India's first self-serve enterprise network platform — designed from zero to launch as the sole product designer.
MY ROLE
Solo Product Designer
METHODOLOGY
Agile · 2-week sprints
DURATION
4+ Years
IMPACT
95% faster deployments
Watch the polarin introduction video
Enterprise networking was broken by design
The industry hadn’t changed in decades.
INDUSTRY STATUS QUO
5–7 days to deploy a connection
Required certified engineers
Fragmented tools and vendors
No visibility after order submission
Manual email follow-ups
INDUSTRY STATUS QUO
Deploy in under 15 minutes
Non-technical users self-serve
Single unified platform
Real-time visual tracking
Category defining NaaS
CORE DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we productize complex network infrastructure into a self-serve platform — without oversimplifying it for enterprise users who need control?
Introduce India’s first NaaS platform
Reduce network deployment timelines
Enable self-serve ordering and management
Equip sales teams with a real, demo-ready product
Validate the product before scaling features
Easily order network services
Understand what they are configuring
Track progress without follow-ups
Manage services post-deployment
Reduced time to deploy
Successful task completion without support
Reduced dependency on backend teams
Adoption and repeat usage
Confidence during sales demos
Because this was a 0 → 1 product, discovery focused heavily on understanding before designing.
I spent time upfront:
Working closely with network architects
Learning networking concepts (L1/L2/L3, Ports, VR, VC)
Reviewing existing manual provisioning workflows
Attending sales calls and demos
Understanding operational constraints
User research involved:
Design with realistic system behavior
Avoid surface level abstractions
Bridge conversations between business, tech, and users
User research involved:
Interviews with enterprise IT and network teams
Inputs from sales engineers and support teams
Observing where users struggled during demos
Key insights:
Users lacked visibility after placing an order
Status uncertainty caused anxiety and follow-ups
Users depended heavily on support teams
Explaining the product internally was difficult
These insights became direct inputs into design decisions.
Megaport
Console Connect
Packet Fabric
Equinix
No comparable self-serve NaaS products in India
Global references existed but:
Documentation-heavy with steep learning curves
Were too complex for first-time users
Limited visual feedback during provisioning
We had to define the category, not copy patterns.
Let’s walk through one example of how I designed a complex dashboard to explain my process.
My process for transforming fragmented tools into essential platforms through research-driven design, strategic thinking, and relentless focus on user value.
The Challenge
Designing dashboards for network platforms isn't about showing data. It's about helping users see, trust, and act - often in seconds.
Multiple Regions
Live Traffic
SLAs
Alerts
Business Context
All changing in real time.
My Starting Point
Before screens, I focus on how users think about their network.
They don't say:
"Show me a table of services"
They say:
"Is my network healthy from here to there?"
The Mental Model
I designed the dashboard around geography, not navigation.
The map became the primary interface:
Designing for First Glance
The dashboard answers three questions immediately:
1
Is everything okay?
2
If not, where is the issue?
3
Do I need to act right now?
Status as a Language
Instead of hiding states in tables, I made status visual:
Live/Healthy
Down/Critical
Degraded
Design/Info
Each state is consistent across: Map • Services • Alerts
No translation required.
Solving Map Density & Interaction at Scale
In regions like Navi Mumbai, multiple data centers exist within a very small geographic radius. At certain zoom levels, 8–10 location markers overlapped, making it difficult for users to identify, hover, or interact with individual data centers.
This wasn’t just a visual problem — it directly impacted usability.
Designing for Clarity, Not Clutter
Instead of reducing information, I focused on structuring it.
I introduced a cluster-based interaction model that:
Groups nearby data centers at lower zoom levels
Gradually unfolds them as users zoom in
Maintains spatial accuracy without overwhelming the map
Cluster with services
Cluster with no services
Datacentres with multiple Services
Datacentres with no Services
Connection Tooltip
View Settings as an Interaction Layer
This keeps the default experience simple while allowing depth on demand.
From Abstract to Real-World Paths
So alongside the globe view, I designed a real-path map view as well
Contextual Service Details
Selecting a service reveals inline details
Dedicated Service Detail Module
For deeper analysis, services open into a dedicated detail view.
This section highlights the most critical screens that shape the Polarin user experience—from service discovery and ordering to deployment, monitoring, and network visibility. Each screen is designed to reduce complexity, improve decision-making, and give customers real-time control over their network.
3D Globe View
The 3D Globe View brings the customer’s network to life. It offers a real-time, global perspective of active connections, regions, and performance alerts—making it easy to monitor network health and spot issues at a glance.
2D Flat Map View
The 2D Map View offers a simplified, flat representation of the customer’s network. Customers can quickly view service locations, active connections, and performance alerts, making it easy to monitor and manage the network at a glance.
Order Flow
During the order flow, customers can select both endpoints to check committed availability before creating a connection. This helps validate service feasibility and performance commitments between any two data center locations upfront.
All Services
The All Services page gives customers a complete view of Polarin’s connectivity portfolio.Customers can explore all available services, understand use cases, and quickly choose the right solution for their infrastructure needs.
Order Success Screen
Real-time visibility into deployment, right after ordering. Polarin visually guides customers through the live deployment of their connection, keeping them informed at every step.
Comprehensive Design System
Built a scalable component library with 100+ reusable components, documented design variables, and clear usage guidelines to ensure consistency across the entire platform.
100+
Components
20+
Variables
100%
Coverage
Impact & Outcomes
Polarin's launch delivered measurable improvements across deployment speed, user adoption, and customer satisfaction compared to industry standards.
Deployment Speed
95%
Faster
From 5-7 days to 15 minutes
User Adoption
+340%
Growth
Non-technical users now self-serve
Customer Satisfaction
9.1/10
CSAT Score
Significant improvements from 6.2