University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · UX Day 2026
What Enterprise UX Taught Me About Clarity
Practical lessons in understanding business needs and simplifying complex enterprise products.
- Event
- UX Day 2026 Siebel Center for DesignUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Location
- Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
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What Enterprise UX Taught Me About Clarity
Frances Sun
You are currently thinking…
Raleigh, NC
Advisory UX Designer
I had been around..
UI Designer
Taipei, Taiwan
I had been around..
Principal Designer
Round Rock, TX
Remote
Lead Designer - Ads
Detroit, MI
Adjunct Faculty, Graduate Studies
I am also…
But more importantly…
I know the design student look all too well.
Studying Design isn’t easy, ask me how I know
I really was listening.
It just didn’t look like it.
This laptop gave away my age.
Frances ! Be Smart !
These pics prove it:
I’ve earned my stripes and
some unsolicited opinions.
For years, I felt like Charlie Brown,
never quite getting to kick the football.
From consumer to enterprise
Smart home
Preload software
Server config tools
Ads tools
From consumer to enterprise
Consumer Products:
Where work gets seen
Enterprise Tools:
Where work gets done
The castle is cute. The enterprise is real.
Consumer → Fun, snackable, short bursts
Consumer design ≠ Enterprise design
Enterprise → Daily, 8-hour main course
What Enterprise UX Taught Me About Clarity
Give it context
Listen for real needs
Break it down
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
Understand the business
Use the metaphor
Understand the business
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
If you can’t explain it simply,
you don’t understand it well enough
Albert Einstein
My first enterprise project:
Server Configuration tool update
Design requests:
1. Inconsistent and unclear navigation
2. Users wanted configuration details, not pricing
Like everyone else:
I started with the problem
Start with the problem:
Inconsistent and unclear navigation
Start with the problem:
Users wanted configuration, not pricing
First Proposal
1. Nav still unclear
2. Users preferred old design over weak changes
The brutal first review
Learning the hard way:
Reading the business.
Learning was easy. Explaining was hard
If I had to learn it, everyone needed too
Uh oh
What I learned:
Every product has its own recipe
New flow:
Clear steps + Always-visible config
Good UX knows users.
Great UX knows the business.
Recap: understand the business
Break it down
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
Breaking it down means =
Making complexity simple
PM
Designer
Earlier example:
Breaking down complexity into steps
Product
Breaking it down looks like magic.
The trick? Teamwork
Another project :
This time, selling servers
From Complexity to Clarity
The process was hidden - I just showed it
Visualizing the Chaos
From 24 Tools → 1 Workflow
Recap: Break it down
Make complexity visible
Show the steps
Listen for real needs
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
“Users don’t want it.”
“They’re impossible to talk with”
“We’ve tried everything.”
“We’re burning resources.”
Uh oh
When PMs struggle with users
“I want EVERYTHING pink. 💖”
IN OUR SOFTWARE
THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE
And then the user said…
Uh oh
Uh oh
So,
I made it pink
Just kidding
Uncovering the real user workflow.
Design Detective Mode
PM
Me
It’s Restriction team
They log in.
They set restrictions.
They repeat.
What my users do everyday
Real problem: hidden function
It wasn’t pink. It was pain.
Real needs hide under surface.
Listen like your job depends on it. Because it does.
Recap: Listen for real needs
Give it context
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
Me in enterprise: presenting.
Everyone else: WA WA WAA
Live image from my team
Too into design. Nobody understands me.
5W’s turn screens into stories.
Steal from MBA: 5w’s
Flows show the “how” context explains the “why”
Recap: Give it Context
Just show screens
Add context first
Use the metaphor
Lessons I’ve picked up over time
My first week: a whole suite of ad tools. Each with its own ‘user journey.
When Breaking it down isn’t enough
Not just complex tools
but siloed teams too
So how to connect it all ?
With references we all know
First step: Connect the dots
Our team’s conclusion:
CandyLand.
Let’s imagine an Ad as candy
All the TV channels are like candy stores
Magic won’t restock the candy
The advertisers provide their candy to us
It takes a village to build a store
How we put the “candy” on the shelves
11:35 PM
2 AM
Versus
Rate card
Which channels?
Who to reach?
What time?
includes
Proposal
New Shoe
Deal Management
Get actual media
Take media through airing
Media Management
Stop the wrong content
Block same-type ads in a row.
Content Restrictor
Check for errors before launch.
Log Management
Finally put the candy on the shelves
Log Scheduling
Candyland: unify apps + teams.
Recap: Use the reference
Complex systems need simple stories.
What clarity in Enterprise UX really takes
Give it context
Listen for real needs
Break it down
Understand the business
Use the metaphor
Thank you
Frances Sun
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sun0610/
Turning UX design from
‘uh oh’ → ‘ahh, got it.’