Overview

Adrenalin eSystems asked us to give their 20-year-old HRMS enterprise software product a facelift. After closer inspection, we recommended a complete overhaul instead.

With the plethora of HRMS products available today, we could only succeed by giving this mammoth system a user-centred redesign along with a modern and fresh facelift.

This effort required a parallel transformation of the product owners and developers through empathy and tact.

Original product screens

It is always difficult to make things simple. The redesign has helped us position the product with much larger enterprises. Your team played the role of ‘change agents’ to perfection.

MD & CEO, Adrenalin eSystems

It was indeed a great journey. Your team was very professional, knowledgeable, approachable, flexible, quick in response, consistent and delivered a good quality output.

Chief Product Officer, Adrenalin eSystems

★★★★★

★★★★★

The Problem

HRMS systems are indispensable but aren't sufficiently employee-friendly.

Most employees find their HRMS complex and feel that using it is a chore. We recognized the need to change this perception. While many HRMS platforms appear simple and minimalist, they cannot often handle complex transactions at scale or across borders.

Adrenalin had the required horsepower to perform at scale. All it needed was best-in-class UX.

The Constraints

Product Team's attachment to legacy system

No time for user research due to tight deadline

System setup based on highly complex admin module

Delay in going live due to extensive training requirements

Visual Dimension Exercise

We engaged the clients in a visual exploration exercise, starting with a list of descriptive words from which they selected the top five that best resonated with their brand. Next, they chose images that connected with each word.

This process revealed patterns in primary and secondary colours, ultimately shaping the classic palette for the product.

Design framework that can be used to create any HRMS

Task Flow overhaul process

• We impacted the cultures of our client and their customers

• We templatized everything and reduced the number of page types from 27 to 6 in some cases

• We educated developers about how every single pixel on the screen contributes to UX

• We provided the product team with all the ammunition they would need to launch and market the upgraded design

• We designed a patented element which allows users to fast-forward or rewind to any step in a lengthy process with ease.

Detailed screens cannot be shared here due to NDAs.

The Outcome of our Solution

We built a comprehensive design system to simplify and streamline the development of our complex HR tech platform. Before this, inconsistent UI patterns and redundant code slowed teams down. Now, with standardized components and a centralized approach, we’ve transformed how we work.

Key benefits:

• Faster development – reusable components speed up iteration

• Consistent UI – seamless user experience across the platform

• Better collaboration – designers and developers work in sync

• Scalability – future-proof foundation for growth

• Improved accessibility – ensures inclusive, user-friendly design

Design System

Ongoing Support

We designed a comprehensive superset of all potential features and fields the product could accommodate. Customisation requests have emerged as the product is being rolled out, ranging from simpler versions to industry-specific needs and even niche features. As we continue to support the client with design, here are some key observations I've made...

• Users prioritize discoverability, even if it leads to a cluttered interface.

• While users don't want to use MS Excel, they expect the product to function similarly.

• Some users continue to focus on minimising click counts.

• Numerous elements, both large and small, require thoughtfully designed empty states.

• Even if the system intelligently pins frequent actions, users still prefer the option to pin them manually.

Project Impact

Biggest Learning

Next Time

Our redesign not only resulted in a continued engagement with this client but also led to:

• 50% increase in user adoption rates

• 32% decrease in sales conversion timelines

• 48% decrease in the development lifecycle

UX design is 90% about education and fostering genuine partnerships; only 10% is about the screens themselves. The best product outcomes arise when teams collaborate in co-design, grounded in mutual respect and trust.

I would design more compact layouts, as enterprise software often requires displaying many key information above the fold. Maintaining a balance of white space is crucial to avoid compromising the task area.