Product Design at SAP: Building Foundation

How I started my design career by turning complex data concepts into intuitive mobile experiences for enterprise analytics.

The Beginning: From Finance to Design

When I joined SAP Analytics Cloud as a UX Designer, I was transitioning from a finance background into design. This wasn't just a career change — it was about learning to translate complex business analytics into intuitive user experiences for companies like NHL, Porsche, and Roche.

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) is a predictive data analytics platform that enables businesses to create dynamic visualizations and gain data-driven insights. My focus was on the mobile experience — bringing powerful desktop analytics to mobile devices.

The Mobile Challenge: Analytics in Your Pocket

The Problem

Enterprise analytics were traditionally desktop-bound, but business users needed access to critical data anywhere, anytime. The challenge wasn't just making interfaces smaller — it was rethinking how complex data interactions could work on mobile devices.

My Role

As part of the mobile team, I designed features across the entire mobile experience:

• Native iOS and Android apps

• Responsive browser design

• Cross-platform optimization

• Mobile-specific design system

The App Store Moment

A small but meaningful detail — my contributions were significant enough that my profile appeared in the App Store marketing materials. It represents how this internship became a real foundation for my design career.

Key Projects: Learning Through Impact

1. Story Level Filter for Search to Insight

The Challenge: AI-powered insights were overwhelming users with too many results from multiple data models.

My Solution: Designed a filtering system that helps users narrow down AI-generated charts to relevant data only.

What I Learned: How to simplify complex AI interactions for mobile users while maintaining powerful functionality.

2. Mobile Browser Responsive Design

The Challenge: When only iOS native app existed, we needed a responsive web solution for broader access.

My Solution: Created a hybrid design combining iOS and Fiori Web patterns, optimizing data visualization for browser-based mobile viewing.

What I Learned: How to bridge different design systems and adapt complex desktop experiences for mobile browsers.

3. Cross-Platform Optimization

The Challenge: Transitioning from native apps to responsive browser while maintaining user experience quality.

My Solution: Designed the "Device Preview" feature allowing web users to optimize their content for mobile viewing.

What I Learned: How to design features that help users adapt their own content for different platforms.

4. Android Content Discovery

The Challenge: With iOS app established, we needed to design the Android experience that felt native while maintaining feature parity.

My Solution: Designed the complete content discovery flow for Android, including navigation, search, and content organization optimized for Android design patterns.

What I Learned: How to adapt designs across platforms while maintaining consistent user experience and leveraging platform-specific strengths.

5. Mobile Onboarding Animations

The Challenge: Users needed guidance when launching the native apps for the first time, but static screens weren't engaging enough.

My Solution: Created motion graphics and onboarding animations using Adobe After Effects, exported to .JSON for development across both iOS and Android.

What I Learned: How motion design can enhance user comprehension and create more engaging first-time experiences. And bonus point that I spent so much time using Illustrator and After Effects…

Building Foundations: Mobile Design and Heuristics

1. Creating SAC Fiorization

When there was no standard mobile design library, I helped create "SAC Fiorization" — our custom iOS design system combining SAP Fiori principles with mobile-specific patterns.

Key Components I Contributed:

• Navigation patterns and information architecture

• Mobile-specific data visualization components

• Cross-platform interaction patterns

• Responsive layout systems

Impact: This became the foundation for all mobile design work at SAP Analytics Cloud, enabling consistent experiences across the platform.

2. Recognition:Best Poster Award for Mobile Design Heuristics

I created a comprehensive poster explaining mobile design principles and differences for SAP d-Kom 2020 in Vancouver. The poster won Best Poster of the Year — recognizing both the content quality and visual design.

What it covered:

• Mobile vs. desktop design considerations

• Platform-specific interaction patterns

• Data visualization adaptations for mobile

• Cross-platform optimization strategies

The Foundation I Built

Technical Skills Developed

• Cross-platform design for iOS, Android, and responsive web

• Data visualization adapted for mobile constraints

• Design systems thinking building reusable component libraries

• Enterprise UX designing for complex business workflows

• Motion graphic design from After Effects to Lootie

Design Process Maturity

• Research integration — working with user testing and customer feedback

• Stakeholder collaboration — presenting to managers and engineering teams

• Iterative design — from wireframes to polished specifications

• Implementation partnership — working closely with developers

Business Understanding

• Complex domain knowledge — learning enterprise analytics deeply

• User empathy — understanding business users' mobile needs

• Technical constraints — designing within platform limitations

• Cross-functional teamwork — collaborating in Agile environments

Reflection: From Intern to Designer

This experience at SAP taught me that great design in complex domains comes from deep understanding, not just visual skills.

I learned to:

• Translate complexity into clarity — making enterprise analytics accessible on mobile

• Think systematically — building reusable patterns and components

• Collaborate effectively — working across disciplines and with stakeholders

• Iterate based on feedback — using research and user testing to improve designs

Most importantly, I learned that design is about solving real problems for real users — whether that's helping a business analyst check metrics on their commute or enabling data scientists to explore insights from their tablet.

This foundation at SAP shaped how I approach every design challenge: with curiosity, systematic thinking, and deep empathy for the people using what we build.