Audex Audience Analytics Portal
UI/UX Design, 2023. Find it here: TRP Audex
My role:
The project aim was to create a data and analytics insight platform for use by media professionals, such as journalists and media network staff. The market opportunity was based on the low-tech state of the existing solutions; they were either slow and badly designed web applications without mobile compatibility, or just mailing lists that sent out MS Excel spreadsheets. We wanted to create something that used modern technology to exploit a gap in the market and make it easier for users to uncover insights.
User research
We started by understanding the existing research on the topic, and gaining knowledge on the challenges we might face. We spoke to users of existing software with the aim of understanding the real problems; not just that the incumbent software was slow or didn’t work on mobile, but what were the actual tasks they were trying to do? How did they manage this? What was the friction that they experienced? We also delved into their workflows and what features of an application would aid discovery within the vast tracts of information available.
Design system
Working with the other designer, I helped them set up a design system based on the atomic principles. We chose this option because it is a well established system that a lot of designers have experience with (helping handovers), and it can be easily extended as time / requirements allow.
Agile
One of the opportunities when kicking off the project was to help educate some of the client team (who had never worked on a software product before) about the importance of properly following Agile methodologies to achieve the right outcome. My concern was a lot of projects start off with everyone on the same (Agile) page, but quickly diverge into a messy waterfall system which usually doesn’t lead to the best outcome for the end user (or those working on the project!) I worked with members of the client team to explain the importance of proper process, emphasising that the end result (ie the finished product) should be the result of a good process first and foremost, and that good process would make a better product.
User testing
Alongside the discussions that were taking place about Agile, I made sure that the importance of ongoing user testing was not forgotten about. Explaining examples from past projects, I helped educate team members on the importance of the scrum process and how things are never ‘done’; there is always room for improvement. Taken onboard, ongoing testing helped us uncover areas around web accessibility of graph types and visualisation of data that would otherwise have been missed.
What was the outcome?
The client was very happy with the final outcome, and user feedback has been very positive. Users expressed surprise that such a thing had not been done before. It opened a new revenue stream for the client and allowed them to position themselves as a market leader.
The complexity of the software delivered meant that there were delays with the mobile version, which is due to be delivered early next year. It will also go hand in hand with a general platform upgrade, addressing accessibility, data types and organisation of search results.