Meta
A seamless, end-to-end self-service badge photo platform for employee badge photos, designed to enhance security and streamline access while mitigating potential vulnerabilities.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Duration
12 Weeks
Tools
Figma
Team
Enterprise Space Safety
Self-Serve Badge
Photo Platform
Meta’s Badging Policy requires employees to submit a badge photo within two weeks of hire. However, inefficiencies in the process—unclear instructions, scheduling conflicts, and long wait times—led to compliance issues, security risks, and operational strain on an understaffed badging team.
I led the design of a Self-Serve Badge Photo Platform, reducing friction for employees while increasing compliance and security. The solution streamlined photo submission, minimized back-and-forth with security officers, and automated approval workflows—creating a scalable, intuitive experience.
Context
📋 Overview
Meta’s Badging Policy requires employees to upload a badge photo within two weeks of their hire date, but many employees faced challenges completing this step on time. The existing process was inefficient and time-consuming, creating frustration for both employees and the badging team while adding complexity to security operations.
👩💻 Stakeholders
Meta Employees – Primary users who need to upload or capture their badge photos.
Global Security Badge Operations – Responsible for reviewing, approving, and maintaining badge photos.
Cross-Functional Teams – Engineers, designers, product managers, and data scientists collaborated to ensure technical feasibility, business alignment, and strategic impact.
Problem
⚡️ The Challenge
Ensuring compliance with Meta’s Badging Policy was a recurring challenge, with many employees lacking a badge photo on time. The process was inefficient, with unclear instructions, long wait times, and an understaffed badging team, creating frustration and security risks.
💭 Problem Statement
The badge photo submission process was inefficient, leading to compliance gaps and security risks:
XX,XXX employees were left non-compliant due to delays and lack of clarity.
Badging teams were overwhelmed, struggling to process submissions efficiently.
Employees faced a frustrating experience with scheduling barriers and unclear submission requirements.
Goal
Create a seamless, self-serve platform that simplifies badge photo submission, increases compliance, and improves security.
Solution
I designed a Self-Serve Badge Photo Submission Platform with two core workflows:
Employee Submission – Employees can capture or upload their own photo, ensuring ease of use and compliance.
Badge Photo Approval – Security officers can quickly approve or reject photos within Badge Activation, streamlining the process.
This design increases badge photo submission rates, improves operational efficiency, and enhances security by automating photo approval.
Design Process
🔭 Research & Strategy
Product Audit – I analyzed the existing photo submission and approval process in collaboration with UX Research, identifying key gaps and opportunities to simplify and improve the experience.
Design Synthesis & Brief – I developed a high-level proposal for a new user journey, integrating badge photo submission, approval, and rejection within Badge Activation (Meta’s badging tool).
Cross-Functional Collaboration – Worked closely with Engineering, Product, and Security teams to align on feasibility and implementation.
🔁 Iterations
Exploration & Testing – I explored various user journeys to determine the most effective approach. Each iteration was guided by testing and feedback, allowing me to refine the design based on real user insights. I remained adaptable throughout the process, always considering different solutions and adjusting designs as new information surfaced.
Continuous Improvement – With a focus on simplicity and usability, I constantly refined the user flow to enhance the badge photo submission process. Each design iteration was tested to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement, ultimately evolving towards a more streamlined solution.
Top Left: Existing Badging tool, Top Right: User Flow, Bottom Middle: Design Space
Design
🖌️ High-Fidelity Prototyping
I refined and narrowed down design options by evaluating engineering feasibility, business requirements, and future scalability. I created an interactive prototype that aligned with the XDS design system, ensuring consistency across Meta’s ecosystem.
✨ Final Polish
I focused on refining visual details, improving usability, and enhancing design clarity. I made final adjustments based on feedback, cleaned up files for seamless handoff, and ensured the design was implementation-ready.
EMPLOYEE SUBMISSION FLOW
Clear Entry Points
Initially, employees lacked a clear starting point for submitting their badge photos, leading to delays and non-compliance. To address this, I explored multiple access points and implemented proactive notifications as the most effective solution. Now, employees without a badge photo receive weekly reminders via WorkChat (Meta’s internal tool) and email, providing a seamless path to complete their submission on time.
EMPLOYEE SUBMISSION FLOW
Remote vs. In-Person Navigation
Upon landing on the portal, employees are prompted to specify their working arrangement (remote or in-person) and the date they plan to come in. This helps meet the business need of tracking employee attendance and allows for effective prioritization.
Additionally, employees are informed that their ID will be verified at the time of badge pick-up. This reinforces the seriousness of the policy and ensures the legitimacy of the submitted photos.
EMPLOYEE SUBMISSION FLOW
Upload or Take Badge Photo
The Upload option allows employees to select a photo from various sources, including cloud applications like Google Drive and Dropbox, or directly from their desktop.
Employees can also choose or remove a photo as many times as needed until they find one they are satisfied with for submission.
This approach reduces the need for constant interaction between the security officer and the employee, offering freedom and incentive for employees to submit their badge photo at their own pace.
EMPLOYEE SUBMISSION FLOW
Capture Photo
If an employee doesn't have a badge photo ready, I included an option to take a badge photo directly within the portal. By making the process self-serve, employees can take and retake their photo as many times as needed until they're satisfied, minimizing the need for assistance. Additionally, I provided a list of badge photo qualifications to ensure employees are aware of the requirements, streamlining the process and reducing errors.
EMPLOYEE SUBMISSION FLOW
Qualifications & Submission
Before submitting, employees can preview their badge photo with the blue background and make any necessary adjustments until they’re satisfied. This eliminates the back-and-forth with the badge officer, streamlining the process.
The checklist ensures employees meet all the photo requirements, saving time for both the employee and the badge officer.
EMPLOYEE SUBMISSION DESIGN
Status Tracking & Pickup Confirmation
I designed a stepper tool that streamlines the badge photo process for employees. This feature allows them to track their photo status, receive notifications when their photo is ready, and confirm pickup details—eliminating confusion and reducing administrative follow-ups.
BADGE PHOTO APPROVAL FLOW
Approval
A streamlined dashboard helps badging officers efficiently manage employee badge photos. The grid view enables quick searching, filtering, and scanning by location, name, and other key attributes using the Power Search tool.
The Approval feature simplifies reviews, allowing officers to approve photos quickly and seamlessly navigate submissions—reducing processing time and improving efficiency.
BADGE PHOTO APPROVAL FLOW
Rejection & Feedback
Badging officers can view photos in full-screen mode and provide clear, structured feedback on missing qualifications. This feedback is directly relayed to employees, streamlining communication and reducing unnecessary back-and-forth.
Impact & Next Steps
⚙️ Execution
Parallel rollout – Engineering implementation and business campaign development proceeded simultaneously.
Adoption strategy – A targeted business campaign promoted employee awareness and engagement.
🔮 Future Considerations
Mobile Optimization – Expanding access to the platform for seamless submission on any device.
Career Profile Integration – Embedding badge photo submission into Meta’s onboarding workflow.
Reflections & Gratitude
📝 Key Learnings
There’s Always a Solution – Exploring multiple design approaches and thinking creatively helped unlock better outcomes.
Ask Questions – Seek feedback early, be open to diverse perspectives, and understand that collaboration is key to growth.
Trust Your Work – Confidence in decision-making and adaptability strengthened the final design.
🫂 Thank You
Jagruti Kapadia, my manager, for your unwavering support, guidance, and mentorship throughout this journey.
The Safety Space team for fostering an environment that allowed me to thrive and grow as a designer.
My XFN team, whose diverse feedback helped me refine my work and reinforced the importance of cross-functional collaboration.
And to everyone who was part of this experience—thank you for making this internship a truly valuable and memorable chapter in my design career.
ADDITIONAL DESIGN FEATURES & EXPANSIONS
Temporary Badge Management
Issue Temporary Badges – Badging officers can quickly generate temporary badges.
Power Search – Officers can efficiently search for employees using relevant details.
Badge Lifecycle Management – Issue, extend, or disable badges within a centralized interface.
View History & Detailed Data – Officers can access employee information effortlessly.
ADDITIONAL DESIGN FEATURES & EXPANSIONS
Multi-Platform Authentication
Badge Verification – Officers can authenticate employees via WorkChat, Email, and Duo, increasing flexibility and security.
