ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
2 PMs
1 UX Researcher
6 Designers
TIMELINE
May - Aug 2025
SKILLS
UXR & Testing
Product Thinking
Interaction Design
Visual Design
Prototyping
Design Systems
Client Work
TOOLS
Figma
Figjam
Lenovo Design Library
OVERVIEW
In a collaboration between Lenovo and Design Consulting Cornell, the university’s human-centered design consultancy, I served as a Senior Product Design Consultant on this project aimed at reimagining Lenovo.com and Lenovo Pro Community to help users discover, compare, and confidently purchase technology solutions. While leading and mentoring designers on the team, I specifically focused on designing a comprehensive product comparison tool on Lenovo.com, as well as community engagement features on the Lenovo Pro Community forum.
THE PROBLEM
As the tech industry rapidly evolves, Lenovo is navigating the challenge of redefining its role in creating smarter, more seamless, and tailored experiences for its diverse user base.
Lenovo, a US$57B global tech leader operating in 180 markets, serves a wide range of customers—including small and very small businesses (SMBs and VSBs) through its Lenovo Pro experience. Our team was tasked with exploring innovative solutions to enhance Lenovo Pro experiences on both Lenovo.com and the Lenovo Pro Community, a dedicated space for discussion and support. This led us to formalize two central focus questions:
HOW MIGHT WE
Streamline the shopping experience on Lenovo.com to make it more intuitive and trustworthy
to provide ease of navigation, comparison of products, and reliable user-generated reviews, ensuring they can confidently choose products that best meet their needs and preferences?
HOW MIGHT WE
Create a more compelling and engaging experience on Lenovo Pro Community
that empowers users to quickly access trusted insights that support their tech decisions, engage in relevant discussions, and ensure meaningful participation on the platform?
To inform our design strategy, we analyzed 7 competitors across e-commerce (Apple, Dell, Microsoft, HP) and community platforms (Reddit, Intel, NVIDIA). This analysis revealed critical usability and engagement gaps in Lenovo’s platforms, which we translated into targeted opportunity areas for improvement.
Lenovo.com
E-COMMERCE COMPETITOR PLATFORMS
Key Gaps Identified
Overwhelming spec lists with limited context
Weak visual hierarchy and buried comparison tools
Lack of tailored shopping paths
Opportunity Areas
Surface comparison tools earlier in the journey
Use modular layouts and simplified specs
Leverage user preferences to tailor users’ navigation
Lenovo Pro Community
COMMUNITY FORUM COMPETITOR PLATFORMS
Key Gaps Identified
Minimal user incentives or role-based content
Forums organized chronologically, not personally
No visible signals for trusted contributors
Opportunity Areas
Introduce contribution-based reputation systems
Personalize content by user roles and interests
Visibly highlight authoritative contributors
USER RESEARCH
Interviewing 30 Lenovo users to uncover friction in Lenovo purchasing and community experiences
Before diving into design, we conducted 1:1 interviews with small business owners and tech decision-makers to better understand how they navigate Lenovo.com and engage with Lenovo Pro Community. Our goal was to uncover pain points in the product discovery journey and identify what drives—or hinders—participation in tech communities. We synthesized our findings into an affinity map, from which the following key insights emerged:
TEAM COORDINATION & FEATURE OWNERSHIP
Taking ownership of leading designs to enhance product discovery and community engagement
To address identified user pain points, our team divided feature development into priority areas. I took ownership of two key initiatives: designing an end-to-end product comparison tool on Lenovo.com to streamline discovery and decision-making, as well as creating community engagement features for Lenovo Pro Community to increase visibility, relevance, and participation.
IDEATION
Exploring possibilities via a Crazy-8s brainstorming session
To define feature directions for improving Lenovo.com’s purchasing flow and Lenovo Pro Community’s engagement, our team ran a Crazy-8s brainstorming session. This rapid sketching exercise helped us quickly surface, compare, and combine ideas to address the most critical user pain points.
ITERATION
Prioritizing high-impact, feasible features and designs.
LENOVO.COM
Product Comparison Page Layout
To explore the product comparison page layout, I tested various iterations, including the three presented below. After evaluating these options based on usability, flexibility, and decision-support capabilities, I selected Version 3. It allowed users to compare the most products simultaneously, while providing multiple decision aids, including filter tags to help users compare products based on their desired specifications and a Highlight Differences toggle for quickly spotting key distinctions. The team and I agreed that this combination maximized efficiency and best supported confident, informed purchasing decisions.
V1. Three-way comparison with Add Product entrypoint + spec filtering
Add Product button entrypoint allows users to add any Lenovo product to compare
Filtering by spec is not immediately intuitive, risking low discoverability and use
V2. Two-way comparison with a Saved Products sidebar + a Highlight Differences toggle
More immediately accessible entrypoint where user can view and browse their saved products to compare
Visually dense, layout could overwhelm users when more products are added to compare
V3. Three-way comparison with Saved Products entrypoint, tag-based spec filtering, + Highlight Differences toggle
Provides multiple features to guide the user in making an informed purchase decision
Tag-based spec filtering & highlight differences toggle are clear, intuitive, and useful for users
Saved Products to Compare entrypoint is clear in conveying to users that they can add and compare products from their Saved Lists
Adding Products to Compare
After finalizing the comparison page layout, I explored three interaction approaches for adding products to compare, aiming to balance visibility, browsing efficiency, and minimal disruption to the main comparison view. After evaluating these options, I selected Version 3 because it offered the richest set of interactions, intuitive categorization for easier product discovery, and a less intrusive experience that preserved the context of the comparison page.
V1. Large Vertical Drawer
Tall scrollable list accommodates view of many products at once
Visually intrusive, blocking a large portion of the page and disrupting context
V2. Horizontal Drawer
Compact footprint preserves the full product comparison view
Horizontal scrolling is less intuitive and limits quick scanning of product options
V3. Drawer Popover w/ Various Interactions
Categorized tabs help users quickly locate products
Supports more interactions like Swap Product, Remove from Saved, and Search for More Products, which allow comparison of many items without overwhelming the screen
Slightly more complex, but reduced intrusiveness and added functionality outweigh the trade-off
Accounting for Affordances & Edge Cases
To ensure robustness of the design, I considered multiple affordances and edge case—the maximum number of products that can be compared, the user experience when exceeding that limit, the flow for swapping products, and how the design integrates with Lenovo’s existing AI comparison tool.
Added Product to Compare
Compare Up to 4 Products At a Time
Swap Product to Compare
AI Integration
Product Comparison Tool Final Designs
