SaaS HR platform redesign

Reduced internal HR support tickets by 25% and increased user satisfaction in request submission flows by 18%.

Role

UX/UI Designer

Industry

Duration

3 months

What is Fractal?

Fractal is an HR SaaS platform used by over 60,000 employees across Latin America. I was tasked with redesigning its core request system, which had been built without UX and caused confusion, errors, and a high support load for HR. I led the full UX process to restructure five key flows including vacation, medical leave, and shift changes into a desktop and mobile-friendly experience.

Understanding the problem

The original request system for Fractal was built without a product design team. As a result, employees experienced confusion, missing feedback, lack of guidance, and frequent errors that required support from HR.

Original Fractal interface for vacation requests.

Stakeholder interviews

To get a full picture of what was happening, I conducted multiple interviews with stakeholders from different sides of the product. I interviewed employees who used the platform every day, HR managers who managed the requests, developers who built the system, and the product manager who was in charge of the project. These conversations helped me understand the real pain points from both the user and business perspective.

What stakeholders shared

Users	HR Manager	Product Manager
Users felt unsure after sending a request, often leading them to ask for support to their HR managers.	HR received many messages from employees asking if their request had been sent correctly.	The team knew the request system needed improvements but didn’t have enough clarity on what to fix first.
When users made a mistake in a form, they didn’t know which field was wrong.	Employees often uploaded the wrong or incomplete documents because they did not know what was required.	A mobile version of the system was needed for users that use the platform on their phone.
Depending on the type of request (like medical leave or shift change), they didn’t know what documents were required to submit.	Reviewing and correcting these requests took a lot of time and slowed down the process. </aside>

Heuristic evaluation

I reviewed the live product using Nielsen’s heuristics to spot common problems in the experience. Many of the issues I found, like missing feedback, unclear form errors, or missing document requirements, matched what users had already mentioned in interviews. This helped validate their concerns and gave the team clear reasons to prioritize certain fixes.

Heuristic evaluation results

Problem	Heuristic	Why it was a problem
No feedback after submitting a request	Visibility of system status	People didn’t know if it worked
No way to cancel or edit a request	Error prevention	It caused stress and more manual work
Form errors were unclear	Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors	Users didn’t know where they had made mistakes
Missing information on required documents	Help and documentation	Led to confusion and delays in processing
Users had to remember details	Recognition rather than recall	Added mental load and caused uncertainty
Screens were cluttered with unnecessary information	Aesthetic and minimalist design	Added mental load

Pain point prioritization

After gathering feedback from users and running a heuristic evaluation, I had a long list of problems that were affecting the experience. To help the product manager and development team know where to focus first, I organized and prioritized the issues using Nielsen’s severity scale.

🟠 Severity 3: Major Usability Problem (important to fix)

No feedback after submitting a request.
→ Users had no idea if their action worked, leading to repeated submissions or support calls.
No way to cancel or edit a request after submission.
→ Created user frustration and required HR to step in manually.
Form errors were unclear.
→ Users couldn’t tell which fields needed fixing, causing failed attempts and confusion.
Missing info about required documents per request type.
→ Led to delays, rejected requests, and support dependency.

🟡 Severity 2: Minor Usability Problem

Users had to remember their vacation balance or policy details
→ Increased cognitive load and made people unsure about their request.

🟢 Severity 1: Cosmetic Problem

Screens were cluttered or had unnecessary information.
→ Didn't block the task but made it less pleasant to use.

Designing the solution

How data was organized

To bring more clarity to the experience, I mapped out five key request flows that employees use most often in Figjam. These included vacation requests, medical leave, shift changes, extra hours, and license requests. Each one had different requirements and logic, so I organized them under a shared structure that made it easier for users to choose the right option and complete their request without confusion. It also helped the dev team by organizing the system.

Fractal platform sitemap.

User flow for request submissions

I traced the main steps employees follow when submitting a request. To make the experience smoother, I added a confirmation step and clear feedback at the end, so users feel confident that their request was properly submitted. If they spot a mistake, they can go back and fix it before sending.

User flow for submitting a request.

Wireframes

Once I had mapped the full user flow and prioritized the key problems to solve, I started sketching ideas on a whiteboard to address the pain points. My goal was to design a system that felt simple, clear, and familiar, even when handling different types of requests with different rules.

What is Fractal?

Understanding the problem

Original Fractal interface for vacation requests.

Stakeholder interviews

What stakeholders shared

Users	HR Manager	Product Manager
Users felt unsure after sending a request, often leading them to ask for support to their HR managers.	HR received many messages from employees asking if their request had been sent correctly.	The team knew the request system needed improvements but didn’t have enough clarity on what to fix first.
When users made a mistake in a form, they didn’t know which field was wrong.	Employees often uploaded the wrong or incomplete documents because they did not know what was required.	A mobile version of the system was needed for users that use the platform on their phone.
Depending on the type of request (like medical leave or shift change), they didn’t know what documents were required to submit.	Reviewing and correcting these requests took a lot of time and slowed down the process. </aside>

Heuristic evaluation

Heuristic evaluation results

Problem	Heuristic	Why it was a problem
No feedback after submitting a request	Visibility of system status	People didn’t know if it worked
No way to cancel or edit a request	Error prevention	It caused stress and more manual work
Form errors were unclear	Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors	Users didn’t know where they had made mistakes
Missing information on required documents	Help and documentation	Led to confusion and delays in processing
Users had to remember details	Recognition rather than recall	Added mental load and caused uncertainty
Screens were cluttered with unnecessary information	Aesthetic and minimalist design	Added mental load

Pain point prioritization

🟠 Severity 3: Major Usability Problem (important to fix)

No feedback after submitting a request.
→ Users had no idea if their action worked, leading to repeated submissions or support calls.
No way to cancel or edit a request after submission.
→ Created user frustration and required HR to step in manually.
Form errors were unclear.
→ Users couldn’t tell which fields needed fixing, causing failed attempts and confusion.
Missing info about required documents per request type.
→ Led to delays, rejected requests, and support dependency.

🟡 Severity 2: Minor Usability Problem

Users had to remember their vacation balance or policy details
→ Increased cognitive load and made people unsure about their request.

🟢 Severity 1: Cosmetic Problem

Screens were cluttered or had unnecessary information.
→ Didn't block the task but made it less pleasant to use.

Designing the solution

How data was organized

Fractal platform sitemap.

User flow for request submissions

User flow for submitting a request.

Wireframes

To keep things simple, I broke the flow down into five core steps:

Dashboard overview
I included the vacation balance, a quick view of past requests, and upcoming shift assignments. This solved a major issue users had: not knowing how many days off they had left or where to find that information.
Select request type
From one central place, users could choose what type of request they wanted to make, whether it was time off, medical leave, or shift swaps. Each option led to its own tailored form.
Fill request details
The form adjusted based on the type of request. For vacation, I reorganized the layout to give proper visual hierarchy to the vacation balance. By making it more prominent and easier to scan, users could better understand how many days they had before submitting a request. For license requests, I added a file upload field and a tooltip that explained which supporting documents were required, helping users avoid mistakes and delays.
Confirm submission
A simple confirmation modal helps users feel in control and gives them a chance to double check before sending. This directly addressed the issue of users not being sure if their request had been sent or needing to fix mistakes.
Submission success
Finally, users get instant feedback that their request was submitted, solving the lack of system feedback that caused so much confusion and assisted HR support in the original experience.

After revisiting the wireframes with the team, we decided to remove the side navigation and place it at the top to make better use of space. We also removed the progress bar, since it was confusing for users.

High-fidelity prototype

I created a high-fidelity prototype in Figma to bring the system to life and test how each request type flowed through the new interface. This quick demo shows how users can start a new request and select from different options in a clean, user-friendly experience.

Demo showing how to submit a request in the new experience.

Vacation request

The updated layout gives clear visibility to the number of days available, which was a major issue in the old version. By improving the hierarchy of this information, users can now make informed decisions more confidently.

License request

For license requests, the form includes a dedicated upload box for attaching supporting documents. A tooltip below the field clearly explains what type of document is required.

Confirmation modal

Before submitting any request, users see a confirmation modal summarizing the information they entered. This gives them a chance to double check everything and reduces the risk of errors.

Error message

In the previous version of the system, users had no idea which fields were missing or filled incorrectly. To solve this, I introduced clear error validation by including a “toast” and highlighting in red the inputs to correct.

Designing for mobile

As part of the product requirements, I was asked to design the full request system to work well on mobile devices. The product manager highlighted the importance of having a responsive experience, since many employees access the platform from their phones.

These pictures show how I adapted the key flows for smaller screens, keeping the same clarity and functionality as in the desktop version.

Outcomes

Testing the design

After building the high-fidelity prototype, I tested it using Maze with 8 employees from different departments. The test consisted on submitting a vacation request and they rating their experience with the new platform.

Usability metrics

Metric	Usability dimension
Task Success	Effectiveness
Customer Satisfaction Score	Satisfaction

Results

-25%

HR Support tickets requested

+18%

User Satisfaction

The design changes led to measurable improvements in both user performance and satisfaction:

Task Success improved significantly, indicating that employees were better able to complete vacation requests without confusion or errors. These translated in a drop of 25% in support tickets, suggesting fewer users got stuck or needed help from HR.
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) rose by 18%, showing a clear improvement in how users felt about the experience overall.

Takeaways

This project gave me the chance to lead the full UX process for a high impact feature used by over 60,000 employees across Latin America. From research to information architecture, UI design and testing, I gained hands-on experience structuring and delivering complex request flows.

Outcomes

Testing the design

Usability metrics

Metric	Usability dimension
Task Success	Effectiveness
Customer Satisfaction Score	Satisfaction

Results

-25%

HR Support tickets requested

+18%

User Satisfaction

The design changes led to measurable improvements in both user performance and satisfaction:

Task Success improved significantly, indicating that employees were better able to complete vacation requests without confusion or errors. These translated in a drop of 25% in support tickets, suggesting fewer users got stuck or needed help from HR.
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) rose by 18%, showing a clear improvement in how users felt about the experience overall.

Takeaways

This project gave me the chance to lead the full UX process for a high impact feature used by over 60,000 employees across Latin America. From research to information architecture, UI design and testing, I gained hands-on experience structuring and delivering complex request flows.

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