear documentation.
Supporting three major product teams as the only designer meant managing multiple sprints and priorities at once. Without a shared system, maintaining consistency depended on close coordination and clear documentation.
The solution needed to be modular and flexible enough to support new products without redesigning the entire framework. This reinforced one of my strengths: Keeping the big picture in focus while solving immediate needs. Grounding the design in usability principles was essential:
✅ A three-column layout improved recognition over recall by showing all tiers at once
✅ Consistent structure built predictability for enterprise users managing complex workflows
✅ Icon-only reduced column size, real estate needs, and visual noise
✅ Consistent structure built predictability for enterprise users managing complex workflows
✅ Icon-only reduced column size, real estate needs, and visual noise
Not every idea made it through. My preferred dynamic, hover-triggered menu was cut for engineering reasons. It was a reminder that great UX isn’t about perfection. It’s about balancing ambition with feasibility and knowing where to push.
Impact + Results
✅ Improved discoverability across all products through unified navigation
✅ Created a shared model adopted by every product team for future releases
✅ Reduced navigation time and friction when switching between tools
✅ Strengthened consistency across the PortX Cloud platform
✅ Created a shared model adopted by every product team for future releases
✅ Reduced navigation time and friction when switching between tools
✅ Strengthened consistency across the PortX Cloud platform
Interested? Let’s connect.
