Cmd+k Navigation

The Problem

A 20-year-old navigation that users couldn't navigate

Safeguard for Privileged Sessions is over twenty years old. The original product was acquired in 2018, and years of adding features on enterprise customer request had gradually degraded the navigation experience.

During usability studies, I observed that participants typically looked for a specific word or phrase when navigating — if the exact wording wasn't used, they had to guess and scan the navigation. Across three usability studies that required navigation, users took an average of 3 minutes to navigate to a page.

Problem Statements

Two user groups, one shared frustration

New usersfind the product navigation overly complex and can't find what they're looking for, resulting in wasted time, frustration, and friction when onboarding.

Existing users who know how to navigate find the side navigation requires too many clicks and is slow and frustrating. This creates a higher probability of mistakes and security incidents, and the need for support intervention.

Design Principles

Four principles for the solution

• Fast and efficient
• Simple and minimal
• Low cognitive load
• Keyboard-first design

How Might We

Increase user efficiency and reduce navigation time so users onboard faster and make fewer mistakes?

The Solution

Cmd+k search navigation

A keyboard-first search navigation that lets users type what they're looking for and get there immediately — no scanning menus, no guessing categories, no clicking through nested pages.

The Outcome

One design that proved the pattern for the entire product suite

Cmd+k shipped and was tested with real customers. The response was immediate — users who experienced the keyboard-first navigation asked whether it could be implemented across all of One Identity's other products. A single design piece that started as a solution for one product's 20-year-old navigation became a validated pattern for the entire suite.

This is the kind of outcome that matters most in enterprise design: not just solving the immediate problem, but proving a pattern that scales across products — reducing navigation friction, improving onboarding, and giving users a consistent experience regardless of which One Identity product they're using.