Desktop, Mobile, Android TV
Mersive Collaboration Suite: Revolutionizing Wireless Collaboration Across Platforms
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At a Glance
Product suite of collaboration tools, cloud management and deployment, and large display apps for the Mersive Collaboration Suite. This cross-platform app suite transforms how users collaborate in work, educational, and public spaces.
My Role: User research, conceptualization, design, usability testing
Duration: 12 months to launch plus ongoing management
Background & Problem
Mersive faced the task of developing a new suite of wireless collaboration products to address market changes and leverage emerging technologies. The goal was to create a streamlined user experience that retained familiar features while breaking free from previous technological constraints. The key challenge was designing a cohesive UX that enhanced the experience for existing users while appealing to new markets and personas.
Existing users had many frustrations with the legacy product, Solstice, in how complex the hardware onboarding process is and some of the hoops users had to jump through to simply connect to a display to share content. Many large customers have anywhere from 700 to 14,000 Solstice Pods in their organization that were desperately in need of an upgrade. Luckily, with the new product we got to build something completely different from the ground up that serves the needs of both IT admins managing hardware and end users who want to collaborate.
Research
My research focused on two key but very distinct personas: IT admins and end users who have limited technical knowledge. When this project first started, I had two years of existing customer meetings to borrow feedback from regarding pain points with the legacy product. I conducted several additional interviews and visited customer sites to gain further knowledge. One visit was to the University of Iowa who has 700 Solstice Pods, a small dedicated IT team, and thousands of students using the software on any given day.
Another key customer visit to Chicago to see WeWork in action was vital to the research portion of the project. They have thousands of devices globally and their team provided invaluable insight into their user behaviors, where they stumble, and their likes and dislikes about the existing platform. Solstice Cloud, which is used to manage and update Pods, had a different look and feel from the user application which caused dissonance in the product suite.
User Needs:
Easy connection user flow to get connected to a display
Simple user instructions with no technical jargon
Streamlined onboarding process for IT to set up a new device
Keep all the things they love about Solstice (multi-user simultaneous connection, moderation, layout controls)
One standardized user flow that meets the different persona types
Pain Points:
Users often needed to enter an IP address to connect and found it frustrating
Overly complex network setup made it difficult to onboard and update devices in bulk made management tedious
Inconsistent look and feel on different apps within the product suite left users confused
Advanced features were hard to find and often left users thinking they are missing from the product
Users always have to be on a specific Wi-Fi network to connect to a Pod
Stakeholder Considerations:
While the goal was to move to a software-first approach, hardware is still a key element of the Mersive business modal
Customers need enterprise-grade networking configurations to deploy into their existing ecosystem
The time to launch window is short so the roadmap needs to allow for quick MVP releases with rapid addition of features
SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and HIPAA are firm requirements, so users may have extra steps to accommodate for security
Unlike Solstice Pods, the new hardware offering will be 3 device types with different feature sets the experience needs to account for
Strategy
Using all of this user feedback and sales feedback, I partnered with an app developer to start working on a proof of concept to try a different technology and code architecture for a content sharing platform. Moving from peer-to-peer connections in favor of WebRTC-based connections opened the floodgates of design. The idea was simple: if everything is in the cloud rather than using dedicated networks for sharing, we could open the door to a simple, cloud-based app that can service our two key personas.
We tested the POC by running a display app on a smart tv and a simple web app for customization and content sharing. For the design, we used an out-of-the-box solution with Radix UI so I could take the time to create a true design system at a later date. The POC testing went extremely well and we were able to present to all C-Suite level executives, sales, marketing, and some key channel partners to get sign off.
From there I, along with members of the Product, Engineering, and Leadership teams brainstormed all the necessary features we would keep from the old platform as well as new features we could add in the new platform. Every feature was validated with the market and an all-encompassing product requirement document was created by our VP of Product while I started sketching out designs for the admin dashboard, content sharing, and display apps.
Design
The design was heavily inspired by Mersive’s existing cloud management platform, Solstice Cloud, specifically because the IT admin persona is so crucial to the overall customer journey. Existing customers are used to a certain experience so we used that as a base for sketching out and testing where other features could live within the UI. I used Figma’s brainstorming tool, FigJam, on an iPad where I could easily draw in a document my remote team and I would work in. FigJam is great because it creates vector objects out of your sketches and you can easily move things around, delete objects, and scale up or down as needed. It was really fun to learn this aspect of FigJam since prior to this project, I only used it for user flows and other light brainstorming activities.
To accommodate for all personas, one innovation over the legacy platform is that there is now one point of entry screen for all users. The majority of users just want to connect and share their screen, so the first thing users see is a simple PIN entry form. There is a login button where admins can go to manage devices and users. I started with old branding during the lo-fi mockup stage and moved to new branding as dictated by the marketing team for the final mockups handed off to developers.
When it comes to the design of the onboarding experience, I created a display app under one simple pretense: Users should not have to be technical to use this product. I stream a lot of content at home using various apps and services and they all seem to have one thing in common. When the app first loads, users are given the option to scan a code or go to a URL to activate. Previously, the onboarding experience was extremely technical and the display would often appear as though everything was fine when in reality the Pod was not on a network among other common issues as reported by users.
I met with developers and sat in on technical architecture discussions, not just to understand how the product works, but to also gain an understanding of what is possible. Fortunately, with everything now being cloud-based through one centralized management portal, the “Netflix style” of activation was possible. I quickly sketched out some ideas, iterated, and we landed on a final design puts users at ease. I took this same approach for other aspects of the display always ensuring users have the 10 foot view of legibility in a space. This extends past the onboarding stage to what we call the “idle screen”, error screens, and real-time notifications if errors arise.
Outcome
The first launch in September 2024 was for Android Smart TVs, Chromecast, and the new Google TV Streamer device. It served as a quick, effortless way to deploy to organizations, test with prospective customers, and allow users to see Mersive’s future potential. While the software had a limited feature set, it was architected in such a way to where we can continuously push over the air updates during off hours so users get new features as promised without interrupting any of their daily lives.
For onboarding, seeing that all they need is a simple activation code and an internet connection was so vastly different than the old product, customers were often astonished at how easy this next generation of hardware could be. “Surely there’s more to it than this.” “Is that it? Is it really activated?” This showed me that they were really struggling with the old product and tested proved that this cut down the onboarding time by 50%. Seeing them breathe a sign of relief was extremely satisfying as a designer.
For collaboration, we saw a significant increase in efficiency when it comes to connecting to a display. No need to guess which network to be on nor which IP address to enter. Our users may not even know what an IP address is! Simple, clear instructions after connection eased the collaboration process while giving users the ability to share more than one piece of content to the screen at a time, promote multiple simultaneous connections to a single display, and light moderation capabilities that speak to Mersive’s security posture.
Key Takeaways
Designing the experience and interface of the Mersive Collaboration Suite is truly the highlight of my career thus far. It has pushed me to extend my design skills in a way I hadn’t thought possible. But focusing on the user in the room, the true voice of the customer, helps me push past any obstacles and land on a final design that I’m not just extremely proud of but one that makes an impact to customers.
Recently, Mersive has launched the remaining two hardware offerings, the Mersive Mini and Mersive Pod, that showcase all the features of the initial release but with much more powerful hardware running the apps. I really loved learning the intricacies of the product and how the hardware differs from the Smart TV version. We’ve seen increases of user adoption, upticks in traffic from an award-winning booth at InfoComm 2025, and have some of the biggest orders in the company’s history on the way.
Looking forward, I want to keep honing these skills not just in user experience design but also product management. I have identified gaps I had two years ago in the product feature gathering process that I not only excel at now but look forward to when it comes to roadmap planning. Designing an entire app suite from scratch can be arduous but based on everything I have learned at Mersive, I can’t wait to get the opportunity to do it again!