Case Study

Fikra

Role: Product Designer — Mobile App, Dashboard & Report Experience

Overview

Fikra is an internal idea management system designed to help organizations surface problems, collect solutions from employees, and encourage continuous improvement. The platform allows employees at any level to post problems, suggest ideas, give feedback, participate in idea polling, and receive recognition or rewards for valuable contributions.

While working at AutoSmart Technology, I worked on Fikra, which was already an existing system. My role was to improve usability, redesign unclear flows, and revamp the entire interface to make the platform more user-centric, inclusive, and engaging.

The goal of the product was to ensure that every employee — regardless of role or seniority — could safely and easily share ideas that reach leadership.

The Challenge

Although Fikra had a strong purpose, adoption and engagement were limited due to experience issues:

  • Unclear idea submission flow confused users

  • UI was not user-friendly, especially for non-technical employees

  • Employees were unsure how ideas moved after submission

  • Feedback and suggestions were hard to follow

  • Lower-level employees felt hesitant to participate

For a system meant to amplify employee voices, the experience itself was blocking participation.

My Responsibilities

As Product Designer at AutoSmart Technology, I was responsible for:

  • Reviewing the existing product and identifying UX gaps

  • Redesigning the end-to-end idea lifecycle

  • Revamping the entire UI into a clean, modern experience

  • Making flows clear, transparent, and user-centric

  • Designing interactions for idea posting, suggestions, feedback, and polling

  • Improving visibility of idea status and evaluation stages

  • Ensuring the platform felt safe and approachable for all employee levels

Process

1. Understanding Employee Behavior

1. Understanding Employee Behavior

I focused on how employees interact with internal systems:

  • hesitation to speak up

  • fear of ideas being ignored

  • lack of clarity on what happens after submission

This helped me design flows that build trust, clarity, and confidence.

2. UX Flow Redesign

2. UX Flow Redesign

I simplified and clarified the full idea journey:

Problem → Idea Submission → Suggestions & Feedback → Evaluation → Reward

Key improvements:

  • clear calls to action

  • simplified and guided forms

  • visible progress and status updates

  • reduced ambiguity around evaluation

The experience was designed to feel safe, simple, and motivating.

3. UI Revamp for Accessibility

3. UI Revamp for Accessibility

The earlier UI felt heavy and confusing. I redesigned it with:

  • clean layouts

  • better spacing and typography

  • strong visual hierarchy

  • intuitive navigation

This made the system usable for employees across departments and roles.

4. Engagement & Collaboration Design

4. Engagement & Collaboration Design

To encourage participation, I introduced clearer interaction patterns:

  • idea polling and voting

  • suggestion threads

  • visible participation indicators

  • feedback loops connected to rewards

These elements helped foster collaboration and continuous engagement.

Outcome & Impact

The redesign led to meaningful improvements:

  • Better employee engagement across teams

  • Clearer communication between employees and leadership

  • Increased confidence among junior employees to share ideas

  • Positive feedback from leadership on usability and transparency

  • Stronger internal culture of innovation and openness

Fikra evolved into a platform that genuinely empowers employee voices.

Reflection

This project reinforced that internal tools shape organizational culture, not just workflows. By redesigning Fikra to be more human, clear, and inclusive, I helped create a space where ideas can surface from any level and move upward with visibility.

Working on Fikra strengthened my ability to design people-first internal products that balance usability, trust, and engagement.