PackLane Editor Redesign: Usability Improvements
PackLane's editor interface gives users tools, icons, and controls to design custom packaging — but a few usability issues get in the way of a smooth experience. This case study walks through identifying, researching, and addressing those pain points.
Three key usability issues
After brief user interviews to test the current editor, and a content audit against the 12 industry usability principles, three key usability issues were identified.
Manuals to Support the Conceptual Model
There's no readily available, comprehensive manual to help users — especially beginners — understand the available tools. Without one, simply learning how the interface works can become a time-consuming task.
User Control and Mapping
The sample view window, where live edits appear in the top right of the interface, doesn't maximize consistently. PackLane's promo video shows a maximize icon for this window, but it's missing or inconsistent in the live editor — raising issues with user control, mapping, and interface consistency.
Accessibility
The inconsistent maximize behavior for the sample view may also be a pain point for users with vision impairments, falling short of accessibility best practices.
Proto-personas, empathy maps & closed card sort
To start developing personas for the editor's users, I took a lightweight approach — aligning on general assumptions about users and getting a bird's-eye view of their needs and goals.
From there, I ran an in-person closed card sort to capture users' expectations and mental models for how the editor's information architecture should look and feel.
Summary of Discovery
Both participants in the card sort flagged ambiguity in several sub-categories, pointing to a need to rethink naming conventions for menu items. User 1 thought out loud more while organizing the deck and had more experience with design software than User 2.
This distinction matters: PackLane's proto-personas, Shanice and Luke, are largely beginners to designing product packaging, and both emphasized that a facilitative interface is essential. User 2's slower, more deliberate card sorting process offered a useful window into that beginner mental model.
User flow & wireframes
The user flow below shows the steps a user takes to build a simple product design — logging in, selecting package dimensions, designing on the artboard, and finalizing the design.
If login fails, the user is prompted to retry or recover their credentials. If dimension selection isn't completed, the flow branches to let the user upload their own dieline. Choosing a standard size, like 4 × 4 × 4, places the dieline directly on the artboard. Once finished, the user expands the finished product view and selects "save and continue," or returns to make further changes.
Improvements from this stage include an explicit login step, a 3D sample view of the design in progress, and the categories and sub-categories surfaced by the card sort.
Mid & Hi-Fidelity Wireframes
After incorporating user feedback, I compared the current design editor against wireframes reflecting the requested changes — including a working maximize feature for the sample view.
From prototype to usability test
I built a Figma prototype connecting the redesigned UI components to demonstrate the intended interaction design. From there, two users tested the interface against scenarios reflecting the pain points identified earlier, with particular focus on the new maximize feature.
Key insights
User Onboarding
A seamless onboarding process is critical. Users appreciate easy sign-up and login, but they also need clear confirmation that the action succeeded — no one should be left wondering if it went through.
Clarity in Tools
Issues like unclear upload mechanisms and a missing comprehensive guide highlight how essential clarity is. Users need to intuitively understand and use the tools available to them.
Live Feedback
The sample view window provides real-time updates but lacks adaptability. Improving this feature could meaningfully boost satisfaction by making editing more detailed and interactive.
Persona-Driven Design
Crafting detailed personas made it easier to empathize with different user needs and design tailored solutions — reinforcing how important it is to understand end users when shaping UX outcomes.