Lighthouse Spectra B2B SaaS
Product overview
A one-stop eDiscovery Platform
Lighthouse’s Spectra is a comprehensive enterprise B2B SaaS solution designed to empower legal professionals to efficiently manage the eDiscovery process. Through a seamless end-to-end platform, Spectra supports every stage of the litigation and investigation process – from file asset upload and processing to document review and production, while meeting the needs of diverse user roles involved in complex legal workflows.
Crafting a Flagship Experience
Shaping Spectra into a Market-Leading Product
At the time, Lighthouse made the decision to completely redevelop Spectra from the ground up to better position it in the increasingly competitive eDiscovery market. The platform needed to evolve not just visually, but functionally, in order to meet the growing demands of the industry. The goal was to create something that felt seamless, intuitive, and genuinely helpful for legal professionals who rely on it for complex, high-stakes work.
Redesigning Spectra: My Role and Impact
I joined Lighthouse as the first in-house UI designer to lead the visual and functional overhaul of the Spectra platform. Working closely with UX designers, engineers, and stakeholders, I helped transform Spectra into a modern, cohesive product with a more intuitive and user-friendly interface. The redesign focused on streamlining task flows to better support the complex needs of legal professionals, ultimately improving usability and positioning Spectra as a competitive, forward-thinking solution in the eDiscovery market.
Navigating Complex Design Challenges
Collaborative User Testing
I worked closely with engineering and product teams to design the Spectra platform, incorporating feedback from law firm clients and end-users to drive iterative improvements. One of the key challenges was striking the right balance between user needs and technical constraints. We had to ensure the platform’s design remained intuitive and efficient while considering the limitations of existing infrastructure and resources. Through collaborative user testing and continuous feedback loops, we were able to refine the design, ensuring it met both user expectations and technical requirements, ultimately enhancing the overall user experience.
Compliance
Ensuring WCAG and ADA compliance was a critical priority throughout the design of Spectra, as it was essential to provide full accessibility to all users, including those with disabilities. The challenge lay in integrating these standards while maintaining a seamless user experience. By rigorously adhering to WCAG 2.0 and ARIA guidelines, I ensured that visual elements, interactions, and navigation were fully accessible, meeting legal accessibility requirements. This not only kept the product compliant but also enhanced the overall user experience for everyone by making the platform more inclusive and easier to use, regardless of ability.
System-Level Design
One of the core challenges was establishing a unified visual language across a complex B2B SaaS platform from the ground up. This involved not only creating consistent UI patterns but also ensuring they aligned seamlessly with the platform’s technical workflows and evolving product features. Building the design system from scratch required a deep understanding of both user needs and technical limitations, while maintaining flexibility for future iterations. By developing a robust set of design principles, reusable components, and clear guidelines, I ensured a cohesive and scalable user interface that supported long-term growth and adaptability across the product.
Design Handover
A key challenge in the design handover process was ensuring seamless collaboration and clear communication between designers and developers, especially when working through complex workflows. To address this, I integrated detailed design specifications directly into InVision screens, making them easily accessible to the entire team. This approach not only provided developers with a clear understanding of design intent but also allowed for quick access to specifications like measurements, colors, and interactions. By streamlining the handover process, I ensured that the design was implemented accurately and efficiently, reducing the back-and-forth and minimizing potential misunderstandings.
Design System
One of the key challenges was developing an enterprise-level design system from the ground up, ensuring it met the needs of a complex product ecosystem. I defined and built a comprehensive system that included over 30 reusable Angular-based components, each carefully crafted to promote consistency, scalability, and efficiency across the platform. This process required balancing the flexibility needed for evolving product features with the necessity for uniformity across various teams and projects. By creating standardized components and establishing clear guidelines, I was able to lay the foundation for a scalable design system that could easily adapt as the product grew and evolved.
Component Library Strategy
I developed a robust component library strategy to support consistent UI design across multiple products while ensuring scalability. I built and maintained an in-house Sketch and Figma component library, which included standardized UI elements and components to be reused across the platform. Collaborating closely with other designers, I ensured that the library was continuously updated to meet evolving design needs and technical requirements. This process involved establishing clear guidelines and best practices for component usage, enabling teams to maintain design consistency and efficiency as the product suite expanded.
Implementation
Matters Page
A matter refers to a specific legal case, administrative or judicial proceeding for which electronic data needs to be collected, processed, reviewed, and produced. It encompasses all the electronic information relevant to the case, including emails, documents, chat logs, multimedia files, and more.
Original Spectra UI
Matter Details Page
The matter details page is a page dedicated to viewing a single matter and serves as a centralized hub for accessing and managing all electronic data relevant to a specific legal case or investigation. It provides a comprehensive overview of the matter, including metadata, document summaries, and key key details, allowing legal teams to efficiently navigate and review the information. Additionally, the page features users to quickly locate specific documents and track the status of files imported, processed and exported.
Original Spectra UI
File Import Flow
Spectra provides users with versatile options for importing files into their matter. Whether through an SFTP client, Lighthouse Aspera client, or the platform’s built-in import browser, users have seamless flexibility to manage their data efficiently.
Original Spectra UI
Volume Processing
After collection, the collected data undergoes processing to prepare it for review and analysis. This involves extracting metadata, text extraction for indexing and searchability, and de-duplication to remove duplicate files. Processing ensure that the data is in a format that can be efficiently managed and reviewed by legal teams.
Original Spectra UI
Custodian Management
A custodian refers to an individual who has control or possession of electronic information that may be relevant to a legal case or investigation. Custodians are typically employees or individuals within an organization who create, manage, or have access to electronic data that may be subject to discovery in litigation or regulatory matters.
Measurable Impacts of the Redesign
The redesign had a significant impact on both usability and user satisfaction. Streamlined features reduced average task completion time by over 25%, enabling legal professionals to work more efficiently. Improved clarity and intuitive workflows led to an 80% drop in reliance on help documentation and a 60% decrease in post-onboarding client questions, demonstrating a dramatic improvement in the overall user experience.
My Role
I worked closely with UX designers to define and implement a comprehensive visual design strategy throughout the full redevelopment of the Spectra platform. My contributions included preparing clickable prototypes for UX testing, developing detailed specification guidelines, and providing technical and design QA feedback. I also supported the web development team by delivering UI/UX design specifications, ensuring a seamless integration of design and functionality.
Year: 2021-2024
OS: Desktop