How Alien Design Transformed ZIFO’s Complex Lab Platform into a Unified SaaS Experience

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When ZIFO, a global leader in scientific data and lab informatics, set out to revolutionize how laboratories operate, they had a bold vision: build a unified SaaS platform—Cuttle—that integrates complex lab workflows and multiple user profiles into a seamless, intuitive ecosystem. Yet, the challenge lay in translating this complexity into clarity. That’s where Alien Design stepped in.

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By combining design intelligence, deep UX research, and enterprise-level problem-solving, Alien Design helped ZIFO turn an intricate laboratory management platform into a fluid, scalable, and delightfully usable digital product.

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The Challenge: Complex Ecosystem, Low Usability

ZIFO’s platform (codenamed “Cuttle”) was designed to unify the chaos of lab management: handling instruments, data, processes, compliance, and collaboration across user roles. But the problem wasn’t just complexity - it was usability.

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Pain points included:

• Lab Admins couldn’t forecast demand, manage resources, or maintain data integrity efficiently.

• Lab Analysts were manually handling repetitive data entry into multiple systems, documenting large volumes of data, missing protocol steps, unsure if instruments are calibrated, or prepared for procedures. 
• Lab and IT Support couldn’t easily trace root-cause issues or detect offline instruments. Lab Support also faces time-consuming and complex protocols creation.
• Scientists lacked visibility into sample status and workflow bottlenecks, delaying research. 

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Alien Design was brought in to tackle this from the ground up - strategy, user experience, interface design, and brand alignment.

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Alien Design’s Solution: Built to Scale, Designed to Convert

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Deep Discovery: Designing for Real People, Not Just Profiles

Alien’s team kicked off with an in-depth discovery sprint: mapping out ZIFO’s goals, workflows, users and bottlenecks. They didn’t just guess, they developed user personas like Dr. Robin Williams(Lab Admin), Stephanie Jacquline (Analyst), John Pierce (Lab Support ), Dr. Steve Regan (Chief Scientist), and Paul Meyer (IT Support), based on interviews and product data to truly understand daily challenges, motivations, and expectations.

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Image: Source

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System-Level Thinking: Ideation & Architecture

From this foundation, Alien Design architected role-based user journeys and workflow scenarios that served different use cases, yet shared a unified design logic. Navigation, dashboards, and access controls were all made modular and extensible.

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From Data Chaos to Design Clarity: A Scalable Design System

To ensure long-term scalability and ease of development, Alien created a custom UI design system:

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• Workflow templates allowing query assignment, progress tracking, automation of tasks. 
• Instrument views with real-time connectivity, enabling seamless sync between hardware and tasks. 
• Streamlined data archival and metadata management where heavy volumes become accessible via human-friendly search rather than complex query logic. 
• Enterprise-ready, real-time analytics dashboards enabling timely decision-making.

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All of it tied to a minimalist, high‑usability interface that aligns with ZIFO’s brand promise of delivering a unified laboratory ecosystem.

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Outcome & Business Impact: How Alien Design Helped

The new platform didn’t just look better - it worked better. 

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Image: Source

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Alien Design helped achieve:

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• Faster onboarding for new users (through consistent UI/UX)
• Reduced task errors through simplified workflows: Better process visibility = fewer mistakes
• Enhanced visibility into lab operations via dashboards
• Faster data discovery: Search time reduced, previews increased confidence
• Improved brand consistency across user personas
• Faster decision-making with real-time dashboards
• Streamlined data management across decades of archived information
• Higher user satisfaction: Simplified UI, clear insights, less frustration
• Stronger brand perception: The platform now felt like ZIFO
• A future-ready design system that supports scale

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You can see the full breakdown, including visuals, personas, and workflows in the official ZIFO Case Study.

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For SaaS & Enterprise Brands: What You Can Learn

If you’re building or scaling a SaaS or enterprise platform, here’s why this case matters:

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1. Start with people, not pixels. Understand your user roles in depth before touching design.
2. Use design systems early. They save you from UI debt later.
3. Design for complexity, not simplicity. Simplifying complex workflows is harder (and more valuable) than building simple features.
4. Brand ≠ Logo. Every screen should echo your value prop with clarity, elegance, and precision.
5. Enterprise ≠ Boring. With the right partner, even a lab management platform can feel like a world-class product.

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Why Alien Design?

Alien Design blends strategy, UX, and brand design for high-growth SaaS and enterprise platforms. Whether you’re launching, rebranding, or scaling, our work proves that good design isn’t a luxury. It’s a multiplier.

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• End-to-end delivery: from UX strategy to pixel-perfect design systems
• Brand-led thinking: ensures cohesion across product and marketing
• Business impact: designs that drive adoption, retention, and conversion

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Ready to Scale Your Enterprise SaaS Design?

If your SaaS product or enterprise platform is powerful on the back-end but underwhelming on the front-end or need a design system that aligns with your brand, users, and growth goals - Alien Design can help you bridge the gap.

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Let’s design smarter, together.

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