Ansys UX team

During the last 4 months (Spring 2022), I worked with Ansys as a User Experience Design Intern. Ansys builds engineering simulation software for 3D product design, testing and operations. I worked on Ansys Discovery —an enterprise software for 3D modeling and real-time simulation used by design engineers to explore ideas, iterate & enhance product quality.

During my internship, I worked with a cross-functional team of 5 UX Designers, 1 Design Director, 1 UX Manager and 3 developers along with a fellow intern. I got an opportunity to work on a wide variety of tasks/projects ranging from UI design to research and I even dabbled with some programming. The internship was an enriching experience and I learned more than I could imagine. I wish to share my learnings with the community and have this article serve as a reflection of my experience.

1. Direct manipulation interface

Ansys Discovery UI

This was my first time working on a product that used the Direct Manipulation interaction paradigm. Users create complex models in Discovery and simulate physical conditions to see how the model performs under those expected conditions. Interaction with a DMI is significantly more complex than interaction with a simple mobile device. Because direct manipulation involves incremental actions, the result should be displayed immediately. Establishing visual feedback for each action is critical. A great usability practice is to visually communicate feedback of any action even before they take it. This allows users to assess the outcome of an action before committing to it. This is attainable with the hover interaction.

Few key lessons I learned about DMIs

• Always highlight the object of interest or selected object.
• Users should be able to undo their actions with ease.
• Because direct manipulation is inspired by physical actions, interactions in software should naturally map to how users would interact with similar physical objects.
• Consistency across multiple levels is expected with DMIs, particularly design software. Along with visual consistency, it is critical to maintain consistency in subtle interactions and object behaviors so that users become fluent and develop an intuitive understanding of how new features will work.

2. Design principles

Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

Designers should establish design principles that will guide the design of the software based on a thorough understanding of the context of use. To achieve a consistent user experience, the principles should be embodied in all components, patterns, interaction styles, and incremental updates.

3. Pushing boundaries and innovating incrementally

Photo by Kvalifik on Unsplash

While existing popular design patterns can be a great guide for implementing certain concepts, it is our moral obligation as interaction designers to think about and discover new ways of interacting with devices. For example, most design and DMI tools today have panels that are typically placed along the screen’s edges. Adobe software organizes design tools on the left side of the screen and properties on the right. This design pattern is also used by Blender, Unity, and other software. Ansys Discovery, on the other hand, employs the metaphors of a halo and a hex to provide the user with in-context options based on the object selected. I learned from a senior designer on the team that this concept was inspired by Iron Man! How cool!

4. Proactive vs reactive paradigm

Photo by Tirza van Dijk on Unsplash

Discovery’s predecessors in the Ansys product family took a reactive approach, which meant that the software calculated results based on physical calculations performed by analysts (users). The user flow required analysts to perform complex mathematical and physical calculations in order to feed accurate values into the software and obtain accurate results. With Discovery, the emphasis shifted to a proactive paradigm in which the software performed calculations based on user actions under the hood and assisted them in achieving a seamless experience.

5. Being detail-oriented while designing interactions

Photo by Alvaro Reyes on Unsplash

With DMIs, interaction design is at the center of your design effort. Interactions look simple prima facie. When we reverse-engineer interactions, we realize that each interaction is broken down into smaller steps and that much thought has been put into it. I designed the interaction for an adjust width tool in the HUD bracket of discovery and I was surprised by how long it took me to come up with the most-suitable interaction design. A lot of factors need to be considered when designing interactions which include but are not limited to input channels like keyboard, mouse, trackpad; natural mapping, conflict with other features and interaction paradigm consistency.

6. Agile methodology and supporting developers in sprints

Photo by Eden Constantino on Unsplash

Developers typically work in two-week sprints to implement backlog items that have been prioritized. To have designs ready for the upcoming sprints, the UX team should work ahead of the sprints. Designers should assist developers during the current sprint by ensuring they have all of the assets and specifications they require to be successful.

7. Adopting different communication strategies

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Each stakeholder you meet has a unique set of goals, motivations, and understanding of design. A successful strategy to advocate for user-centered design is to find and understand what makes each stakeholder tick by developing a relationship with them and assuring they understand you are working for the same goal as they are. Once you and the stakeholder concur on the goal, you can propose alternative solutions that are user-centric and achieve the same result. It is vital to modify your communication approach in order to highlight attributes that are significant to them.

Looking back, I feel like I have grown tremendously as a designer. I got the necessary guidance and mentorship that I needed to become a well-rounded designer after completing one year in my Human-Computer Interaction graduate program. I would sincerely like to thank the team at Ansys!

If you’d like to hear more about my experiences or have a chat about design, feel free to drop me a text on Linkedin! Thank you for taking the time to read my article. :)