Strategized UX enhancements for the Search Analytics feature for ExacqVision.
ExacqVision is an enterprise-grade video management system built for monitoring and managing surveillance camera networks. Forensic Search (in this instance) is the process of identifying specific events or objects in the recorded footage.
DURATION
Oct 2024 - May 2025
(8 months)
TEAM
Product Manager,
2 UX Designers (me),
2 UX Researchers
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Executive Sales team,
Engineers,
Technical Sales team,
UX team
CONTRIBUTIONS
Optimize Customer Journey Map,
Interaction Design,
Rapid Prototyping,
Design Strategy,
Cross-functional collaboration,
Stakeholder Management
FORENSIC SEARCH
The Advanced Forensic Search feature leverages the AI camera's metadata as filters to refine search criteria. Instead of manually selecting cameras and scrubbing through timeframes, users can search for specific objects alongside camera and time parameters. The system then surfaces exact moments where the object appears in footage, making investigations faster, more accurate, and less tedious.
PROBLEM
Only 2% of our existing user base is leveraging the advanced Forensic Search feature to locate specific objects or events in recorded video footage, indicating a low feature adoption despite its potential value in improving investigation efficiency.
but WHY?
UX Research revealed that the users are not aware of the feature due to poor surfacing of its entry point, cluttered and unintuitive interface, and lack of external onboarding guidance.
[Forensic Search workflow]
[existing interface]
See that tiny "Show Filters" checkbox? That is the entry point for Forensic Search: in an undiscoverable and unintuitive interface with no context.
How might we ensure that current and novice users can discover and confidently navigate the Forensic Search workflow?
DESIGN DECISIONS
High-impact, low-effort UX improvements that reduced friction, improved discoverability, and aligned workflows with user mental models.
#1 Filters: Entry point for Forensic Search
Surface the filter panel by default, eliminating the guesswork and creating a more intuitive entry point for faster, more confident investigations.
surfacing the filter panel by default, reducing the friction of identifying advance capabilities
Moreover, the current filter panel is cluttered and lacks a clear hierarchy, which makes it difficult for users to scan, prioritize, and confidently take action.
Restructured the panel with clear grouping and emphasis on the most critical filters and turned first impressions into momentum. Users can quickly see where to start, focus on what matters, and move through investigations with less friction.
[before]
Too many CTAs
Lacks a clear hierarchy, and some filters don't aid decisions and are irrelevant
[after]
Improved content hierarchy
Sort by confidence for faster relevance.
Defined primary actions through well-defined CTAs
Addressing the filter panel was the most impactful step in improving discoverability and shaping a clearer entry point for Forensic Search. However, I identified additional usability issues that needed to be resolved to deliver a cohesive and intuitive experience.
#2 Search Modes
The Search feature has three modes: Timeline and List (connected, retain selections) and Thumbnail (independent, discards selections). Having the Thumbnail mode between Timeline and List modes breaks their connection, adding friction and confusion to an otherwise simple workflow.
Re-arranged the modes in the navigation panel to align with their functional relationship, reduce user confusion, and create a smoother, more intuitive navigation experience."
[before]
Thumbnail mode disrupts connected Timeline–List flow
[after]
Reorder modes to reflect functional relationships.
#3 Camera Panel
Camera status and capabilities are unclear - users only realize a camera is offline or lacks advanced analytics after waiting for results, leading to wasted time, extra steps, and unnecessary frustration. Adding to that, sorting options also lack visual consistency.
Grey out offline cameras to signal status upfront, add an analytics icon to indicate advanced capabilities, and ensure visual consistency for the sorting options, helping users quickly identify the right cameras without trial and error.
[before]
Unclear camera status and capabilities
Visual inconsistency for sorting options - causing confusion of its use cases.
[after]
Analytics icon indicating advance capabilities availibility
'Grey state' for inactive cameras.
Visually consistent sorting options
#4 Search Range
The current structure feels unpolished, with unclear titles and a 'Search' CTA that is small and downplayed. Low text–background contrast further raises accessibility concerns.
Introduced clear section titles, enlarged and emphasized the 'Search' CTA as the primary action, and applied proper text–background contrast to improve visibility and accessibility.
[before]
Unclear titles, weak primary action, and low contrast (accessibility issues)
[after]
Use clear titles and improved visibility
Elevated primary "Search" CTA
(Remains greyed out until the requirements are selected)
#5 Manual Scrubbing (finding the object/event)
Scrubbing the timeline with multiple cameras creates clutter, as metadata from all cameras appears with multiple panels competing for attention. This increases cognitive load, making it difficult to read the timeline, track which data belongs to which camera, and scrub efficiently through events.
Introduced expand/collapse controls and an 'eye' button to hide unnecessary analytics panels. This reduces clutter, helping users focus on relevant data and scrub the timeline more easily.
[before]
cluttered and overwhelming timeline
[after]
Ability to hide cameras and analytics users don't want to focus on to reduce clutter and improve focus
IMPACT
2.5x faster search time (15 → 6 minutes!) 🚀
Resolved 11+ high-impact usability issues, eliminated friction across critical steps, and sharpened interaction patterns to deliver a smoother, more predictable search workflow that removes ambiguity and guesswork so users always know what to do and how to do it.
[there's more to it]
Competitor analysis and interviews with the technical sales team showed that user expectations and market AI advances have converged; to maintain its competitive edge and prevent churn, Exacq needed to add AI-driven capabilities.
FUTURE DESIGN DIRECTION
My team and I partnered with the product, engineering, and sales teams of Exacq to set a future-ready design direction: introducing AI-driven features, sequencing the roadmap for measurable wins, and grounding decisions in market positioning and user needs.
# Camera clustering
Users weren’t sure which cameras to select. They knew only a few cameras (or none), leading to guesswork and missed coverage.
The system recommends other cameras within the location, letting users quickly multi-select as needed.
This creates a guided, context-aware selection flow that reduces cognitive load, improves coverage completeness, and speeds up investigation.
# Dynamic Filters
Filters remain unchanged for each camera, displaying every option, including objects that are not present in the selected footage. This might cause confusion and frustration by setting false expectations with no upfront indication.
Grey out unavailable filters.
Dynamic filters only show filter options that are identified in the selected cameras (identified through metadata received from the camera).
# Refined workflow and visual layout
With a long-term lens, I revamped the experience into a differentiating product capability, aligning the workflow to users’ mental models and adding time-savers like Recent Searches, so frequent queries can be rerun without rebuilding them, reducing effort and turnaround time.
[Research-backed workflow that resonates most with user's expectations]
[workflow prototype]
IMPACT
89% stakeholder satisfaction rate 🚀
16 of 18 stakeholders across engineering, technical sales, executive sales, UX, and product teams confirmed that their vision aligned with the long-term product strategy I designed with my team. This alignment wasn’t just about agreement - it reflected shared confidence that the strategy addressed cross-functional priorities such as scalability, market differentiation, and user adoption.
What about the other 2 stakeholders?
The remaining sales stakeholders were not dissatisfied, but they weren’t fully aligned either. Their perspective reflected a push for deeper AI integration, rooted in their understanding of market trends and competitive positioning. While we factored these insights into our strategy, some of the proposed features were not technically feasible given that Exacq is not cloud-based. As a result, their vision diverged slightly, but still resonated with the broader direction we established.
(scroll down to learn more about the work)
......
FINDING THE ROOT CAUSE
My approach to research was grounded in three key areas: the system, the users, and the market.
To design the right solution, I needed to understand the problem from all sides. That meant looking closely at how the system currently worked, how users interacted with it (or didn’t), and how ExacqVision stood in a fast-evolving competitive landscape.
Each research method was deliberately chosen to uncover insights from a different angle from how the system was built and used, to how it compared in a rapidly evolving competitive landscape. Together, these perspectives shaped a holistic foundation that guided every design decision moving forward.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Exacq serves small to mid-sized markets with a diverse user base, each bringing different levels of familiarity, expectations, and needs.
The people using ExacqVision aren’t just IT specialists or security professionals. They include teachers, shop owners, facility staff, and others who may be completely new to video systems. This wide range of backgrounds means the product needs to be intuitive and flexible enough to support both technical and non-technical users (75% of Exacq users) alike.
CORE PROBLEM
There were many pain points, but uncovering a shared root issue helped focus the design in the right direction.
Together with the team, I conducted an affinity mapping exercise to synthesize our research findings. This process revealed that while each component of the search experience had its own usability issues, the overall workflow lacked cohesion.
Users often didn’t know what to do next, not because the system was limiting, but because it offered too much flexibility without guidance. What was intended as a powerful, configurable tool ended up feeling overwhelming and directionless
CONCLUDING THE PROBLEM
Users need a guided search experience because the current workflow is fragmented and key features are not discoverable, leading to inefficient use and low feature adoption.
DESIGN STRATEGY
Focus on near-term priorities and outline how the product can strategically grow in the market.
The goal was to design an experience that empowers users to work confidently and efficiently, while aligning with stakeholder priorities and supporting long-term business value.
I began by sketching core components of the search workflow not to rush into solutions, but to explore where the UX was breaking down and how it might be improved. Throughout this phase, I asked critical questions to stay grounded in user needs and ensure every design decision addressed the root problem.
UNDERSTANDING THE CONSTRAINTS
Designing for Exacq came with its own set of challenges!
Designing for Exacq meant working within meaningful constraints: a legacy interface that couldn’t be visually reworked, no direct access to users, and limited backend support for AI or automation.
Rather than seeing these as blockers, I treated them as design boundaries. They helped sharpen the focus, guiding me to create solutions that were thoughtful, realistic, and impactful within the system's existing capabilities
DESIGN ITERATIONS
Rethinking the entry point for advanced Forensic Search: Filters
Knowing filters are the primary entry point for forensic search, I started by focusing design efforts on rethinking how filter options should be presented.
Entry point lacks prominence - easy to overlook (user’s don't even know its existence)
DESIGN ITERATIONS
First and foremost: the Forensic Search workflow
The existing forensic search workflow gave users complete freedom on where to begin, but research showed that this flexibility often led to confusion. Users described thinking about the object first (“I want to find a red backpack”), and only then narrowing down by time and location. This revealed the need for a more guided, object-first workflow.
PM and UX team were well-aligned with the object-first approach but engineers pointed out that this is not immediately feasible. Instead of forcing a partial solution, I documented the object-first workflow for the future roadmap and focused on improving the current flow
