2023 — Product design · Sustainability

Simplifying complex workflows for multi-role production management

Contents

Overview

Secoset is a CO₂ tracking tool for cinema production houses. The onboarding needed to accommodate 5 distinct professional roles (line producers, accountants, location scouts, etc.) — each with different permissions and mental models. I owned login, invitation, and billing flows as freelance designer, 6 months.

Challenge

Mapped roles first : Different users (producers, accountants) approve differently and care about different metrics. Decision: tailored views, not one admin panel.

Tested mental models : Each role had different expectations on login. Confirmed the tailored approach was right.

Progressive onboarding : Taught each role step-by-step instead of throwing all features at once.

Listened to edge cases : Producer asked about switching between films. Added it. Users loved it.

Approach

Mapped role hierarchies : Before touching UI, I ran a workshop clarifying permission logic:

Who approves what? Line producer vs. production accountant have different approval authority
What data does each role care about? Accountant cares about spend; producer cares about timeline
Key decision: Progressive reveal instead of one admin panel. Show each role a tailored view.

Tested mental models : Asked 2 users per role: "What would you expect to see first after logging in?"

Producers: "Current projects and status"
Accountants: "Budget breakdown and alerts"
Different answers → justified the tailored approach

Designed progressive onboarding : Instead of throwing all features at once, taught each role one step at a time

Step 1: Invite your team (role-specific templates)
Step 2: Set permissions (show only relevant permissions for their role)
Step 3: Review data (show metrics that matter to them)

Discovered account switching was critical. In testing, a producer said "I manage 2 films. Can I switch between them?" This wasn't in the original brief. Added it. Reran test: 4/4 users loved it.