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Making Big Data Digestible
User Research
Data Visualisation
INTRODUCTION
Unilever is one of the largest fast-moving consumer goods company. On any given day, nine out of ten items in households use one or more of their brands.
MY ROLE
User Research
Interaction Design
Data Visualisation
Client Relations
User Research
Interaction Design
Data Visualisation
Client Relations
THE TEAM
1 Lead Designer
1 Product Manager
TIMELINE
May 2023 - Aug 2023
Might have heard of Dove, Vaseline, Knorr etc? Voila Unilever!
OVERVIEW
Here’s some Context
Despite Brand Managers spearheading launches, efficient tracking and management of these innovations are challenging.
spanning home care, health, etc.,available in small stores, supermarkets, and online channels (trade channels).
Unilever's marketing team unveils numerous products/variants annually, called innovations,
Innovations are launched under categories eg. Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream
THE PROBLEM
Managers struggle to swiftly identify issues in various stages of innovations due to the overwhelming data.
IMPACT
With which brand managers now
30s
Just Need
to spot the snag
+ Enhanced Visibility
4x
Unravel Problems
faster
+ Data Vis done right
more Confidently
25%
Make Decisions
+ Data driven
PROCESS
How did I do it?
Juggled panicky moments,
organized chaos, and nailed
tight deadlines. Thats how!
In 4-6 Weeks time
DISCOVERY PHASE
We understood ...
The managers focus on the 6 P's of marketing - product, price, promotion, place, people, and process - in order to create successful product launches.
Every innovation has two phases.
Innovation under brand, brand under category.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Speaking to the Brand managers
I began by exploring the role of brand managers, their responsibilities, and motivations. I observed and asked numerous questions to understand and analyze their work effectively.
PAIN POINTS
Problems they
faced
Scattered Data
They got weekly reports in an excel sheet and sifting through this data was impossible!
Error Identification
No standard benchmarking for metrics made assessing performance tough.
No Bird’s eye view
Decision-making factors like geography and demographics lacked a bird's eye view
Tracking through phases
Unable to deep dive or track progress through multiple phases for the product
IDEATION PHASE
I created lo-fi wireframes
Organising and evaluating the data first, I began sketching and grouping similar data sets to create basic visualisations.
WIREFRAMES
Piecing together the details
It felt like I nailed it but um clearly did not lol
Conceptualised to track data by channel primarily.
Focused on data visualisation
Used micro-interactions to drill down into details
INITIAL FEEDBACK
Word from the users
ITERATIONS
I kept at it! Obviously
I dove into the feedback, hoping to make the dashboard so intuitive that a single glance could reveal what was amiss. I fixed..
Well, I don't really have a choice, but hey, who doesn't love a good challenge?
✅
Error Identification
A quick glance at the cards summed up market performance effortlessly!
✅
No Bird’s eye view
Improved visualisation for quicker and simpler understanding of overall sales performance.
Tadaa!!!
After fixing the individual pieces I knit them together to create an “Overview dashboard” which would at a glance inform the brand managers all about their
Wireframed a total of
1
Summary View
5
Dashboards
40+
Screens
DESIGN SYSTEMS
Working with Unilever guidelines
Unilever had a well established design system with which I happily dove into playing with its lively colors. It was not just fun but also allowed me to create an engaging and vibrant data visualization experience.
FINAL DESIGNS
Making sure data is both accessible & easy to digest
Solution
Based on the research conducted, insights gathered and wireframes proposed. I discussed the solution multiple times and made tweaks along the way until I arrived at the final version for the data visualisations on each dashboard.
Easy Drilldowns in
Summary View
Mangers could view get a quick overview of media spends and make decisions on how and where they wanted to drill down further.
Keeping Users Informed
About Missing data
Utilizing the information icon as a tooltip, we keep users informed about data unavailability .
Improved Tracking
Phases of Innovation
A streamlined checklist to track and meet all pre-launch requirements, minimizing team communication loops. & A custom menu to switch between dashboards
Tweaking the design system
BEYOND DESIGN
Creating a broader
Impact
I Identified and addressed color contrast issues within the design system and refined it by introducing variations with higher contrast, adding to new components, ensuring a future-proof, accessible, and visually captivating design.
Playing with constraints
PowerBI's has limited visualisation options, I explored the library, mixed techniques creatively to bring fresh interactive styles to dashboards making them something slightly out of the ordinary.
Streamlined the feedback process
I created feedback templates, replacing real-time note-taking during review calls. I’ll tell you, our SCRUM master was very happy! It reduced back and forth on emails significantly!
LEARNINGS
😶🌫️
Dealing with data that’s not there!
Acknowledging the significance of missing data, I learnt how to clearly inform users about incomplete information in visualizations
🤏🏽
Working the small stuff first
A key skill I learned was to break down the larger context and define the scope of the feature and the systems that I was designing
👁️
Attention to
Detail
Initially, I struggled with the growing client requests. I overcame these challenges by proactively communicating with the client to set realistic goals.
Thanks for making it till the end ^.^
Craving
More?
Feel free to induldge
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