_ Product design
_ Marketing website & social
_ Systems & style guides
Art Director
Product Designer
Full time, remote
Jan 2016 - Jan 2020
Sketch
Zeplin, Invision
Adobe
Invision DSM
Original 2016 branding by
Red Antler, NY
Smart business insurance.
Embroker was looking to bring an old industry into the new world. Starting from a scrappy team of few, we set out to revolutionize business insurance.
Purchasing business insurance can be a painful experience and Embroker wanted to change that. Our customers were CEOs and administrators, small business owners looking to switch brokers to save money. We wanted to help them save time, too.
Social media campaign, 2017
MVP: The initial launch was pretty simple. Our team of dedicated brokers would recommend a policy and host it on the platform. A user could log in to to view their policies. As the product grew, customers would be able to shop for policies, manage their certificates and claims and track their payment history. We built features to manage multiple accounts and were able to expand into new industries such a cyber and cannabis.
Embroker has a team of specialized insurance brokers based out of Chicago. We worked closely with our brokers to understand what clients needed, what the insurance industry expected and what was legally possible. From there, we would adapt familiar templates to a digital model. We cut down on excessive form fields, performed automated scrapes for uploaded documents and hid whatever irrelevant or excessive data we could.
Old industry,
new world
Form layout sketches
Photoshoot, 2018: Embroker caters to every business
Adapting
In 2016, we started building our product desktop-only. I know. From their cozy offices, customers could upload policies and apply for coverage. Our known users were happy there and we weren’t finding many use cases of people wanting to engage with us on their phones.
We would come to change our minds about this as we expanded our offerings. Property managers and contractors, for example, wanted an easy way to manage their certificates–that sure would be handy to have on a job site! So we began to redesign our product to support smaller screens.
Obviously our navigation would have to change, as well as forms; we wanted to make them forms simple. In user testing, we found that people didn’t mind clicking along as long as the information was clear and there was some expectation to how long it would take. So we introduced a one-question-at-a-time style and saw our click-though rates increase.
Upload a policy and see it appear as a digital representation
Simple forms. Full navigation redesign underway
December 2019 billboard and transit signs, San Francisco.
Case study:
Embroker Startup Program
Embroker is a start-up’s startup. In 2019 we launched our first instant quote offering, the Embroker Startup Program. These are the best policies bundled to protect start-ups at competitive rates.
Hypothesis: For the first time, directors and owners could apply online for business insurance specifically targeted to them. We focused on tech and had a gut feeling that people wanted this specific bundle clearly explained; insurance they understood, great coverage and an easy application process. We were right.
Findings: Catering to start ups may have saved our start up. Poetic, no? We saw engagement soar and investors reengage.
Conclusion: We decided to extend this model to other industries. Bit by bit, our applications became more user friendly, our offerings more targeted. By January of 2020 we were ready to reimagine the industry once again.
1. Coverage comparison sheet
2. Wires for Embroker Startup Program shopping experience
3. Sketches for comparing carriers
Systems
I find having a style guide to refer to is absolutely key for collaboration.. I love making a good guide. The last thing we want is 10 different button styles and no logic on where to place them. Using libraries to organize and share components is handy too.
I start with a grid, then create a handful of templates that covers all configurations and pages. Navigation, scaling, typography and layer styles are all clearly defined. Components are laid out with styles and rules and everyone’s happy.
1. Defining the grid
2. Button styles clearly defined
“Nicole worked for us remotely, but she was so present, organized and disciplined that this arrangement worked unusually well.”
- Will Dogan,
VP of Product & Design, Embroker
Thanks, Will! I have a lot of techniques for our new normal. I’m a visual learner so I like to keep it all spelled out clearly. If the task requires pixel perfect Invision comps, that’s fine. Fully clickable demos? All good. Animated transition examples? Can do.
To me, a good project is about collaboration from wherever we are, the ideal team achieving one little goal and then the next, always making it better. We prioritize business goals but listen to users. B2C, B2B or B2B2C, there’s always a person at the end of the line.
