Developing Fortnox's Login System and Digital Mailbox

Background

Fortnox AB is a Swedish company that provides cloud-based solutions for accounting, invoicing, payroll, and other administrative services.

When I started at Fortnox in Linköping in August 2021, it was a small startup office with just 10 colleagues. There, I worked on two products: one involved updating Fortnox's login system, and the other was developing a digital mailbox similar to Kivra and Billo, but with a focus on providing a single place to gather all incoming company documents.

During my time at Fortnox, I focused extensively on user research and data collection while also contributing with concepts and design proposals for our products.

I've grown tremendously in my years at Fortnox, some key achievements of which I have listed below:

• Implemented a design process in the Linköping office which has been used and implemented in the rest och Fortnox organisation. The design process has helped our team establish more structure to how we conduct our work and allow other teams to gain visibility across our upcoming tasks.
• Improved usability across the platform. No usability tests were conducted by the external consultancy before dev handoff. Since I joined the Linköping we have been actively working towards conducting UX research and usability testing on all our projects.
• Been part of the product team in Linköping where I focused on concept and user research which added value to the implementation of new ideas for our products and other team's products.
• Contributing to the design system both with updating existing components and implemeting new once. This helped to maintain consistency in the look and feel across different parts of the platform.

Understanding the problem

Before Fortnox hired a product designer, both the login platform and the digital mailbox had been implemented based on the “best to know practise” without any UX in mind.

I conducted research interviews with our primary users to uncover any pain points that they were experiencing with the previouse releases.

My research encompassed:

• Understanding the user goals and needs
• Uncovering pain points with the existing user journey
• Determining the success of the tasks measured

Gathering insights

After collecting the recordings from the user interviews and data from insights, I conducted affinity mapping with my teammates to synthesise the pains identified. We grouped these problems under common themes and features in the products.

Prioritisation of issues

Collaborating with the Product Owner, I proactively categorized these issues within our ongoing tasks to ensure that Product Managers and developers had clear visibility into the key areas requiring attention from a usability perspective.

Wireframing the solution

I mocked up some basic wireframes to gather feedback from the users and stakeholders. This involved establishing a standardized visual hierarchy and layout for our products.

Digital mailbox

Login

Validating the designs

I conducted usability testing sessions with our primary users to validate whether the new designs would solve their problems.

Digital mailbox

Login

Developing the designs

I created high fidelity mockups in Figma and then added the design to the teams tasks so they could inspect the file and components.

I worked very closely with the team to specifie any missing interactions that were not covered in the high fidelity mockups. I conducted UX reviews at the 50% and 90% completion stages of each implementation to ensure alignment with the designs prior to the launch.

Results and takeaways

Since the implementation of the different products we have seen a significant decrease in the number of complaints lodged through the service desk. Additionally, I have received positive feedback from users regarding how I have helped them find and use our products more effectively, saving them a significant amount of time.

Some key takeaways from this project are:

• User testing doesn't end after development. Design is a constant iteration of improving the experience for the end user. Always find ways to collect and listen to your user's feedback.
• Involve developers upfront. This helps to reduce any rework later on as an understanding of the technical limitations upfront will help to improve my design strategy.