The invisible arm of 3D animation.
Production environments keep animation pipelines running smoothly, turning tools like Maya and Unreal Engine into customized workspaces. When properly set up, artists can focus on their work instead of troubleshooting configurations - like chefs in a well-prepped kitchen.
But managing these environments is complex, time-consuming, and prone to errors. Technical staff within studios spend hours fine-tuning setups to meet project needs, juggling thousands of assets that all require their own custom environments. A single misstep can disrupt schedules and cause costly delays.
Twisted Mountain Animation (TMA) built ENVLaunch as an internal tool to simplify this process for our team and partners. As interest grew from other studios, it became clear the platform wasn’t ready for a wider release - clunky workflows, an inconsistent UI, and missing functionality were slowing teams down instead of helping them.
I led the redesign of ENVLaunch’s Admin Portal and Launcher, turning them into intuitive, scalable tools that actually made environment management easier. Along the way, I also revamped our design system, laying a foundation that would support all of TMA’s products.
Key outcomes
-43% User Errors
+35% Admin Portal Usage
+19 SUS Score
Scope
What I Did
User Research
Design System
Interaction Design
Prototyping
Workflow Redesign
Usability Testing
Timeline
Q4 2023 - Q2 2024
Refining ENVLaunch to better support studios in managing their production environments.
Designing for the people next door.
At TMA, I enjoyed a unique advantage: direct access to our users. In addition to developing software, we also operated as a fully-fledged animation studio that used ENVLaunch daily. This meant that whenever I needed feedback or wanted to test ideas, I didn’t have to look far - our users were just a Slack message away.
Two tools, one disconnected experience.
Before diving in, I conducted a full usability audit of the Launcher and Admin Portal. It quickly became clear that these tools had been built in isolation - basic UI elements like buttons looked different, and shared workflows followed inconsistent, sometimes confusing, patterns.
For users navigating between them, this was frustrating. Improving usability and aesthetics wasn’t enough - the real challenge was unifying them into one seamless, cohesive experience.
A look at the disconnected designs of the Admin Portal and Launcher
What did our users think of ENVLaunch?
The Launcher was holding back our power users.
ENVLaunch was originally built on the assumption that only technical staff should handle environment creation, while artists would just launch pre-configured setups through the Launcher.
But when I spoke to users, I discovered a big gap - many artists actually wanted to create and tweak their own environments locally instead of constantly relying on technical support. They had the skills to do it, but the system treated them as passive users rather than active contributors.
Out of the 28 artists I interviewed, 17 found it frustrating to have to request changes instead of just making them themselves. This was a huge insight we hadn’t anticipated, and it completely shifted how we thought about artist workflows.
Mapping advanced user needs revealed critical gaps in the Launcher
Usability hurdles in the Admin Portal.
On the other hand, conversations with our technical staff revealed that using the Admin Portal wasn't just frustrating, it was slowing them down. They struggled with lagging performance, inconsistent UI patterns, and unintuitive workflows that disrupted their daily tasks.
One of the biggest pain points was unclear interactive elements. Buttons blended into static content, some elements looked clickable but weren’t, and critical actions were hard to find. When errors occurred, things got even worse - users had no instructions and no next steps.
This shifted our approach. Instead of isolated UI fixes, I needed to rethink how the Admin Portal guided users - making actions clearer, interactions faster, and workflows more predictable.
User frustrations brought to life
Turning insights into action.
Using the insights I gathered, I focused on the most pressing pain points - the ones that came up repeatedly - and identified them as key opportunities for improvement to guide the redesign.
Working closely with engineering and our PM, we mapped out these findings into sprint cycles. By evaluating technical feasibility and effort, we determined what to prioritize for the initial release and what to tackle in future updates.
Organizing my findings in Google Sheets
What this all leads to: our North Stars.
Crafting a unified design language.
Bringing order to the chaos.
The first issue I had to tackle was the lack of visual consistency. Buttons, typography, and layouts all followed their own rules, making the experience feel disjointed. To fix this, I overhauled our design system - standardizing components, spacing, colours, and typography.
The goal was simple: create a flexible, scalable design system that would bring all our products in line. The result? A more cohesive experience for users, a single source of truth that made development smoother, and a design team that could spin up new screens and prototypes faster than ever.
I built our new design system in Figma
Accessible light and dark modes.
Accessibility and inclusive design were key priorities, so I took the design system a step further. Using Figma variables, I created a new colour palette that met WCAG standards for both light and dark modes. I also ensured key elements - like sizing and spacing - followed accessibility best practices, making the interface more readable and usable for everyone.
Our design system with fully mapped-out light and dark modes (move the slider!)
The design system in action
Streamlining the old while adding the new.
Before - Lost in a sea of clicks.
At first, my research revealed that many artists wanted more control over their environments. But over time, another major issue became clear - navigating and switching environments was harder than it should have been.
To access an environment, users first had to select a team, then a toolset, and finally the environment itself - a deeply nested structure hidden within accordions. Excessive clicking made it easy to lose their place, and selecting the wrong toolset meant backtracking just to try again. For artists working across multiple teams, this made switching environments a frustrating, repetitive task.
At the same time, many users didn’t realize they could copy and paste environments because it was tucked away at the bottom of the screen. Had they known, they could have consolidated their most-used environments into a single toolset - eliminating the need to click between teams and toolsets just to access the same environments.
After - Making navigation effortless.
To fix the navigation issues, I redesigned the Launcher to eliminate unnecessary clicks and backtracking. Instead of forcing users to dig through nested pages and accordions, I introduced persistent dropdowns at the top, allowing teams and toolsets to be switched instantly - all within a single page.
The impact was immediate. With my redesign, users now find their environments 32% faster on average, making navigation feel effortless.
Switching between teams and toolsets to find environments
Giving our advanced users more control.
I redesigned the Launcher to give advanced users more control over their workflows. Now, they can create local environments and manage configurations on their own - removing their reliance on technical staff and keeping work moving without unnecessary delays.
To make the experience even smoother, I ensured these workflows were consistent across both the Launcher and Admin Portal. This way, users switching between them wouldn’t have to relearn different processes, creating a seamless and intuitive experience.
Advanced users can now create and configure local environments directly within the Launcher
Eliminating the pain points, one by one.
Before - Guesswork at every click.
In my earlier research, technical staff voiced frustration over inefficiencies in the Admin Portal, but nowhere was this more evident than on the configurations page. Here, users assemble packages, command lines, and scripts to build environments, a process that should have been seamless.
Instead, it was a constant source of frustration. The table layout made scanning for key settings tedious, essential actions were buried, and workflows felt unintuitive. What should have been a fast, reliable process forced users into workarounds - slowing them down, creating unnecessary friction, and increasing the risk of costly errors.
After - Turning confusion into confidence.
The configurations page now features a cell-based table layout with alternating row colors, clearly defined fields, and distinct hover and active states. Usability testing confirmed that these refinements improved scanability, making it easier for users to identify clickable and editable elements at a glance.
Post-launch feedback reinforced the impact of these changes, particularly the introduction of hotkeys for tabbing, copying, and pasting - which significantly sped up environment creation and reduced friction in repetitive tasks.
Prototype demonstrating the redesigned table
Keeping users in the flow.
In other areas of the Admin Portal, certain workflows forced users to jump between pages just to view details, creating unnecessary back-and-forth and making it easy to lose their place. (Sound familiar?)
To solve this, I introduced side panels across the app, allowing users to view details and take actions without ever leaving their current page. This keeps them focused and reduces context-switching which ultimately streamlines workflows.
One of the new side panels designed to keep users in context while accessing details
Not everything went smoothly. Here were some changes I made based on user feedback.
Buried job details and runaway duplicates.
Users found checking job progress more complicated than it needed to be. In my original design, key status info was buried inside a progress bar, forcing them to open a side panel just to check a job’s status. I redesigned the table layout to surface those details upfront, making them instantly accessible at a glance.
Another major pain point was job tracking - users often lost track of completed jobs, leading to unnecessary duplicates and higher server hosting costs. To prevent this, I introduced an Auto-Close feature that archives inactive jobs automatically and added navigational tabs to make finding and managing jobs much easier.
Making the Launcher less intrusive.
Watching users in action revealed a problem - the Launcher took up too much screen space, especially during work review sessions. I hadn’t fully considered how they needed to quickly launch multiple environments while keeping other windows open.
Users wanted a more compact interface, so I reduced the minimum resizable width by consolidating the control bar and tightening spacing. The changes were well-received, allowing them to keep the Launcher open without it obstructing their workflow.
I monitored key metrics and gathered user feedback for 6 months after launch.
-43%
USER ERROR RATE
Looking at the error logs, I found a 43% drop in environment setup errors - a big win for efficiency and a huge relief for users. With fewer mistakes slowing them down, they can now navigate the Admin Portal with confidence, keeping workflows smooth and avoiding costly production delays.
+35%
ADMIN PORTAL USAGE
This one really surprised us! In just six months after the redesign, daily active usage grew by 35%, largely driven by more users at some of our partner studios adopting the platform. Instead of relying on our team to configure their environments, they were setting them up directly in the Admin Portal - taking full advantage of what the platform had to offer.
+19
SYSTEM USABILITY SCALE (SUS) SCORE
I conducted SUS surveys before and after launch. The Admin Portal’s score jumped from 64 to 83 (13 responses), moving it from "below average" to "excellent," while the Launcher improved from 71 to 76 (21 responses). Even with a small sample size, the results showed a clear shift - users reported smoother workflows, faster task completion, and a more intuitive interface.
Looking ahead.
Building on the success of this project, our next focus is Envisage - an ERP solution designed to streamline project and pipeline management. While still in development, Envisage is already making an impact at TMA by consolidating time tracking, invoicing, and project management into one cohesive platform.
We’re excited to announce plans to bundle Envisage with ENVLaunch, with a targeted release in mid to late 2025. We can’t wait to share how it’s transformed our workflows with other studios!
An early glimpse into Envisage
Our Maya tools also got the design system treatment!
