AutoCAD Mac. A reintroduction of AutoCAD on the Mac platform after nearly a 20 year hiatus. Following Dragonfly's success, I was asked to lead the design.
AutoCAD is the dominant architectural software for 2D design and the .dwg file format is the standard. A version of AutoCAD was orginially built for the Mac by the founder of Autodesk in the early 1990s. Autodesk retired the product after only a few years in the market. As Mac saw great gains in the aughts, Autodesk decided to revist the Mac platform. As of 2009, AutoCAD was being built only for PCs. Firms often collaborate so anyone on a Mac had to either emulate a PC or use an alternate software package. Autodesk also wanted to recapture the Mac market.
The primary user for AutoCAD Mac was a techie who loved Macs. The user enjoyed being challenged intellectually and was always proud of their designs. They used Macs because of their superior performance and reliability.
The team conducted extensive internal and external interviews. We then developed personas and design goals. Wireframes were created and we delivered designs in an iterative manner for the project. Every step of the way we kept the executive leadership and stakeholders informed of progress and achievements.
We created AutoCAD Mac as a native application on the Mac platform. Intentional choices made the experience feel natural to the Mac while respecting the history and power of AutoCAD.