Redesigning a no-code tool to allow scientists to automate in research labs
Role
Lead product designer on a team with 3 software engineers and 1 PM
Responsibilities
Lead the end-to-end redesign of a no-code graphical user interface that allows scientists to control Opentrons robots so that they can automate in the lab.
Impact
- Serve over 3,000+ scientists monthly and 5X'd the number of protocol exports per month
- Solved usability issues in legacy tool and built foundation for feature expansion and AI integration
- Updated components with latest design system that aligned with brand and WCAG accessibility standards
The problem
An existing product neglected
Programming robots to help with lab automation tasks is daunting. Many biologists today don’t have the coding skills to comfortably program Opentrons robots to do what they want.
Protocol Designer is a no-code solution built by Opentrons to allow scientists to build protocols that robots can run. Unfortunately, due a shift in Opentrons priorities during new product development, the company was unable to sustain substantial investment into the digital product and left it untouched for over 2 years.
Problems in the legacy experience
Due to the lack of digital investment, Protocol Designer had many issues.
Unintuitive navigation
The existing interface had a side panel navigation pattern that made it difficult for users to understand what they needed to do to create a protocol. It was also hard to find information about how your robot was configured.
Usability issues
The layout for adding robot commands into a timeline occluded the main visual for seeing what is happening on your robot. It is also hard to understand what form fields you need to fill out to create a robot step.
Dated visual design
Protocol Designer was originally designed in 2019. It had a mix of new and old design components throughout the experience.
The solution
A completely redesigned experience
Over the course of 6 months, I worked closely with my product and engineering peers to design and build a new Protocol Designer experience.
Protocol overview page
I designed an overview page to serve as a place for a user to get to know everything they need to know about the protocol that they are making/editing. Our existing users often create protocols by editing protocols that they've created previously. The overview page helps them to know what they need to change.
Edit your protocol in one place
Users can now edit their protocol in one place. They are able to both edit their starting robot configuration, and also add steps to a timeline to create the workflow that they want the robot to perform.
Configure your protocol steps while being able to view your robot deck
Taking inspiration from other analogous domains, I created a layout where users are able to configure their protocol steps and view the robot deck at the same time. I also adjusted the order in which form field inputs were asked to highlight dependencies between inputs and reduce cognitive load.
Impact
Increase in users and protocol creation
Since release in December of 2024, redesigned Protocol Designer has seen a steady increase in the number of users who visit and use the platform.
Unique users visiting the site has increased, as well as the number of protocols exported in the tool.
Setting a foundation for 2025
We’ve continued to build upon the platform into 2025, adding new features that provide value to scientists and also addressing problems that we were unable to solve during the initial redesign due to scope and timeline.
Today, Protocol Designer serves as a way for Opentrons to make true on its promise to make lab automation accessible for all scientists.
Felix Liu
I’d love to hear what you are working on and learn how we can collaborate!
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© Felix Liu 2025, last updated August 2025
