Project Summary

Gordian’s RSMeans Data Online, a construction cost estimating platform, required a full overhaul of its legacy product catalog.

Beyond immediate usability gains, I established interaction patterns (floating toolbox, adaptive filters, accessibility compliance) that could scale across Gordian’s enterprise suite. While I wasn’t embedded long enough to formalize a full design system, the artifacts and research I delivered acted as a blueprint for product and engineering to expand, aligning the product roadmap with commercialization goals and setting a precedent for evidence-driven design at scale.

Business Outcomes

Efficiency Gains (Time & Accuracy)

• Reduced catalog-to-estimate workflow from 12 steps to 5 steps (≈60% faster).
• Cut item-addition time by 20%, accelerating adoption across teams.
• Implemented contextual indicators, smart auto-scrolling, and filtering to reduce task errors by ~40%.

Scalability & Enterprise Readiness

• Designed modular UX patterns and a component library to scale across varied clients.
• Supported federal and enterprise standards, paving the way for wider adoption.
• Dual-pane interface + floating toolbox allowed operators to multitask more effectively, aligning with enterprise workflow demands.

Commercialization Alignment

• Partnered with product leadership to align design with go-to-market strategy.
• Structured workflows to demonstrate clear ROI to stakeholders (speed, accuracy, compliance).
• Positioned UX not just as interface design, but as a driver of recurring SaaS revenue through adoption and differentiation.

Research

The primary goal was to ensure that the research methods chosen were precisely aligned with the specific user objectives. This meant selecting techniques that would yield clear insights into how users interact with large, complex product catalogs and how they navigate extensive data lists.

The research process involved close collaboration with the product team. I facilitated sessions where we demonstrated design concepts and prototype iterations, allowing stakeholders and team members to see firsthand how proposed solutions addressed user challenges.

Preliminary wireframes

Wireframes from first discovery workshop with product. I mitigated pushback from power users by making it a part of the user journey mapping of personas. Mental models are a common usability challenge and personas should be unpacked fully.

Solution – Preparing for commercialization

I worked with the product team defining GTM (go-to-market) details with packages. How would the service design and the product link up for best outcomes. This is important early in the ideation process. I can design to scale the product in the direction of a commercialization plan for a year in advance.

Getting to final designs

We learned that they are selecting items from the catalog to add to an estimate for a builder or architect for a construction project: nails, girders, 1000s of parts. Top right search component contains and retains all information related to the catalog. The left side tab is your estimate. You can switch back and forth as needed, each holding your spot. Then I explained the ability for the user to drag the tab to a separate window, but it’s not necessary anymore.

Users will be able to tag all items without ever looking at the estimate and just tap commit. We have estimates tab handy for quick reference, which helps with recall anxiety and double confirmation that all items were added correctly.

Catalog Overview

The left rail is the main catalog menu. The right rail has a floating toolbox, expanding when needed, then it tucking itself away neatly (orchestrated workflows).  Certain tasks may require specific tools that trigger the expansion of the toolbox.  Users will be able to easily manage multiple estimates with many sections, easily adding items from the RSMeans catalog in one window. The toolbox on the right holds the selections and allows users to add selected items to any estimate in one click.

Powerful Filtering and browsing behavior

Powerful filtering based on how the user actually builds estimates. and it is flexible enough to adapt and suggest based on previous choices related to preferred ways to work or adding items to the estimate.