Semperis · Q1 2023 · Enterprise UX

Forest Druid Attack Path Visualization

As the Product Designer for Semperis, I owned the end-to-end design research for Forest Druid attack path analysis product, presented to C-Suite and influenced premium subscription features.

Role Product Designer (contributing as UX Researcher)

Duration 3 months · Q1 2023

Team Cross-functional (Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Marketing)

Impact Enabled new concept development and ideation with research findings and design recommendations

01 — Research Plan

Structured discovery across two methods.

The research combined qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate Forest Druid's usability, perceived value, and future potential across security and IT personas.

Strategic objectives

01

Validate whether users understand Druid's core value proposition

02

Assess usability of attack path and defense perimeter views

03

Identify interface pain points and areas for improvement

04

Evaluate new feature updates across attack path and defense perimeter

05

Discover most preferred features and future product expectations

Qualitative

Usability Tests & Interviews

5–7 security & IT professionals · 30-45min moderated tests & interviews

Quantitative

Survey

30 users · ~10 min via SurveyMonkey · Security & IT persona coverage

Usability tasks

Task 1 Free Exploration: Initial interaction and first impressions of the interface ecosystem.

Task 2 Attack Path Identification: Find risky relationships to an asset and identify critical attack paths.

02 — Survey Findings

Who uses Forest Druid and how.

30 users across small-medium to large sized enterprise. Majority were IT system and infrastructure administrators from companies with government, manufacturing and education domains.

Primary users

IT admins & engineers

Plus SOC analysts, IT directors, pen testers, and C-level executives

Company size

SMB to Enterprise

1–50,000+ employees; majority from companies with 1–5 domain controllers

Top feature used

Attack path selection

Followed by CSV export for reporting and Tier 0 asset identification

Usage frequency

Occasional & project-based

Most use once or a few times; a smaller group uses it for ongoing security assessments

Key satisfaction insights

Majority found Forest Druid extremely informative; users valued clear presentation of problematic rights.

Easier to get started with than Bloodhound, but some users struggled to interpret results without guidance.

Satisfaction varied — a portion found the information overwhelming or too detailed without contextual support.

Opportunities identified

1

Enhance user guidance and provide more detailed explanations throughout the tool

2

Simplify complex information presentation and improve interface clarity

3

Expand reporting capabilities and explore integration with other security products

03 — User Interviews

Pain points and unmet needs surfaced.

5–7 moderated tests and interview sessions with security professionals surfaced clear patterns around usability friction, feature gaps, and competitive positioning particularly against Bloodhound.

General impressions

Similar to Bloodhound but with a steeper learning curve; adoption was challenging due to tool complexity.

Users appreciated the quick sync time (under 5 minutes) but couldn't always grasp the concept or value.

Bloodhound seen as more practical with its 2D graph, detailed node info, and custom query options.

Feature requests

→

Ability to copy object names in the attack path view

→

Attack paths from any user to any group; more flexible traversal

→

Programmatic use of Forest Druid without launching the UI

→

Power BI integration for dashboard creation and reporting

→

Easy-to-read PDF reports for internal distribution with less technical language

Recommendations

1

Simplify the UI; clear explanations for empty views, intuitive action buttons (Re-sync, export)

2

Enhance search to include user/group properties; improve discovery of export options

3

Create comprehensive tutorials, walkthroughs, and tiered documentation for new users

4

Implement requested features — copy object names, flexible attack path traversal, programmatic access

04 — Design Output

Research translated into design.

Based on the research findings and recommendations, the following UI designs were created addressing navigation clarity, attack path legibility, and risk identity management for both everyday security practitioners and executive stakeholders.

Forest Druid Dashboard

Risk Identity — Open View

Impact

Research that moved the product forward.

More intuitive navigation

Redesigned action buttons and clearer empty states eliminated common friction points so users could orient themselves without guidance.

Clearer attack path legibility

Simplified graph views and contextual node labels made it faster to identify critical paths and Tier 0 asset risks at a glance.

Premium feature adoption

The new UI designs were included as a premium feature in the upgraded product, delivered to both existing and new customers.

New sales leads generated

The upgraded experience became a tangible differentiator, directly contributing to new sales leads and subscription growth.

Learnings

What this work set in motion.

1

This was the first formal research effort in the Semperis design team. It established the process, templates, and confidence that paved the way for many more research initiatives led by other team members.

2

Mixed-method research (survey + moderated interviews) gave us both breadth and depth. Quantitative patterns validated qualitative pain points, making the findings far more credible with stakeholders.

3

Presenting findings to C-Suite taught me to lead with business impact, not UX jargon connecting user pain points directly to revenue and retention resonated most.

SEMPERIS READY1 · 2024–2026 · CRISIS UX

Incident Commander Workflow

Empowering incident commanders with intuitive, real-time response tools end-to-end design for cybersecurity crisis management.

Role Product Designer

Duration 2+ years · ongoing

Team Product, Engineering, Security

Impact Faster incident response & seamless collaboration in restricted environments

As the Product Designer for Semperis Ready1, I owned end-to-end design of core incident commander workflows. In high-stakes cybersecurity crises, commanders need to create incidents, maintain live summaries, conduct bridges (conference calls), manage scribe updates, and coordinate tasks without friction. I mapped complex workflows, designed unified interfaces, and introduced new design system components to reduce cognitive load and accelerate response times.

Dashboard — Incident Commander View

Incident Commander Dashboard — full dashboard view showing real-time incident status, task overview, scribe log, and bridge call management for an active cybersecurity response.

01 — Challenge

Fragmented tools in critical moments.

Cybersecurity incidents demand rapid, coordinated action. Incident commanders juggle fragmented information, multiple stakeholders, and time pressure often in out-of-band or restricted-access scenarios.

Existing tools created friction: scattered views for incident creation, static summaries, disconnected scribe notes, and manual task tracking leading to delayed decisions and increased risk.

Goal

Deliver a cohesive, real-time workspace that lets commanders create, monitor, and resolve incidents efficiently while maintaining security and compliance standards.

02 — Research

Proactive, stakeholder led discovery.

Semi-structured interviews with commanders, scribes, and security analysts

Observational sessions of simulated and real incident response drills

Heuristic evaluation of current tools and competitive crisis platforms

Workflow mapping workshops across the full incident lifecycle

Key insights

Commanders needed a single pane of glass with live updates, they are often using multiple disconnected tools.

Scribe input and task management were siloed, forcing constant context-switching under pressure.

High-pressure environments required glanceable status indicators and flexible, structured collaboration.

03 — Ideation

Rapid iteration

Starting from low-fidelity sketches, I explored multiple directions for unifying the incident workspace, modal vs. guided wizard for creation, collapsible summary panels, and integrated scribe + task modules.

A key pivot: moving from separate tabs to a unified, role-aware dashboard that adapts based on user permissions and incident phase reducing orientation time in the most stressful moments.

04 — Design

Four core flows, one coherent experience.

01 Incident creation

Streamlined form with smart defaults and validation for quick setup under time pressure.

02 Incident summary

Live dashboard with real-time updates, status timelines, and key metrics at a glance.

03 Manage multiple bridges

Collaborate and manage multiple bridge calls for commanders to get an overview of incident status and switch context fast

04 Scribe & Task management

Activity log and history of incident mapped. Integrated task board with assignment, prioritization, and progress tracking in-context.

I extended the Semperis design system with new components, now available for future features and partnered closely with engineers through refinement sessions and build reviews to ensure Figma-to-production fidelity.

04 — UI Screens

Incident Summary

Multiple Bridges

Other Core Features

Incident List & Filters

Scribe

Task Management

Outcomes

What this work delivered.

Unified workspace

Reduced context-switching for commanders across the full incident lifecycle.

Real-time collaboration

Scribe and task capabilities improved team coordination under restricted access.

System extension

New design components created reusable foundations for future features.

Cross-product alignment

Stronger alignment with Forest Druid for holistic identity resilience.

Reflection

What I'd carry forward.

1

In high-stakes domains, glanceable, flexible interfaces outperform feature-heavy ones.

2

Introducing targeted new design components accelerates innovation without fragmenting the system.

3

Close cross-functional collaboration from discovery through launch is essential for complex security products.

EkStep Foundation · 2016 · EdTech UX

EkStep — Children's Learning Platform

Designing a joyful, gamified learning experience for children across India — from avatar onboarding and mascot-led discovery to content navigation accessible to pre-readers.

Role UX Designer

Duration 8 months · 2016

Team Product, Engineering, Content, Research

Impact Platform became the technical foundation for DIKSHA — India's national education infrastructure

01 — Background

A platform to reach 200 million children.

EkStep Foundation is a non-profit initiative aimed at creating an open, scalable learning platform to give 200 million children in India access to quality learning. The goal was to build a consumer-facing mobile application that made learning content engaging, accessible, and delightful for children aged 5–12.

I joined the product team as a UX Designer, responsible for the end-to-end experience of the EkStep app — from first launch through daily learning interactions.

Mission

Make learning accessible, joyful, and self-directed for every child in India — regardless of language, background, or access to formal schooling.

02 — Challenge

Designing for young, diverse learners.

Children aged 5–12 span vastly different literacy levels, cognitive abilities, and device familiarity. The app had to communicate without relying on reading ability, while also giving parents easy control over their children's profiles.

Core design questions

How do you design navigation for a child who cannot yet read?

How do you make content discovery feel like play, not a chore?

How do you keep parents in control while keeping children independently engaged?

03 — Research

Grounded in real classrooms and homes.

Field observations in government and private schools across Bengaluru

Parent interviews on device usage at home and concerns around screen time

Usability sessions with children aged 5–10 — minimal instruction, maximum observation

Competitive review of Khan Academy Kids, Disney storytelling apps, and regional ed-tech products

Key insights

Children navigated by icon recognition and color — text labels were largely ignored in early exploration.

A sense of ownership over a profile avatar dramatically increased return engagement in comparable apps.

Parents wanted child profile setup without complex sign-up — friction at onboarding caused immediate drop-off.

Field observation — classroom

Students at classroom during field research observation

Observing how children engage

Child listening closely during a usability observation session

04 — Design

Playful, purposeful, and accessible.

01 Genie — the mascot

A friendly animated character that greets children on launch, sets an emotional tone, and guides through onboarding — no instruction text needed.

02 Avatar-first onboarding

"Pick your favorite Avatar!" — letting children immediately personalize their profile created instant ownership and removed the friction of formal sign-up.

03 Icon-led content tabs

Story, Games, Quiz, and Others were bold visual tabs — readable to pre-readers through iconography and consistent color coding rather than labels.

04 Progress & motivation

Visual progress bars and achievement indicators built learning momentum — progress felt earned, not graded, keeping children intrinsically motivated.

Wireframes — early exploration

EkStep app wireframes showing early layout exploration

Visual design — final direction

EkStep visual design showing the final high-fidelity UI

05 — Key Screens

From first launch to daily discovery.

The experience was designed as a seamless loop: onboarding leads to the content discovery home, where children navigate freely between content types. Every screen was tested with children to ensure it required minimal adult help.

Outcomes

A platform that grew far beyond the app.

DIKSHA foundation

EkStep's platform became the technical and design foundation for DIKSHA — India's national digital infrastructure for school education, used by millions.

Accessible for pre-readers

Icon-led navigation and avatar-first onboarding reduced drop-off at first launch and made the app independently usable by young children without adult guidance.

Open-source impact

EkStep's design patterns and content framework were released open-source, enabling other ed-tech initiatives across India to build on the same foundation.

Scalable by design

The modular content architecture supported multiple languages and content types, scaling to serve children across India's diverse linguistic and regional landscape.

Reflection

What this taught me.

1

Designing for children demanded radical simplicity — every screen had to communicate its purpose in under two seconds without relying on language.

2

Emotional design through mascots and avatars isn't decoration — for young users it's the primary engagement mechanism and the deciding factor in return visits.

3

Working on a product with social impact at scale sharpened my sense of design responsibility — every friction point is felt by millions of real children.

Crafting intuitive interfaces for trust in high‑stakes decisions.

Selected work.