AWS EC2 Redesign
AWS EC2 is one of the most widely used AWS services—but it’s notoriously hard to navigate. I independently designed a feature concept for the EC2 desktop platform, “Beginner Mode”, aimed at improving the user experience for newcomers and enhancing the overall UI.
Wait, what is EC2?
Good question. AWS EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is like renting a computer in the cloud. Instead of buying and maintaining your own physical server, Amazon lets you quickly set up a virtual machine with the exact amount of power, memory, and storage you need. You can use it to run apps, host websites, or process data.
Prototype Overview
The Problem
AWS EC2 is flexible and powerful, but the current UI overwhelms new users with technical jargon, complex decisions, and minimal guidance. This complexity leads to fear, abandonment, or misconfiguration.
How might we enable new users to feel confident using EC2, while not disrupting it's core functionality?
Understanding Our Users + Project Scope
I first needed to identify the existing usability challenges in EC2’s interface. To do this, I reviewed 50+ forum posts across Reddit and AWS community boards where users shared candid feedback about their experiences. From these discussions, I pulled direct quotes that highlighted recurring frustrations around technical jargon, visual clutter, poor contrast, and confusing workflows:
"The visuals take up so much d*mn space on your screen compared to what is actually useful information"
"Before, the background was grey so content areas would pop out more. Now, it's all whitewashed and straining on the eyes"
"Color used to draw your eyes to points of action, now it's everywhere. I feel like I can't find anything".
"Why is there no simple UI/UX for these operating cloud platforms? Like - "Deploy an Instance for me"? As a beginner developer, it is quite hard to ramp up, the UI/UX isn't the best and too much complexity is my feeling."
Key insights from user research:
Jargon and technical language often paralyze new users.
Both beginners and experts want improved readability and stronger visual hierarchy.
The Launch Instance workflow consistently surfaced as the common use case for EC2.
The Project Scope
Ideation and Wireframing
Goals:
Based on research insights and the defined project scope, my goals became well defined:
Simplify the Dashboard
Reduce clutter and visual noise.
Surface the most essential actions so beginners feel guided rather than overwhelmed.
Streamline the Launch Instance Workflow
Introduce a clearer, beginner-friendly flow with template options.
Use plain language to reduce technical jargon without sacrificing functionality.
Improve Visual Readability & Accessibility
Enhance contrast, hierarchy, and color usage to make key actions stand out.
Ensure the interface feels approachable and consistent.
In Figma, I created some preliminary wireframes to get a better picture of the final product:
The Dashboard
I wanted to test ways to make the dashboard less overwhelming and more action-oriented for beginners. Based on my research, three priorities shaped this wireframe:
Beginner Mode toggle: A clear on/off switch so advanced users retain control, while beginners get guided support.
Layout and Contrast: Inspired by user feedback asking for less clutter and clearer visual hierarchy, I continued the use of cards but increased their color contrast from the background and increased their size.
Simplified navigation: I reduced noise by tucking advanced options into a separate menu, and simplifying the side bar by nesting features that are rarely used by beginners.
The Launch Instance Workflow
The Launch Instance workflow was filled with technical jargon and an overwhelming number of configuration options for creating a new instance. This made the process both confusing and time consuming for new users.
Based on my research, here were the priorities for this wireframe:
Carded Template Options: Eliminates the need for custom configuration, and instead provides the most common set-up options that new users are looking for (e.g website or app set up).
Layout and Contrast: The use of borders around the carded templates and increase in size of typography enhances contrast.
Simplified navigation and jargon: Clearly outlined steps makes it easy to complete the desired task, with color and typography size guiding to points of action. Reduction in unnecessary technical terms reduces user confusion.
Visual Design
User feedback highlighted poor contrast and visual hierarchy in the existing UI. To improve these issues while staying consistent with Amazon’s design system, I created a UI kit that enhanced contrast and clarified action points. Then, I produced a dashboard and Launch Instance page with enhanced contrast, readability, clear action points, and a finalized modern design style.
Launch Instance
The Final Feature
After prototyping and some preliminary user testing, EC2 Beginner Mode was born!
The final feature includes a streamlined dashboard with a Beginner Mode toggle, and a simplified Launch Instance workflow with the use of templates and reduced jargon. Overall visual UI elements like accessibility and readability were improved through the use of color and contrast.
Outcomes
I tested the prototype with 4 peers who were new to EC2:
• All preferred the Beginner Mode flow and highlighted reduced anxiety in setup.
• Testers had 90% fewer errors navigating from the dashboard through the Launch Instance workflow, compared to the current workflow.
Takeaways
User research is the foundation of it all.
Throughout my design process, I had to think critically and empathetically about each decision, connecting it back to insights from my user research. This made sure that what I was creating would effectively address the problem space.
The design process will not always look the same.
I had to invest significantly more time into understanding the product and industry for this project. I've grown to value this particular experience because I've learned my natural curiosity and approach to tackling hard subjects is a strength of mine.
The big picture: simplifying complexity isn't just helpful — it's transformative.
With thoughtful design, we can make any aspect of technology more accessible — not by stripping away functionality, but by taking the time to guide new users through it with clarity and intention.
Important note:
Had I been able to access actual EC2 users, I would have validated my redesign through usability testing. This would have ensured the proposed improvements truly addressed user needs and reduced friction in practice, not just in theory.