We’re excited to share that Microblink has been named a winner of the 2023 iF Design Award within the product category of “innovative data capture for onboarding users.” This particular product design project and user flow was spearheaded by Ivana Cvetkovic, our Head of Design, and Nika Sviben, our Staff Product Designer. We sat down with the two of them to discuss this most recent recognition, their feelings on the user onboarding journey, and what they see as the future of UX within AI.
With roughly 11,000 entries from 56 countries in 2023, the iF Design Award is one of the most distinguished design honors, awarded by the iF Design Foundation, which supports design and its social relevance around the globe. Microblink’s win (for “Innovative data capturing for onboarding users” within the product category) was born from a concept the team designed for our flagship BlinkID product: in-browser device-to-device scanning.
This recognition goes beyond making our user interface look nice. Part-time UX boundary pushers and full-time innovators, our current 10 person design team includes visual designers and product designers across two continents, each of whom is dedicated to our vision of bringing the benefits of AI to everyone on earth. No matter the task at hand, they consider how end users will engage with our products and always explore several approaches, incorporating real-world user feedback.
Their first UX design-related win of 2023 and second award in two years, the iF Design award entry focused on an SDK product design concept – in-browser device-to-device.
The idea for device-to-device scanning arose from the need to improve the quality of ID images captured by laptop cameras, Ivana recalled. “We work closely with our clients,” Ivana said, “and this idea was sparked during a conversation with a customer who wanted to use BlinkID without downloading the mobile app which is why we needed the browser alternative. Right away, we knew that desktop cameras would be an issue and that we needed a way to move to mobile cameras.”
When it comes to identity document scanning, the extraction and downstream verification is only as good as that first image capture. If the quality isn’t high (or the process is so cumbersome that users immediately abandon it), extraction accuracy (or user completion rates) will suffer.
So what exactly is our in-browser device-to-device functionality? It is a feature that enables our end users to use their good mobile phone camera to scan their ID but continue working on their desktop. That way they get the best quality of captured ID image while being able to continue working on a desktop where they started.
Inspired by client conversations, Ivana, Nika and the team set out to create a shortcut that would allow end users, who start the onboarding journey on desktop, to easily switch to using their mobile cameras. After nearly 12 months of brainstorming, real-world testing, and refinement, the Microblink team was able to develop an intuitive, reliable, seamless system that didn’t compromise on the overall performance of the BlinkID product suite.
Not surprisingly, the Microblink team encountered several challenges between the project’s conception and actualization. The biggest challenge, according to Nika, was ensuring that the concept worked reliably and securely. This is something Microblink keeps at the forefront of every product design and development conversation, especially given the sensitive nature of personal data contained on identity documents.
“Since the system involves scanning sensitive personal data, security is of the utmost importance,” Nika added. “We also pride ourselves on delivering industry-best user experience, which we refused to compromise in any way. To achieve this, we worked closely with our developer teams, and we’re proud of the result.”
A rewarding part of the journey was resolving all usability issues in many iterations. “We did consistent and various usability tests with people ranging from 18 to 80 years old, iterating the product based on user feedback each time until we got overwhelmingly positive results.” Nika said.
Our success,” Ivana said, “relies heavily on our team’s commitment to usability testing, which collects direct feedback from real users and helps to identify issues and pain points.”
Going forward, Ivana believes that usability testing will only grow in importance when it comes to quality product design, resulting in higher user satisfaction and greater overall adoption rates. While AI will only gain prominence in the coming months and years, becoming a standard feature across digital products, “solid UX design will remain essential to creating valuable and effective products that stand the test of time.”
For other UX designers and developers, Nika advises close collaboration between designers, developers, and customers to ensure that products solve real pain points and are both user-friendly and technically sound. This collaboration will result in a more efficient product development cycle and better overall product quality, beloved by client teams and end-users alike.
While the iF Design Award is a nice moment for Microblink’s design rockstars, it’s just the beginning. The team remains inspired – and motivated – by the need to ensure that AI is integrated seamlessly into products.
Learn more about our Design team here and connect with us on LinkedIn!
