Dock
Version controlled, collaborative, block-based document creation
Research, visual and interaction design
I was challenged to ideate a new feature for a new word processing platform. I conducted research to find an opportunity in the market, then rapidly iterated interactions and ideated new features to pitch a word processing product that addressed a niche but pervasive need across large corporations.
I'm currently fleshing out my ideas and prototyping interaction concepts to inject a bit more ✨life✨ into Dock! Feel free to read through what I came up with in a matter of hours, and check back soon for updates :)
Background
Word processors like Google Docs and Microsoft Word have long taken ownership of the word processing space. To find a niche for my word processor, I took a deep dive into existing products within the industry and adjacent to it.
01 / Give students the opportunity to “make back” money on unworn purchases
02 / Allow students to rent clothes for one-time events (e.g. formals)
03 / Create circular fashion economy microcosms across university campuses
User lifetime earnings and revenue
03 / Create circular fashion economy microcosms across university campuses
Dock exists at the intersection of Notion, Google Docs, and Git.
Real-time collaboration allows for flexibility in asynchronous work and ensures competitive feature parity.
Block-based document creation makes formatting quick. Hierarchy and spacing don't have to be set manually.
Version control allows for the "freezing" or archival of key document versions and prevents destructive edits.
Rolled into one product, these features serve businesses and organizations that maintain lengthy documents, especially externally facing ones. For example, contracts, terms of service, and other documents of legal significance could benefit from version control to avoid accidental edits and maintain a tidy archive of past versions.
Dock... for docs
Applying version control logic to regulate changes and maintain document archives
ADD BLOCKS, WHEREVER YOU NEED THEM
Hover around (between, above, below) existing blocks to insert blocks of different types.
FORMATTING TOOLS, RIGHT AT YOUR CURSOR TIPS
The fixed toolbar is configured to display format settings based on the block type (e.g. font and type emphases for text blocks), and a contextual toolbar puts settings in close proximity.
CREATE MERGE REQUESTS
Edit documents on your own branch, then request merges to main when you're ready!
APPROVE MERGE REQUESTS
Users with the correct administrative access level can approve any requests to merge made by others in the org. Once merged, the main branch, or master document is updated to reflect this change.
Working on Dock challenged me to find opportunity in a market saturated with long-time players.
With products that are as ubiquitous as word processing tools, it was challenging to find gaps for a new product as well identify a target audience.
Defining the interactions for Dock also took a lot of consideration. I learned to balance familiarity and innovation in my design. Elements like menus and toolbars have become standard across document creation products, and I didn't want to reinvent the wheel in a way that made products too unfamiliar to adopt.
I had a lot of fun with the ideation for Dock—I liked that I was making decisions at each step of the way, from conceptualizing features like the toolbar to defining the brand. Later on, I definitely want to explore new block types and how my current UI would change to adapt to new features!
