Notification Center
Overview
Saves notification history, ensures critical alerts are visible and actionable, and reduces reliance on fleeting toast messages, improving user experience and system efficiency.
My role
I led the end-to-end UX/UI design, partnered with product and dev teams, and crafted all UX copy for the Notification Center.
Problems
1. Missed Alerts – Users reported that critical issues were getting lost.
2. Too Many Toasts – Important update notifications disappeared quickly, overwhelming users and leaving no record.
Goals
1. Give the user clear indication about the status of an action.
2. Save notification history.
3. Easy access – Center all notifications in one place.
4. Generate alerts for unsupported cloud configurations or malfunctioning components.
Research
Personas
- Cloud administrators
Manage the cloud and the health of it. On-prem customers use notifications to manage cloud health, while SAAS customers rely on IT teams and can disable notifications. - Users, Project administrators & Cloud administrators
Rely on notifications to stay updated on task progress and ensure timely action.
Competitor analysis
I conducted a competitor analysis of similar notification systems in SaaS platforms. This helped me identify best practices, such as dynamic timestamps and visual indicators for urgency, which I integrated into our design.
The solution
To address urgent user complaints about cloud health issues, and later provide updates about on-going processes, we decided to implement the Notification Center in two phases.
Phase 1 - Alerts
- Alert about Unsupported cloud configurations or malfunctioning components.
- Visible only to cloud administrators.
- Include actionable information to resolve issues.
Phase 2 - Updates
Notifications will cover a broader range of issues and updates relevant to all users, not just administrators.
Interface
I designed a dedicated alert component with icons and color-coded urgency—red for errors, yellow for warnings—based on feedback that users often missed or misjudged transient alerts.
Empty states
A toast system with color-coded urgency (red for errors, yellow for warnings)
Monitor
KPIS
- Phase One: Alerts
- Positive user feedback
- Phase Two: Updates
- At least 90% of users actively engage with the notification center within the first month of its implementation.
- Track the average time taken by administrators to respond to alerts generated by the notification center.
Results
Old System
One-time toast messages
No alert history
Same styling for all alerts
Unclear urgency
New System
Persistent Notification Center
Color-coded icons (red/yellow)
Tabbed for future updates
Timestamped for clarity
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