RISE usability report · October 2026

Vita Design: five quick wins, and the path to SUS 80

The features are there; new users can't find or finish them. We coded five fixes from the report's gap list. Each one is shown below as a side-by-side demo.

46 → 80first-time SUS, today → goal
33UX gaps in the report
5fixed in code, shown below
3roadmap steps to 80
Part 1 · Quick wins

Left: today's main. Right: with the fix.

Real app, same data, same clicks.

G17

New users land in Vietnamese

Now · severity 9

First visit from an English-language office laptop: English today, Tiếng Việt with the fix.

TodayWith fix
How it works
  • A browser that has never picked a language now gets Vietnamese, whatever Accept-Language says. A language picked with the switcher still wins, for a year.
  • Report: "The interface is English by default; newcomers don't know where to start." Sales scored onboarding 2/7.
  • src/proxy.ts · src/i18n/routing.ts
G30

Approve looks like a decision

Next · 7

Today Approve is the same black as every other button. With the fix it's green, Reject is outlined in red, and the order rule is spelled out.

TodayWith fix
How it works
  • A new success variant on the Button primitive, used for Approve. Reject uses dangerOutline.
  • "Tuần tự" now reads "Tuần tự: người duyệt ký lần lượt theo thứ tự" ("Sequential: approvers sign one after another, in order"). Parallel mode is explained the same way.
  • ReviewPanel.tsx · components/ui/button.tsx · locales
G5

You can't approve your own work

Later · 6

Signed in as Dev Owner, opening "Request approval". Today Dev Owner is first in the approver list. With the fix, they aren't offered.

TodayWith fix
How it works
  • The approver list leaves out the person submitting. This is a UI guard only: the backend approval.service create() still needs a matching check, which is the follow-up.
  • SubmitForApprovalModal.tsx
G6

Export size stays what you typed

Now · 10

Clear the width to retype it. Today the height jumps to 1 and Download is blocked. With the fix the height stays at 1024, and typing 600 gives 600 × 600.

TodayWith fix
How it works
  • Root cause 1: with the ratio locked, an empty side was turned into max(1, 0 / ratio), which is 1 px.
  • Root cause 2: when the image finished loading, it overwrote a size the user had already typed.
  • Both download dialogs are fixed (single image and folder).
  • lightbox-download-modal.tsx · FolderDownloadModal.tsx
G12

The upload limit is stated up front

Later · 6

Drop 520 files on Brand assets. The limit is shown before anything uploads. Uploads also run 4 at a time instead of hundreds at once.

With fix
How it works
  • 500 matches the existing folder-import ceiling. Today there's no warning at all; we didn't record that version because it would really upload 520 files.
  • AssetLibrary.tsx · useFolderAssetImport.tsx
✓ 5 regression tests✓ 9,578 / 9,579 unit tests (1 unrelated flaky)✓ typecheck · lint · build✗ contracts:check: out of date on main, not caused by this changebranch feat/rise-quick-wins · not merged yet
Part 2 · SUS 60 → 80

The product already reaches 80. New users don't.

46.1first-time users (N=9)
76.3returning users (N=6)
35 / 100learnability, the weakest part of SUS
Marketing & internal comms81.7 Graphic designers56.2 PMO & training (N=2)55.0 UI/UX designers43.3 Sales37.5 68 avg 80 target

SUS by user group, from the RISE usability tests. Lighter bars are below the industry average of 68.

What 80 means

From "poor" to top-decile

Each SUS question is worth 2.5 points per step on its 1–5 scale. Going from 60 to 80 is about one step better on 8 of the 10 questions.

📘 Learn it alone

Q4 and Q10, at 35/100. Fix with onboarding, Vietnamese, and suggestions at the right moment.

⚡ Less effort

Q2, Q3 and Q8. Fewer questions before the first image, and fewer steps to download.

🛡️ Trust the output

Q9. The right product and logo every time (M1, M2), and a brand check before sending (G9).

🔗 One place

Q5. Approvals happen in the app, and region edits don't spoil the rest of the image.

Roadmap · move on after 2 months at target

47 → 60 → 70 → 80

Step 1 · Trust & basics
47 → 60
G3G4G9M1 · M2G11G17 ✓G6 ✓
Approvals page today
Today: reviewers only see this badge if they open Vita Design. G3 sends them a notification instead.
Step 2 · As fast as ChatGPT
60 → 70
M9G27G8G25G10
Home composer today
Goal: an image about 10 s after Enter, with questions asked afterwards. Sales goes from 37.5 to 60.
Step 3 · Day one = day ten
70 → 80
G14bG14cG1b · M5 · M6G28
Playbooks page today
Today: Workflow sits behind a "BETA" badge, and Playbook waits for users to find it. Even long-time users didn't know it existed.

Out of scope, as the report recommends: UI/UX designers (43.3). Guardrail: Marketing must stay at 80 or above throughout.

How we'll know

SUS every month, plus the numbers that lead it

< 2 minfrom first login to first usable image
> 80%first sessions finished without asking for help
> 50%approvals that happen inside Vita Design
½work sent back for brand errors
≥ 6 / 7effort score (CES) for Approval and Getting started, up from 4.8

In-app SUS after 7 days of use · N ≥ 20 per group each month · first-time and returning users reported separately · Vita Design team, VSF · 22 Oct 2026