Sidebar Navigation Contextual Inquiry for LigoLab Platform
A qualitative investigation into how laboratory professionals interact with the LigoLab LIS sidebar navigation, observed in their natural work context, performing real daily duties, across 14 participants.
Studying sidebar navigation
in a real laboratory context
The LigoLab LIS sidebar is how laboratory professionals access everything, queues, reports, orders, and patient records. This study examined how they actually navigate it day-to-day, not how they're supposed to.
LigoLab was entering a full platform redesign, a high-stakes moment. Laboratory professionals had spent years building muscle memory around the existing navigation, and a poorly informed redesign could make their work harder. Before touching the most heavily used part of the platform, rigorous research was needed.
Discover how new and existing users interact with the LigoLab sidebar navigation, understand their mental models when navigating the system, determine the challenges they face, what frustrates them most, and which patterns consume the most time.
Finding elements
What challenges and frustrations do users encounter while interacting with the sidebar navigation?
Search behavior
How do users find the right elements in the sidebar? What logic or heuristics do they apply?
Page management
How do users navigate between multiple pages and manage tabs throughout their workday?
Common patterns
What are the most frequently accessed pages and the most time-consuming navigation patterns?
Research grounded in
cross-functional input
Before a single session was scheduled, I worked closely with the UX designer and product manager to define what the research needed to answer, and to build enough platform fluency to observe meaningfully.
Collecting design requirements
I collaborated with the UX designer and product manager to surface the design challenges the team was facing and identify what questions needed to be answered in order to design successfully. This shaped the research objectives and interview script from the ground up.
Understanding the user base
I gathered information from the product manager about who was currently using the platform, mapping out the different roles, their responsibilities, and how each role interacted with LigoLab differently day-to-day.
Deep-diving into the platform
To observe meaningfully, I needed to understand what I was watching. Before any sessions began, I independently studied LigoLab's functionality, watching platform walkthrough videos, learning the terminology, and familiarizing myself with the sections and workflows.
Understanding that each role interacted with the platform differently, and that those differences would only be visible in real work context, made contextual inquiry the clear choice. Asking users to perform tasks wouldn't capture the same thing as watching them do their actual job.
Knowing the role landscape meant we could recruit with intention, making sure every key role was represented. The product manager also made warm introductions to each participant, which increased response rates and put users at ease before sessions began.
Contextual inquiry +
semi-structured interviews
The cross-functional discovery phase made the method choice clear: to understand how different specialists truly navigate the platform, I needed to observe them in their real work environment, not ask them to perform tasks. Each 60-minute session was split equally between naturalistic observation and a semi-structured interview.
Study Design
- Type
- Qualitative, Contextual Inquiry
- Methods
- Contextual observation + semi-structured interviews
- Location
- Remote (United States)
- Platform
- Google Meet with screen sharing
Observation Focus
- Behaviors
- Confusion, errors, multi-step tasks, repetition
- Patterns
- Most-visited sections, time spent, access order
- Cognition
- The logic behind how users locate menu items, inferred from behavior, not self-report
- Analysis
- Affinity diagramming (Miro)
14 participants across
5 laboratory roles
Recruiting was also a collaborative effort. The role map built with the product manager told us exactly who we needed to hear from, and her warm introductions to each participant made access faster and sessions more candid.
| # | ID | Role | Date | LigoLab Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | #2824 | Client Services | Apr 01 | Old version |
| 02 | #1409 | Grossing Tech / Ops Supervisor | Apr 02 | Old version |
| 03 | #5506 | Histotech | Apr 02 | Old version |
| 04 | #5012 | Client Services | Apr 04 | Old version |
| 05 | #4657 | Accessioner | Apr 04 | Old version |
| 06 | #3286 | Accessioner | Apr 11 | Old + New version |
| 07 | #2679 | Histotech | Apr 11 | Old + New version |
| 08 | #9935 | Client Services | Apr 11 | Old version |
| 09 | #2424 | Clinical Tech | Apr 11 | Old + New version |
| 10 | #7912 | Grossing Tech | Apr 12 | Old + New version |
| 11 | #1520 | Histotech | Apr 23 | Old version |
| 12 | #1488 | Multi-role specialist | Apr 29 | New version only |
| 13 | #2535 | Multi-role specialist | Apr 30 | New version only |
| 14 | #4582 | Multi-role specialist | Apr 30 | Old version |
8 findings from
14 interviews
Findings are organized by theme and supported by direct participant quotes. Each finding points to a concrete design implication.
✓ Convenient placement
Most users feel elements are logically grouped and aligned with their natural workflow. Labeling is intuitive once learned.
✗ Reports scattered across sections
Client Services and QA specialists struggle to locate reports because they're distributed across sections, not consolidated under "Reporting."
⚠ Muscle memory replaces discoverability
100% of experienced users navigate by memorized location. New users are overwhelmed initially but eventually adapt. The sidebar offers few affordances for the uninitiated.
✗ High training burden
Memory-based navigation means staff turnover and role changes require significant retraining. SOP documentation can become outdated when navigation changes.
"It's just kind of muscle memory. When I was first learning Ligo, it definitely took a little bit of time. But now that I utilize these sections every single day, I'm able to find it very easily."
— Participant #2424, Clinical Tech (Old + New version)✓ Tabs are widely adopted
Almost all participants use tabs regularly. Most keep 2–7 tabs open simultaneously. Some open all tabs at the start of the day; others open them situationally.
✗ Single-search-tab constraint
A user cannot open the Search tab twice in the same window. To search while mid-task, she must open a second LigoLab instance entirely, a significant workflow disruption.
"When you're in the search tab and looking for one thing, and then a call comes in, I can't open another search tab. That's why I have to open LigoLab again."
— Participant #5012, Client Services✓ One-at-a-time collapsing reduces clutter
New version users appreciate that sections collapse when a new one opens. This reduces visual load and simplifies scanning.
✓ Auto-expanded defaults feel efficient
Users who have their most-used sections expanded by default love it. They find it less tedious than manually opening sections each session.
"Whenever I open up LigoLab, it usually just expands my sections and I go off of that. It would be more tedious if I had to open them manually every time."
— Participant #1488, Multi-role specialist (New version)"I do like that you can close it instead of having it all open, it makes a huge difference for scrolling and time."
— Participant #2535, Multi-role specialist (New version)✓ Widgets create enthusiasm
Users who tested the new version were visibly impressed by widgets. They see clear value in quick-access dashboard elements.
✗ Unavailable and insufficient options
"Case Distribution" widget doesn't exist yet. Users want more widget options tailored to their role's specific queues and tasks.
"The widgets are great for when you first open it, but I find myself mostly navigating the sidebar after that. More options that we can cater to our team would be a lot more helpful."
— Participant #2535, Multi-role specialist✗ Icons aid visual recognition
2 of 4 users who tried the new version miss the icons. They serve as visual anchors which text-only labels cannot replicate for experienced users.
⚠ Training implications
Icons help new staff learn faster and help existing staff navigate by visual scanning. Their removal could slow both onboarding and expert navigation.
"It's difficult without icons, especially for visual learners. I know it's the sixth one down and it has a magnifying glass next to it, with just words, that reference is gone."
— Participant #2679, Histotech✗ Zero intentional use
Not a single participant reported intentionally using the minimize sidebar function. It provides no observed workflow benefit.
✗ Window resizing triggers accidental minimization
When users resize the application window, the sidebar auto-minimizes. Re-expanding it requires precise cursor positioning, adding friction and cognitive interruption.
✗ Most users didn't know it existed
The majority of participants had never knowingly used the sidebar search. Only one user used it regularly. Others dismissed it on discovery.
✗ Limited scope kills utility
The search only works within a single section. Users often don't know the exact label of what they're looking for, making it unreliable.
"Sometimes the word is not what you expect. You'd expect 'grossing case search' and it's actually 'microscopic case search.' So the search doesn't help if you don't know the exact label."
— Participant #2424, Clinical Tech5 actionable recommendations
based on findings
Each recommendation is directly grounded in participant feedback. They're ordered by estimated impact on the most affected user groups.
Reorganize and duplicate reports into the Reporting section
Key reports currently buried under section-specific folders (e.g., Histology, Anatomic Pathology) should be duplicated or aliased under the Reporting section. Client Services and QA specialists, the most report-heavy roles, should be able to access all relevant reports from a single location without knowing which department "owns" the report. Duplicates are acceptable; users prefer redundancy over guessing.
High PriorityInvestigate and improve widget accessibility in the new version
Widgets are the most-praised feature of the new version, but they're underutilized because they're only accessible from the home screen, which is rarely visible once tabs accumulate. Research should investigate how users access widgets mid-session, and whether making them persistent would improve utility. The Case Distribution widget should be prioritized for development based on explicit user requests.
High PriorityImplement user-customizable section expansion defaults
The collapsing section behavior of the new version is well-received overall, but users with high-frequency workflows benefit significantly from having their preferred sections auto-expanded on load. Implement a preference setting allowing users to designate which sections (1–2) open by default. This should be a per-user setting, not organization-wide.
Medium PriorityRemove or redesign the minimize sidebar option
No participant uses the minimize sidebar feature intentionally. Its primary effect is accidental minimization during window resizing. Recommend either removing the feature entirely, or at minimum: (a) preventing auto-minimization on resize, (b) improving the restore target area, and (c) adding a clear visual affordance for restoring the full sidebar.
Medium PriorityExpand and improve the sidebar search bar, or replace it with a global cross-section search
The current search is largely unknown to users and too limited (single-section scope, exact-name requirement) to provide value when discovered. Two directions: (1) Expand the search to work globally across all sections and handle synonymous terms. (2) Alternatively, if full-text improvement is not feasible, consider removing the feature and redirecting effort toward better visual hierarchy and progressive disclosure.
Lower PriorityWhat Happened After
the Research
Designing the new navigation
The findings from this study fed directly into the product roadmap. After I presented the research insights to the design and product team, the UX designer began working on the navigation as part of a broader design modernization effort, with the contextual inquiry findings shaping the direction from the start.
Testing new designs
Once the new designs were ready, we brought users back to test them. The validated designs then moved to development, shipping across two consecutive sprints.
Building and feedback
After the changes went live, users noticed the difference. Feedback was positive, and measurably so:
Let's work together
Reach out and I'll share more about how I can solve your problem!