Lorenzo Trenidad Chavez
Portfolio
Use Case:
Transforming Dell’s Global e‑Support Experience
Process Narrative:
EMC renewal integration - unifying two legacy ecosystems
Process Narrative:
Subscription services, a scalable and simplified digital asset management
Process Narrative:
APEX a flexible, cloud‑like, everything‑as‑a‑service model
Role:
Senior User eXperience Architect /
UX Lead
Timeline: Multi-year
Impact: Decreased operational costs, increased self‑service resolution, reduced call volume, improved diagnostic accuracy
Role:
Senior User Experience Architect /
UX Lead
Timeline: Multi-year
Impact: Unified Dell and EMC renewal workflows, reduced seller friction, improved renewal accuracy, increased operational efficiency, and established a scalable framework for long‑term lifecycle management
Role:
Principal Product Designer / UX Lead
Timeline: Multi-year
Impact: Introduced subscription workflows across Dell’s ecosystem, improved renewal clarity, and strengthened Dell’s shift toward predictable, recurring‑revenue experiences
Role:
Principal Product Designer / UX Lead
Timeline: Multi-year
Impact: Created the initial APEX UI framework, defined partners interactions and operationalize APEX workflows, and led a cross‑functional design team to evaluate features to determine if items were to be integrated into the CI/CD pipeline for continuous delivery and improvement.
Project Snapshot
Project Scope: Unified 15+ legacy support applications into a modern, diagnostic‑driven self‑service platform.
Core Team
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UX Architecture & Interaction Design
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Product Management
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Engineering (Front‑end & Back‑end)
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Global Research & Validation
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Content Strategy
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Support Operations
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Executive Stakeholders
Focus Areas
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Online Diagnostic Engine
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Unified Support Experience
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Self‑Service Troubleshooting
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Responsive, global access
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Data‑driven validation
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Operational efficiency
Timeline
Year 1: Discovery, framework, early prototypes
Year 1.5: Iteration, global testing, refinement
Year 2: Integration, implementation, rollout
Post‑Launch: Continuous evolution
Role:
Senior User eXperience Architect/UX Lead
Timeline: Multi-year
Impact: Decreased operational costs, increased self‑service resolution, reduced call volume, improved diagnostic accuracy
Users needed guided clarity, not more troubleshooting options.
The interface overwhelmed users with branching options instead of guiding them toward the next best step. The result: cognitive overload and stalled progress.
Diagnostic paths varied widely across hardware and regions.
Different product lines, geographies, and support teams used divergent diagnostic sequences. The lack of a unified logic model created unpredictable user journeys and inconsistent resolutions.
Agents followed consistent mental models not represented in the UI.
Support agents relied on stable, proven troubleshooting logic—but the interface forced them into rigid, linear flows. Their expertise lived outside the system, not within it.
Users didn’t trust the tools—outcomes felt unpredictable.
The diagnostic engine produced inconsistent results for identical issues. Users described the experience as “rolling the dice,” creating hesitation, repeat attempts, and unnecessary escalations.
Discovery & Insights
The Challenge
Dell’s support ecosystem had grown into a patchwork of legacy tools, inconsistent terminology, and unpredictable diagnostic paths.
Customers lacked a clear way to troubleshoot issues, and support agents relied on undocumented mental models.
Design Goal
Create a unified, scalable diagnostic framework that delivers clarity, consistency, and trust.
Impact & Reflection
The redesigned eSupport ecosystem proved highly successful.
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Unified 15+ legacy apps into a single, modern eSupport experience
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Delivered iteratively over two years with continuous validation
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Cut support call volume by hundreds of thousands through self‑service
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Reduced operational costs via direct‑to‑customer part replacement
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Launched a fully responsive interface for anytime, anywhere system access
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Established a scalable foundation for ongoing diagnostic innovation
This project reinforced that diagnostic experiences succeed when the underlying system logic is unified before UI design begins. The diagnostic framework continues to influence Dell’s support strategy and future automation initiatives.
Recognition:
Contributed to Dell receiving the Confirmit ACE Award for Excellence.
“Global testing in the U.S. and China revealed the need for clearer system transparency and stronger reassurance cues.”
Design Validation
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Partnered with Frog Design to independently validate core interaction assumptions and overall design direction.
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Developed a structured test plan targeting a wide spectrum of users—from novices to highly technical experts—in both the U.S. and China.
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Usability results strongly confirmed the clarity and effectiveness of the proposed diagnostic experience.
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Participated in a facilitated workshop where Frog Design synthesized findings and highlighted the most actionable insights.
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The validation effort reinforced design confidence, reduced risk, and ensured the solution would scale effectively across global audiences
Final Solution
High Fidelity Screens
The Online Diagnostic Engine (ODE) unified Dell’s support experience with a predictable, transparent, and scalable diagnostic model.
Use Case: Transforming Dell’s Global e‑Support Experience
A unified diagnostic engine that modernized troubleshooting for millions of customers worldwide.
Unified Diagnostic Framework
Strategy & Design Exploration
Early concepts explored linear flows, branching trees, and hybrid models. Testing revealed the need for a
guided, step‑based diagnostic engine with transparent system feedback.
Role:
Senior User Experience Architect/UX Lead
Timeline: Multi-year
Impact: Unified Dell and EMC renewal workflows, reduced seller friction, improved renewal accuracy, increased operational efficiency, and established a scalable framework for long‑term lifecycle management
Timeline
Year 1: Discovery, framework, early prototypes
Year 1.5: Iteration, global testing, refinement
Year 2: Integration, implementation, rollout
Post‑Launch: Continuous evolution
Focus Areas
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Platform Integration
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Experience Continuity
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Workflow Transformation
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Information Architecture
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Legacy Modernization
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User Experience
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Cross-System Alignment
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Operational Efficiency
Core Team
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UX Architecture & Interaction Design
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Product Management
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Engineering (Front‑end & Back‑end)
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Global Research & Validation
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Content Strategy
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Support Operations
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Executive Stakeholders
Project Snapshot
Process Narrative: EMC renewal integration - unifying two legacy ecosystems
Unifying Two Legacy Ecosystems into a Single Platform
Following the Dell and EMC integration, the renewal experience brought together legacy processes, workflows, and business practices. The process narrative created a shared view of the end-to-end renewal journey, exposing key interactions, dependencies, and friction points while establishing a foundation for a simpler, more cohesive future-state experience.
Dell/EMC Renewals
Integrating Legacy Renewal Workflows into a Unified Dell Experience
The EMC Renewals initiative introduced a complex experience challenge: integrating legacy EMC renewal workflows into Dell’s existing systems while creating greater continuity across the customer journey. As UX Lead, my role was to establish the experience framework that could translate that complexity into a clear, actionable direction for the broader team.
Understanding the Existing Experience
I began by examining the renewal workflow as an end-to-end experience rather than approaching individual requirements or screens in isolation. I created foundational user flows and customer journeys to visualize how renewal activities connected across the experience and to establish a common representation of the process for cross-functional stakeholders.
This became an important foundation for the work. Mapping the experience made it possible to move conversations away from individual interface requirements and toward a shared understanding of how the overall renewal journey needed to function.
Creating the Experience Framework
With the journey established, I translated that understanding into interaction patterns and more detailed user flows. The objective was to provide enough structure to demonstrate how legacy EMC renewal interactions could be incorporated into Dell’s existing environment while maintaining coherence throughout the experience.
The models served both strategic and practical purposes: they helped align stakeholders around an experience direction while giving the product and engineering teams a tangible representation of the proposed workflow.
Moving from Model to Experience
I then developed concept wireframes and interaction models that transformed the proposed experience into something the team could evaluate. These concepts were used to support proof-of-concept development and early user testing.
The process created a progression from understanding the legacy workflow → visualizing the customer journey → defining the integrated experience → prototyping and testing the solution.
Portfolio Perspective
The value of this work was not simply redesigning a renewal interface. It was creating the experience architecture needed to make a complicated legacy integration understandable and actionable.
My contribution:
I transformed a complex legacy renewal process into a structured experience framework that aligned journeys, workflows, interaction models, and early validation around a shared UX direction.
A unified renewal experience that streamlined EMC integration into Dell and simplified the customer journey.
Process Narrative: Subscription services, digital asset management
A unified subscription experience that simplified how customers manage services across Dell.
Project Snapshot
Role:
Senior User Experience Architect/UX Lead
Timeline: Multi-year
Impact: Introduced subscription workflows across Dell’s ecosystem, improved renewal clarity, and strengthened Dell’s shift toward predictable, recurring‑revenue experiences
Core Team
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UX Architecture & Interaction Design
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Product Management
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Engineering (Front‑end & Back‑end)
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Global Research & Validation
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Content Strategy
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Support Operations
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Executive Stakeholders
Focus Areas
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Customer Experience
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Lifecycle Management
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Self-service
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Workflow Optimization
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Information Architecture
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Experience Consistency
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Business Alignment
Timeline
Year 1: Discovery, framework, early prototypes
Year 1.5: Iteration, global testing, refinement
Year 2: Integration, implementation, rollout
Post‑Launch: Continuous evolution
A unified subscription experience simplifing how customers manage services across Dell.
The Dell subscription program introduced a different kind of customer journey; one built around an ongoing relationship rather than a one-time transaction. Designing this model required considering how customers move through key moments across the subscription lifecycle while creating an experience that feels clear, connected, and manageable.
Designing Subscription Experiences Across an Enterprise Ecosystem
As Dell expanded its subscription-based software and services, the experience needed to support more than the initial transaction. Customers needed continuity across discovering, configuring, purchasing, and subsequently managing subscription-based products within Dell’s broader digital environment. My work focused on integrating those experiences into Dell’s internal sales model and the Dell Premier purchasing platform.
Framing the Experience as a Lifecycle
I approached subscriptions as a lifecycle experience, looking beyond the purchase itself to understand how subscription interactions connected across the broader ecosystem.
This perspective helped shift the design problem from creating isolated subscription features toward establishing continuity across different points in the customer experience.
Connecting Previously Separate Experiences
The work included subscription experiences associated with SupportAssist, Power Manager, Microsoft 365, and APEX. I aligned UX patterns with Dell MyAccount and Digital Locker to create greater consistency in how customers interacted with subscription-related services across Dell’s digital ecosystem.
Rather than allowing each service to develop its own disconnected interaction model, the experience direction emphasized recognizable behaviors and greater continuity across platforms.
Integrating Subscriptions into Sales and Commerce
A critical part of the process was incorporating subscription-based offerings into existing enterprise purchasing environments.
I designed the experience to support discovery, configuration, and transaction workflows within Dell Premier and the internal sales model, connecting subscription services with established purchasing experiences rather than positioning them as separate destinations.
The work ultimately created a clearer relationship between commerce and ongoing subscription management, supporting Dell’s broader movement toward recurring-revenue models.
Portfolio Perspective
This project illustrates how I approach experience architecture at an ecosystem level. The challenge was not simply designing a subscription interface. It was creating continuity across products, platforms, purchasing interactions, and ongoing service management.
My contribution:
I designed subscription experiences as a connected lifecycle, integrating discovery, configuration, purchasing, and management across Dell’s enterprise sales and digital commerce ecosystem.
Process Narrative: APEX a flexible, cloud‑like, everything‑as‑a‑service model
A unified as-a-service experience that transformed how customers consume and manage technology.
Project Snapshot
Role:
Senior User Experience Architect/UX Lead
Timeline: Multi-year
Impact: Created the initial APEX UI framework, defined partners interactions and operationalize APEX workflows, and led a cross‑functional design team to evaluate features to determine if items were to be integrated into the CI/CD pipeline for continuous delivery and improvement.
Core Team
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UX Architecture & Interaction Design
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Product Management
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Engineering (Front‑end & Back‑end)
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Global Research & Validation
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Content Strategy
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Support Operations
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Executive Stakeholders
Focus Areas
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As-a-service Experience
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Customer Journey
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Subscription UX
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Experience Architecture
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Ser-service Management
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Cross-portfolio Consistency
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Workflow Simplification
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Scalable Design
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Business Transformation
Timeline
Year 1: Discovery, framework, early prototypes
Year 1.5: Iteration, global testing, refinement
Year 2: Integration, implementation, rollout
Post‑Launch: Continuous evolution
APEX a flexible, cloud‑like, everything‑as‑a‑service model
Dell APEX marked a broader transformation in how technology services could be consumed and managed. Supporting that transformation requires aligning customer needs with complex enterprise processes, systems, and operational workflows. The following narrative illustrates how the experience was structured across the journey and where UX could help reduce complexity and create greater clarity.
Establishing the Experience Foundation for an As-a-Service Platform
Dell APEX represented a different kind of design challenge. Rather than integrating an established workflow, my role involved helping establish the initial experience for an emerging as-a-service and subscription-based ecosystem. I created the initial user interface for the APEX application, defining foundational UX patterns, interaction models, and visual structure for the platform.
Translating a New Service Model into an Experience
The first challenge was giving structure to the experience itself.
APEX represented a portfolio of as-a-service and subscription-based solutions spanning IT infrastructure, cloud services, and device management. The experience needed to give users a centralized way to navigate and interact with those services.
My early work focused on translating that service model into an understandable interface architecture and establishing the interaction foundation upon which the experience could evolve.
Defining the Initial Interaction Framework
I created the initial UI and foundational interaction patterns for what would become the APEX Console experience. The work established how users would navigate, manage, and interact with the broader service ecosystem while addressing enterprise-level experience requirements.
This required thinking beyond individual screens. Patterns needed to function as part of a larger platform and provide a foundation that could support an expanding service environment.
Designing for Customers and Partners
The experience also extended beyond direct enterprise customers.
Dell partners, including technology integrators, service providers, and channel partners, use the APEX Console to work with customer services and environments. The experience therefore included multitenant scenarios and interactions associated with configuring services, managing deployments, monitoring usage, and supporting lifecycle operations for customers.
My initial UI work helped establish the interaction framework supporting these different contexts.
Evolving the Experience Through Validation
My contribution expanded beyond the initial interface. I led designers responsible for developing end-to-end solutions, prototyping concepts, and validating those concepts through user testing. Solutions that demonstrated positive outcomes could then be incorporated into the CI/CD pipeline as part of ongoing product improvement.
This created a continuous design progression:
Define → Model → Prototype → Validate → Integrate → Evolve
It connected foundational UX strategy with the ongoing development of the platform.
Portfolio Perspective
APEX demonstrates a different dimension of my work: the ability to enter an emerging product space, establish its foundational experience model, and then guide that foundation as the product evolves.
My contribution:
I helped translate a complex as-a-service model into an enterprise experience, establishing the initial UI and interaction framework while leading the prototyping and validation process that supported its continued evolution.
Recommendations
I worked with Larry for over a decade in Dell. He took me under his wing in my first days in the team and mentored me through complex design problems and even more complex organizational dynamics.
Larry doesn't just design screens, he designs ecosystems. He understands how experiences connect across products, touchpoints, and user journeys. He naturally zooms out to see the broader ecosystem, then dives back in to ensure every interaction supports a cohesive, scalable whole. He asks the right questions,
challenges assumptions constructively, and generously shares his wisdom and experience with junior designers.
If you want a Senior Principal designer who can think holistically, design strategically, and deliver with impact, (while still being someone you'd want to have beer with) ... Larry is the man for you.
Larry is a rare talent and an exceptionally thoughtful designer who brings a strong sense of integrity to his work. He is a consistent advocate for the user, especially in complicated and ambiguous problem spaces, and he grounds decisions in real user needs.
One of the things I value most about Larry's approach is his commitment to solving the right problem the right way. He cares deeply about experience integrity and brings a systems-minded perspective to design. He thoughtfully considers how architecture, state changes, and underlying technical decisions shape the
overall user experience, and he advocates for solutions that are both cohesive and effective.
Larry is also a thorough communicator, especially during solution phases. He produces meticulously thought-out artifacts that drive meaningful discussion and collaboration across design, engineering, and business partners. His care in defining processes and sharing information consistently creates clarity.
Beyond his direct contributions, Larry is an outstanding mentor. He is approachable, generous with his time, thoughtful in his guidance, and brings ease and humor to collaboration. His influence extends far beyond his own work, shaping how others think about design.