Transforming a legacy engineering tool into a modern, intuitive field experience.
Role: Sole Product Designer (with feedback from a Design and Research Lead and Chief Design Officer)
Timeline: 1 month-long project for Teledyne ISCO
Constraints: 1-month timeline due to fixed launch at ANEAS 2024; Required full redesign of a non-functional Android app; Maintain visual and functional consistency across platforms; Ensure UX supported field-specific workflows for flow rate calculations
Impact: Successfully launched on iOS and Android ahead of ANEAS 2024, a leading Latin American water and sanitation conference; Received strong field feedback and a 4.5-star iOS rating; Surpassed 500 downloads on Android; Prompted follow-up client discussions for FlowCalc 2.0 initiative
Business Objective
Redesigning FlowCalc into a reliable, intuitive mobile tool for professionals calculating water flow rates in the field. Modernizing the interface, reducing friction, and ensuring high usability across iOS and Android for a mission-critical launch.
The Challenge
Teledyne ISCO’s original FlowCalc app was outdated and nearly unusable on Android.
The redesign needed to support complex field calculations without overwhelming users, ensuring confidence in high-pressure, low-connectivity environments. With ANEAS 2024 approaching, the app’s condition posed a serious risk to the success of a major campaign targeting thousands of professionals in the water and sanitation sector.
As the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication so strongly reasons, user experience and technical communication are deeply intertwined. When applications deal with complex systems, clarity in structure and usability becomes essential. For FlowCalc, this meant reducing cognitive load while maintaining the precision required by field engineers. Every decision had to support focused, in-situ usage where distractions and connectivity were minimal.
Understanding the Legacy App
The original FlowCalc app was functional but severely outdated, lacking both design coherence and UX considerations needed for modern mobile environments.
The first step was a comprehensive audit of the Android and iOS versions. I mapped core functionalities, identified usability pitfalls, and documented visual inconsistencies across platforms. Feedback from internal stakeholders and client-side engineers confirmed what the interface already suggested: the app was usable only with effort and prior familiarity. This set the foundation for a redesign that prioritized clarity, reliability, and ease of use under field conditions.
Initial Ideation
Early collaboration around the scale component shaped the first design decisions, built from pre-existing templates.
Initial feedback from internal and client teams focused on how the scale should behave and how best to present input values in field conditions. I used this input to begin refining layout structure, improving visual legibility, and ensuring clarity of measurement input and results. Designs were built on rough pre-existing app templates, establishing a consistent format for each conversion type while setting a baseline for usability improvements across platforms.
Rethinking the Q Component
Internal design reviews surfaced major clarity issues with how the Q value was displayed, prompting a focused redesign to improve its visibility and structure.
Using team feedback, I explored layout variations that clarified hierarchy and reduced visual noise. The final design elevated the Q value into a distinct, well-contained element, clearly separated from user inputs and actions. Typography, spacing, and scale were adjusted to ensure quick recognition, even under field pressure. This change anchored the experience around the app’s most important output and set a clearer standard for the rest of the interface.
High Fidelity Designs
Refining peripheral screens ensured a cohesive, field-ready experience beyond core conversions.
In addition to the main calculator redesign, I developed high-fidelity designs for the onboarding flow, homepage, favourites, and settings interface. These additions ensured users were equipped with optimal configurations from the start, could easily reference saved calculations, and had immediate access to key support actions. The visual system remained consistent throughout, balancing clarity, accessibility, and field-readiness across iOS and Android.
Design System
With the core structure defined, the design system focused on supporting field usability through clarity, consistency, and restraint.
I built a thorough design system rooted in clear spacing, strong contrast, and minimal decorative elements. Beyond foundational components, I designed and documented tags for flow types, input validations for reducing user error, modal patterns for contextual interactions, and cards for displaying grouped content like favourites and outputs. Typography was selected for legibility, and color was used sparingly to signal key actions and states. The system ensured consistency across iOS and Android while remaining scalable for future additions.
Testing Across Platforms
Post-handoff testing became a race to resolve Android issues before launch, with real-time collaboration across design and dev.
After handoff, I stayed actively involved across multiple sprints to validate implementation across iOS and Android. While the iOS build stabilized quickly, the Android version surfaced deep performance issues: lagging, misaligned components, and broken flows. I flagged critical bugs, clarified visual behaviors, and supplied updated assets or specs as needed. Collaboration was constant, and despite launch pressure, the team managed to resolve the most severe issues and get Android release-ready in time for ANEAS 2024.
Impact
FlowCalc launched on time for ANEAS 2024 with strong reception and measurable success across both platforms.
The redesigned app was well-received by both field users and internal stakeholders, praised for its clarity, responsiveness, and ease of use during real-world operation. It quickly surpassed 500 downloads on Android and earned a 4.5-star rating on the iOS App Store.
The clean UI, improved user flows, and reliable cross-platform performance restored confidence in the product and positioned it as a key tool in the broader ISCO ecosystem. Following the launch, the client initiated discussions for an expanded second phase—ISCO 2.0—to build on the momentum and extend functionality based on field feedback.
Key Takeaways
Designing a production-ready product without the luxury of a full UX process was a focused test of discipline and adaptability.
There was no time for low fidelity phases, no user testing, and no iteration cycles, just a tight deadline and the expectation to get it right. I leaned heavily on my foundational understanding of usability, hierarchy, and clarity to shape an interface that could perform in demanding, real-world environments. Designing for dirty hands, poor lighting, and high cognitive load required translating complex information into immediate clarity. This project reaffirmed my ability to deliver under pressure, while challenging me to adapt those skills to a highly specific, technical use case central to public infrastructure.
What’s Next?
The project has now entered its second phase, with the team expanding on the foundation I helped establish.
While I’m no longer directly involved due to work on other projects, the feedback from teammates has been consistent: the design system, file organization, and UI clarity laid a strong groundwork that continues to speed up iteration and decision-making. If I were to return, I’d be eager to engage more deeply with real field workflows and environmental constraints, which weren’t accessible during the original timeline. That added context would open up further opportunities to push the product’s impact even further.
Transforming a legacy engineering tool into a modern, intuitive field experience.
Role: Sole Product Designer (with feedback from a Design and Research Lead and Chief Design Officer)
Timeline: 1 month-long project for Teledyne ISCO
Constraints: 1-month timeline due to fixed launch at ANEAS 2024; Required full redesign of a non-functional Android app; Maintain visual and functional consistency across platforms; Ensure UX supported field-specific workflows for flow rate calculations
Impact: Successfully launched on iOS and Android ahead of ANEAS 2024, a leading Latin American water and sanitation conference; Received strong field feedback and a 4.5-star iOS rating; Surpassed 500 downloads on Android; Prompted follow-up client discussions for FlowCalc 2.0 initiative
Business Objective
Redesigning FlowCalc into a reliable, intuitive mobile tool for professionals calculating water flow rates in the field. Modernizing the interface, reducing friction, and ensuring high usability across iOS and Android for a mission-critical launch.
The Challenge
Teledyne ISCO’s original FlowCalc app was outdated and nearly unusable on Android.
The redesign needed to support complex field calculations without overwhelming users, ensuring confidence in high-pressure, low-connectivity environments. With ANEAS 2024 approaching, the app’s condition posed a serious risk to the success of a major campaign targeting thousands of professionals in the water and sanitation sector.
As the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication so strongly reasons, user experience and technical communication are deeply intertwined. When applications deal with complex systems, clarity in structure and usability becomes essential. For FlowCalc, this meant reducing cognitive load while maintaining the precision required by field engineers. Every decision had to support focused, in-situ usage where distractions and connectivity were minimal.
Understanding the Legacy App
The original FlowCalc app was functional but severely outdated, lacking both design coherence and UX considerations needed for modern mobile environments.
The first step was a comprehensive audit of the Android and iOS versions. I mapped core functionalities, identified usability pitfalls, and documented visual inconsistencies across platforms. Feedback from internal stakeholders and client-side engineers confirmed what the interface already suggested: the app was usable only with effort and prior familiarity. This set the foundation for a redesign that prioritized clarity, reliability, and ease of use under field conditions.
Initial Ideation
Early collaboration around the scale component shaped the first design decisions, built from pre-existing templates.
Initial feedback from internal and client teams focused on how the scale should behave and how best to present input values in field conditions. I used this input to begin refining layout structure, improving visual legibility, and ensuring clarity of measurement input and results. Designs were built on rough pre-existing app templates, establishing a consistent format for each conversion type while setting a baseline for usability improvements across platforms.
Rethinking the Q Component
Internal design reviews surfaced major clarity issues with how the Q value was displayed, prompting a focused redesign to improve its visibility and structure.
Using team feedback, I explored layout variations that clarified hierarchy and reduced visual noise. The final design elevated the Q value into a distinct, well-contained element, clearly separated from user inputs and actions. Typography, spacing, and scale were adjusted to ensure quick recognition, even under field pressure. This change anchored the experience around the app’s most important output and set a clearer standard for the rest of the interface.
High Fidelity Designs
Refining peripheral screens ensured a cohesive, field-ready experience beyond core conversions.
In addition to the main calculator redesign, I developed high-fidelity designs for the onboarding flow, homepage, favourites, and settings interface. These additions ensured users were equipped with optimal configurations from the start, could easily reference saved calculations, and had immediate access to key support actions. The visual system remained consistent throughout, balancing clarity, accessibility, and field-readiness across iOS and Android.
Design System
With the core structure defined, the design system focused on supporting field usability through clarity, consistency, and restraint.
I built a thorough design system rooted in clear spacing, strong contrast, and minimal decorative elements. Beyond foundational components, I designed and documented tags for flow types, input validations for reducing user error, modal patterns for contextual interactions, and cards for displaying grouped content like favourites and outputs. Typography was selected for legibility, and color was used sparingly to signal key actions and states. The system ensured consistency across iOS and Android while remaining scalable for future additions.
Testing Across Platforms
Post-handoff testing became a race to resolve Android issues before launch, with real-time collaboration across design and dev.
After handoff, I stayed actively involved across multiple sprints to validate implementation across iOS and Android. While the iOS build stabilized quickly, the Android version surfaced deep performance issues: lagging, misaligned components, and broken flows. I flagged critical bugs, clarified visual behaviors, and supplied updated assets or specs as needed. Collaboration was constant, and despite launch pressure, the team managed to resolve the most severe issues and get Android release-ready in time for ANEAS 2024.
Impact
FlowCalc launched on time for ANEAS 2024 with strong reception and measurable success across both platforms.
The redesigned app was well-received by both field users and internal stakeholders, praised for its clarity, responsiveness, and ease of use during real-world operation. It quickly surpassed 500 downloads on Android and earned a 4.5-star rating on the iOS App Store.
The clean UI, improved user flows, and reliable cross-platform performance restored confidence in the product and positioned it as a key tool in the broader ISCO ecosystem. Following the launch, the client initiated discussions for an expanded second phase—ISCO 2.0—to build on the momentum and extend functionality based on field feedback.
Key Takeaways
Designing a production-ready product without the luxury of a full UX process was a focused test of discipline and adaptability.
There was no time for low fidelity phases, no user testing, and no iteration cycles, just a tight deadline and the expectation to get it right. I leaned heavily on my foundational understanding of usability, hierarchy, and clarity to shape an interface that could perform in demanding, real-world environments. Designing for dirty hands, poor lighting, and high cognitive load required translating complex information into immediate clarity. This project reaffirmed my ability to deliver under pressure, while challenging me to adapt those skills to a highly specific, technical use case central to public infrastructure.
What’s Next?
The project has now entered its second phase, with the team expanding on the foundation I helped establish.
While I’m no longer directly involved due to work on other projects, the feedback from teammates has been consistent: the design system, file organization, and UI clarity laid a strong groundwork that continues to speed up iteration and decision-making. If I were to return, I’d be eager to engage more deeply with real field workflows and environmental constraints, which weren’t accessible during the original timeline. That added context would open up further opportunities to push the product’s impact even further.
Transforming a legacy engineering tool into a modern, intuitive field experience.
Role: Sole Product Designer (with feedback from a Design and Research Lead and Chief Design Officer)
Timeline: 1 month-long project for Teledyne ISCO
Constraints: 1-month timeline due to fixed launch at ANEAS 2024; Required full redesign of a non-functional Android app; Maintain visual and functional consistency across platforms; Ensure UX supported field-specific workflows for flow rate calculations
Impact: Successfully launched on iOS and Android ahead of ANEAS 2024, a leading Latin American water and sanitation conference; Received strong field feedback and a 4.5-star iOS rating; Surpassed 500 downloads on Android; Prompted follow-up client discussions for FlowCalc 2.0 initiative
Business Objective
Redesigning FlowCalc into a reliable, intuitive mobile tool for professionals calculating water flow rates in the field. Modernizing the interface, reducing friction, and ensuring high usability across iOS and Android for a mission-critical launch.
The Challenge
Teledyne ISCO’s original FlowCalc app was outdated and nearly unusable on Android.
The redesign needed to support complex field calculations without overwhelming users, ensuring confidence in high-pressure, low-connectivity environments. With ANEAS 2024 approaching, the app’s condition posed a serious risk to the success of a major campaign targeting thousands of professionals in the water and sanitation sector.
As the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication so strongly reasons, user experience and technical communication are deeply intertwined. When applications deal with complex systems, clarity in structure and usability becomes essential. For FlowCalc, this meant reducing cognitive load while maintaining the precision required by field engineers. Every decision had to support focused, in-situ usage where distractions and connectivity were minimal.
Understanding the Legacy App
The original FlowCalc app was functional but severely outdated, lacking both design coherence and UX considerations needed for modern mobile environments.
The first step was a comprehensive audit of the Android and iOS versions. I mapped core functionalities, identified usability pitfalls, and documented visual inconsistencies across platforms. Feedback from internal stakeholders and client-side engineers confirmed what the interface already suggested: the app was usable only with effort and prior familiarity. This set the foundation for a redesign that prioritized clarity, reliability, and ease of use under field conditions.
Initial Ideation
Early collaboration around the scale component shaped the first design decisions, built from pre-existing templates.
Initial feedback from internal and client teams focused on how the scale should behave and how best to present input values in field conditions. I used this input to begin refining layout structure, improving visual legibility, and ensuring clarity of measurement input and results. Designs were built on rough pre-existing app templates, establishing a consistent format for each conversion type while setting a baseline for usability improvements across platforms.
Rethinking the Q Component
Internal design reviews surfaced major clarity issues with how the Q value was displayed, prompting a focused redesign to improve its visibility and structure.
Using team feedback, I explored layout variations that clarified hierarchy and reduced visual noise. The final design elevated the Q value into a distinct, well-contained element, clearly separated from user inputs and actions. Typography, spacing, and scale were adjusted to ensure quick recognition, even under field pressure. This change anchored the experience around the app’s most important output and set a clearer standard for the rest of the interface.
High Fidelity Designs
Refining peripheral screens ensured a cohesive, field-ready experience beyond core conversions.
In addition to the main calculator redesign, I developed high-fidelity designs for the onboarding flow, homepage, favourites, and settings interface. These additions ensured users were equipped with optimal configurations from the start, could easily reference saved calculations, and had immediate access to key support actions. The visual system remained consistent throughout, balancing clarity, accessibility, and field-readiness across iOS and Android.
Design System
With the core structure defined, the design system focused on supporting field usability through clarity, consistency, and restraint.
I built a thorough design system rooted in clear spacing, strong contrast, and minimal decorative elements. Beyond foundational components, I designed and documented tags for flow types, input validations for reducing user error, modal patterns for contextual interactions, and cards for displaying grouped content like favourites and outputs. Typography was selected for legibility, and color was used sparingly to signal key actions and states. The system ensured consistency across iOS and Android while remaining scalable for future additions.
Testing Across Platforms
Post-handoff testing became a race to resolve Android issues before launch, with real-time collaboration across design and dev.
After handoff, I stayed actively involved across multiple sprints to validate implementation across iOS and Android. While the iOS build stabilized quickly, the Android version surfaced deep performance issues: lagging, misaligned components, and broken flows. I flagged critical bugs, clarified visual behaviors, and supplied updated assets or specs as needed. Collaboration was constant, and despite launch pressure, the team managed to resolve the most severe issues and get Android release-ready in time for ANEAS 2024.
Impact
FlowCalc launched on time for ANEAS 2024 with strong reception and measurable success across both platforms.
The redesigned app was well-received by both field users and internal stakeholders, praised for its clarity, responsiveness, and ease of use during real-world operation. It quickly surpassed 500 downloads on Android and earned a 4.5-star rating on the iOS App Store.
The clean UI, improved user flows, and reliable cross-platform performance restored confidence in the product and positioned it as a key tool in the broader ISCO ecosystem. Following the launch, the client initiated discussions for an expanded second phase—ISCO 2.0—to build on the momentum and extend functionality based on field feedback.
Key Takeaways
Designing a production-ready product without the luxury of a full UX process was a focused test of discipline and adaptability.
There was no time for low fidelity phases, no user testing, and no iteration cycles, just a tight deadline and the expectation to get it right. I leaned heavily on my foundational understanding of usability, hierarchy, and clarity to shape an interface that could perform in demanding, real-world environments. Designing for dirty hands, poor lighting, and high cognitive load required translating complex information into immediate clarity. This project reaffirmed my ability to deliver under pressure, while challenging me to adapt those skills to a highly specific, technical use case central to public infrastructure.
What’s Next?
The project has now entered its second phase, with the team expanding on the foundation I helped establish.
While I’m no longer directly involved due to work on other projects, the feedback from teammates has been consistent: the design system, file organization, and UI clarity laid a strong groundwork that continues to speed up iteration and decision-making. If I were to return, I’d be eager to engage more deeply with real field workflows and environmental constraints, which weren’t accessible during the original timeline. That added context would open up further opportunities to push the product’s impact even further.