Project Overview

As the the lead UX Designer for the new All-Touch Thermal Emulation project, my core responsibility was to create a new, intuitive user journey and workflow for this must have enterprise product.

The Challenge

Terminal emulation, the technology allowing a computer to mimic the functions of a dedicated mainframe terminal, still remains a critical component in many large enterprises. These organizations often rely on core business applications and vast datasets residing on legacy systems,like IBM AS/400 mainframes. For decades, terminal emulators have been the primary interface, often presenting a green-screen, text-based experience for end users in enterprise.

However, in the face of digital transformation, cloud computing, and a push for improved user experience, this "cornerstone" technology needed to undergo a necessary modernization. The challenge is to retain access to these highly stable and secure backend systems while updating user experience, the interface and integration capabilities fit for the modern enterprise.

My Approach

I collaborated closely with the UX Research team over several weeks to gather extensive data and insight from our actual field users, ensuring the redesign directly addressed their core pain points.

This user-centric data informed a complete UI overhaul, leveraging new touch-screen capabilities, color, and rich graphics to create a faster, more intuitive experience. The primary outcomes of this modernization were twofold: a measurable reduction in process errors and a significant increase in user efficiency.

Crucially, the new design was developed with an eye toward future-proofing, integrating seamlessly with the modern architecture to enable new, advanced features.

The Solution

The modernization effort was strategically designed to transform the user experience without altering a single line of the underlying host application code.

This was achieved using specialized tools that intercept the terminal's data stream. They dynamically convert the legacy text interface into a rich Graphical User Interface, leveraging HTML5 and modern web technologies. We enriched the screens with contemporary Android components—including touch-friendly buttons, drop-down menus, radio buttons, and clear, color-coded visual workflows.

Furthermore, transitioning from installed desktop software to intuitive web apps significantly simplified enterprise-wide deployment and updates. This shift opened the doors to optimize interfaces for mobile use cases, enabling essential business tasks to be performed efficiently on the go.

Accesibility

To ensure high usability in the field, I focused on practical design elements such as larger text and oversized buttons to reduce accidental touches. A key accessibility feature was designing the touch technology to function seamlessly while wearing gloves; a use case common amongst enterprise users. By employing a new colored interface with high-contrast text, I enhanced legibility across diverse conditions, directly contributing to fewer errors and increased efficiency.

The Impact

This redesign represented the most significant shift in terminal use since the introduction of mobile computing in enterprise. The comprehensive improvements were enthusiastically welcomed by client companies and, most importantly, by the end users who operate these terminals daily in demanding field conditions.

Here is a YouTube video used to promote the new Terminal Emulation: