Seer Bio
Creating experiences for proteomic analysis
The Challenge
As FreshForm conducted on-site research observing real users in the lab, it became clear the software lacked a coherent information architecture entirely creating time to value delays and usability issues. The concept of a "study" as an organizing principle did not exist in the product, leaving researchers navigating a plate-centric system that created friction at every stage of their workflow. Fixing the surface without fixing the structure would not solve the business problem.
The Approach
FreshForm began with contextual inquiry research conducted on-site at Seer's Redwood City facility, observing how researchers actually moved through their work before proposing any design solutions. From those findings, the team rebuilt the information architecture from the ground up, developing and iterating site maps through live workshops with Seer's product and engineering teams until a shared model emerged.
What started as a project-based engagement evolved into something much more substantial. FreshForm became Seer's embedded design team, participating in daily scrum meetings, bi-weekly sprint planning, quarterly on-site strategy sessions, and monthly retrospectives, while also taking on PM tasks to augment the team resources by developing user stories and acceptance criteria (AC) and design QA alongside the engineering team.
The Outcome
The partnership extended to over three years, delivering a complete redesign of PAS and ICS, a full component library, a unified design system, and a roadmap of feature development that touched data management, multi-tenant access, advanced analysis tools, and purchasing enablement.
By the end, FreshForm had helped Seer build some of the most sophisticated software experiences the product portfolio had seen, and left the team with the systems and processes to continue building at that standard independently.
“FreshForm quickly became all-star members of the team, freed me up to focus on product strategy, and helped us deliver outcomes we couldn't have reach on our own.”