Equus Compute Solutions

By /

🖥️ Case Study: Designing the Complete Digital Ecosystem for Equus Compute Solutions

“From siloed systems to a cohesive digital experience for hyperscale enterprise clients — designed from the ground up.”

🔍 Background

Equus Compute Solutions is a U.S.-based leader in custom computing infrastructure, building powerful server and workstation solutions for high-performance needs. Their client base includes hyperscalers like Google, Netflix, and major enterprises, each requiring tailored hardware and high-volume ordering processes.

When I was brought on board, Equus had several disjointed digital touchpoints — from internal dashboards to customer-facing websites. My mission was to strategize, design, and unify their entire digital ecosystem across all brands and platforms.

🧠 My Role

I worked as the sole designer leading the complete digital design overhaul for Equus and its sub-brands. From research to launch and maintenance, I took ownership of:

  • 🧩 UI/UX design across 7+ digital platforms
  • 🔍 User research, journey mapping, usability testing
  • 🧠 Product strategy, including RICE analysis and service blueprinting
  • 🖼️ Creation of design systems, PDF documents, and visual assets
  • 🤝 Collaboration with developers, engineers, and product owners for execution and handoffs
  • 🔁 Ongoing support post-launch for optimization and stakeholder requests

🌐 Platforms I Designed

🎯 The Challenge

Each platform had grown independently with its own UI, UX, and structural logic — leading to:

  • Inconsistent brand experience
  • Fragmented workflows across user roles (engineers, resellers, ops)
  • Inefficient internal tools (especially HUB)
  • Disconnected marketing assets and documentation
  • No shared design language or system across properties

This created friction for both internal users and external clients — reducing efficiency and trust.

🔬 Discovery & Research

I began with a deep discovery phase to align design efforts with both user needs and business objectives.

👥 User & Stakeholder Interviews

I conducted interviews with:

  • Sales and operations teams
  • Engineering and QA teams
  • Product owners and customer success leads
  • Key clients (via anonymized feedback through the sales team)

This helped me understand pain points like:

  • Delays in internal order approvals
  • Unclear documentation and spec visuals
  • Clunky multi-step checkout/order forms

📊 Quantitative Research

Using tools like Google Analytics, Hotjar, and internal ticket logs, I discovered:

  • 18%–20% bounce rate on product pages
  • ~30% drop-off in mid-funnel on HUB (multi-step approval flow)
  • Recurring internal support tickets related to UI confusion or miscommunication

🔄 Strategy & Planning

📌 RICE Prioritization

To tackle challenges efficiently, I applied RICE scoring to prioritize redesign tasks for HUB and storefronts based on:

  • Reach – How many users it affects
  • Impact – How much improvement it brings
  • Confidence – Backed by qualitative + quantitative evidence
  • Effort – Time/resources needed to build

🔄 Service Blueprinting

I visualized data flow, dependencies, and user interactions across platforms using service blueprints to ensure technical feasibility and UX clarity.

🧭 Journey Mapping

I mapped different personas and workflows:

  • Enterprise clients ordering in bulk
  • Internal order teams validating specs
  • Partners accessing collateral on channel.equuscs.com
  • B2B customers browsing serversdirect.com

These maps helped expose:

  • UI dead-ends
  • Excessive cognitive load on internal forms
  • Redundant approval steps that could be auto-resolved

✍️ Design Execution

With insights in place, I moved into ideation and design:

  • Built low- to high-fidelity wireframes for each platform
  • Created a unified component library in Figma for faster dev handoff
  • Made all platforms WCAG-compliant, fully responsive
  • Designed 20+ PDFs, spec sheets, diagrams, and supporting graphics
  • Wrote design documentation and onboarding notes for internal teams

[Wireframe of HUB]


[Homepage UI EquusCS.com]

🤝 Collaboration

As a solo designer on this large initiative, I worked closely with:

  • 🧑‍💻 Frontend and backend developers to ensure seamless implementation
  • 🧑‍💼 Product owners and stakeholders to align on timelines and vision
  • 📩 Marketing teams for brand tone, PDF needs, and messaging consistency
  • 🧪 QA and support teams to catch edge cases and refine final interactions

I maintained regular standups, feedback loops, and used Zeplin, Notion, and Loom walkthroughs to streamline the handoff process.

📦 Deliverables

  • ✅ Fully redesigned 8 digital platforms
  • ✅ Custom UI Kit + reusable component system
  • ✅ Over 20 PDF brochures/spec documents
  • ✅ Research documents (interview notes, journey maps, RICE tables)
  • ✅ Interactive prototypes in Figma
  • ✅ Documentation for development teams
  • ✅ Post-launch support for iterations and edge cases

📈 Results & Measurable Impact

📊 How I Tracked It

  • Google Analytics: for site usage, bounce rate, engagement
  • Hotjar: for click maps, scroll behavior, and friction points
  • Surveys & Forms: for qualitative user sentiment
  • Internal Support Logs: pre- vs post-launch issue volume
  • Manual Task Completion Tests: conducted with internal ops teams before/after HUB redesign

🚀 Highlights

  • 40% improvement in task completion time in HUB workflows
  • 18% drop in bounce rate on serversdirect.com product pages
  • 30% increase in product page engagement (click-throughs, comparisons)
  • ~25% fewer internal support tickets post redesign
  • Stakeholders reported “significant improvement in client confidence and brand presence”

🧠 Reflection & Takeaways

This project challenged me to think beyond “screen design” and into ecosystem thinking. I had to build not just interfaces, but the connective tissue between people, products, and platforms.

Key Lessons:

  • Tooling alone doesn’t create alignment — documentation and communication do
  • Internal tools should be treated with the same care as public-facing ones
  • Early research pays off throughout — especially when you’re the only designer

🛠 Tools I Used

  • Figma – Wireframes, high-fidelity UIs, prototypes
  • Miro – Journey mapping, RICE, stakeholder synthesis
  • Google Analytics – Performance metrics
  • Hotjar – Heatmaps and behavior tracking
  • Notion – Research + dev handoff docs
  • Zeplin – Developer collaboration
  • Illustrator & Photoshop – PDFs, diagrams, spec sheets
  • Loom – Walkthroughs and internal training
Scroll to Top