SAFe Big Picture: Strategic Simplification and Visual Clarity
SAFe Big Picture: Strategic Simplification and Visual Clarity
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Setting the Strategic Context
Setting the Strategic Context
The core Framework Graphic—our central Intellectual Property—had become a complex, near-technical diagram due to years of methodology updates. With four separate configurations plus a summary graphic, this system presented a severe challenge to user comprehension. Crucially, customer interviews showed the summary graphic was prioritized as the teaching tool, proving the user need for both simplification and better storytelling. While the overall content simplification was a team effort, my role was to drive the design and architectural overhaul of this asset, treating it as a complex information design system focused entirely on visual clarity, narrative flow, and user efficacy.
The core Framework Graphic—our central Intellectual Property—had become a complex, near-technical diagram due to years of methodology updates. With four separate configurations plus a summary graphic, this system presented a severe challenge to user comprehension. Crucially, customer interviews showed the summary graphic was prioritized as the teaching tool, proving the user need for both simplification and better storytelling. While the overall content simplification was a team effort, my role was to drive the design and architectural overhaul of this asset, treating it as a complex information design system focused entirely on visual clarity, narrative flow, and user efficacy.
The Visual Transformation: Before & After
The Visual Transformation: Before & After
Previous Design
The Legacy Problem: Visually and Technically Unmanageable. Over six major updates, the graphic's structure became overloaded, hindering user comprehension and creating significant design debt. The visual complexity failed to serve as an effective learning tool and required constant, expensive manual design effort for every minor methodology change.
Simplified Design
Solution: Strategic Simplification and Narrative Clarity. The redesign focused on imposing a clear visual narrative and simplified hierarchy. By intentionally removing technical clutter and highlighting core concepts, we transformed the asset into a highly approachable and effective storytelling tool. This not only resolved user confusion but created a simplified visual foundation for future, scalable growth.
Deep Dive: 12-Month Strategic Process
Deep Dive: 12-Month Strategic Process
The 12-month project was a complex strategic engagement. As the Lead Designer for the IP Leadership Team, I co-led the process by facilitating deep collaboration with external field experts. As a team, we used AI to synthesize all the complex expert feedback, allowing us to group similar items into actionable themes that directly informed our design decisions. My role was to take this research and drive the visual overhaul, translating these content requirements into a successful, functional visual system.
My design strategy focused on fundamental information design principles. We moved away from the idea of the graphic being a rigid, prescriptive map and made it a clear, flexible guide. This involved:
Defining the Core Narrative: Establishing a clear visual path that tells the story of scaling practices without visual clutter.
Enhancing Key Visual Components: Redesigning and clarifying the underlying components and icons to ensure each part of the system is easily recognizable and understandable.
Future-Proofing: Ensuring the simplified structure is robust enough to accommodate future methodology updates without requiring another systemic overhaul.
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