Outlook Mail: A More Organized Outlook
Email is the standard for professional communication in the modern age of technology. Like a lot of other students and professionals, I always want to find important messages in a timely, efficient manner to maximize productivity. However, using Outlook Mail often leads to a cluttered inbox — only separated by obscure labels such as “focused” and “other.” The limited organization options and interface also highlight the lack of feedback that cultivates user satisfaction.
Folders are one of the only methods of organizing an inbox in Outlook Mail. By default, there are two categories “focused” and “other.” Ironically, many of the emails that I find important are placed in “other” while promotional messages are sprinkled in the “focused” category.
It can be difficult to navigate a messy inbox, especially when the default options contribute to this problem.
So, how might we give users more agency over their inbox organization in the most efficient manner? How can we enhance the user interface to provide satisfying feedback and empower the user?
When I use my email, I want to find important messages quickly and efficiently, so I can be more productive I can’t do that well because:
- E-mails are difficult to sort and users have limited organization options.
- Outlook’s organizational features lack feedback, making the interface unwieldy to use.
Researching Outlook’s Frustrating Features
I wanted to discover issues that users face when interacting with Outlook Mail. Some key takeaways:
- Users correlate Outlook in a professional and not personal manner
- Users have inboxes that are difficult to sort through, leading to intensive search bar use
- Outlook’s layout is not user friendly and causes problems for users
- Outlook’s calendar is an important and vital scheduling feature for users
- Users enjoy being able to connect with friends and family; a collaborative ecosystem is important for them
- Users enjoy being able to categorize and sort emails in different ways
Outlook’s Cluttered Interface and Limited Organization
Initially, I thought that users would be frustrated by using the search bar too much and having to sift through piles of irrelevant emails. My understanding of this issue evolved through user research to identify the cluttered interface and limited organization options as key problems. I recruited some friends to help me brainstorm solutions to these problems on Figma (Thanks COVID!).
Exploring Features
After brainstorming ways that we might improve Outlook, we decided on three solution spaces: Ecosystem/Suite, Organization, and Interface.
Further exploring these solution spaces led to 6 solutions — pared down to 2 that I decided to investigate further.
- Diversify filtering options
- Diversify tagging options
- Promote live editing that updates with emails
- Group Microsoft Suite and Outlook into one place
- Increase color distinction in calendar
- Increase visual distinction between read and unread emails
After looking at the trade-offs for each feature, I decided to move forward with the solution to diversify tagging and filtering options.
Improving Outlook’s Organization Options
Although Outlook Mail has folders and flagging that provide some level of organization for users, there’s a lot that can be improved on.
Early Ideas And Flows
Early on in the design process, I thought that just adding more flagging and folder options would remedy the problems users were facing. Through feedback and experimentation, I knew that I needed something with more impact. I iterated on my original idea by adding in automatic tagging options — accessed by a separate sorting screen. Simplified, this feature would be similar to G-mail’s default sorting folders.
How Competitors Enable Organization
Gmail is Outlook’s largest competitor that enables organization through the default tabs: Primary, Social, and Promotions
Although the purpose behind my intended feature would be similar to Gmail, the sorting feature I have in mind would be more in-depth and impactful for helping users stay organized.
Medium Fidelity Flows
Creating an information hierarchy helped me determine that a separate sorting screen would be the best way to tackle implementing a new feature. In my explorations I ended up moving forward with three flows.
A lot of the feedback I received from these flows made it clear that selecting multiple folders was confusing, especially in the middle screens. I revised these flows to more clearly show that the user has custom folder options, fit Outlook Mail’s branding, and making it clear where the user is in the sorting process.
The final flow that I decided on was revised flow 1. My user feedback showed that two pain points were custom folders and streamlining the process. I believe that this flow also streamlines the process by removing frustrating or confusing screens such as the focused/other selection while highlighting important ones such as the custom screen.
High-Fidelity Prototype
UI Kit and Visual Design
Below are some elements of the UI Kit that I used to create various flows and the final prototype.
What I Learned
The design process was an interesting and rewarding experience to explore. I was able to learn a lot about product thinking. This included prioritizing people problems rather than focusing on making everything visually appealing. This was my first case study made with TA guidance from Intro to Digital Product Design at Cornell University. I hope to improve in many aspects of the design process and am looking forward to seeing how I can continue to grow as a designer.