Application UI Design with Large Data Sets

User Focus Conference 2012Cathy Lu

We are in the age of large data

• Every day 2.5 quintillion (2.5x10x18) bytes of data were created

• 6 billion mobile phones in the world• 2.3 billion Internet users• By 2013, it is predicted the amount of traffic

flowing over the Internet will reach 667 exabytes• All big software or CPG companies are becoming

data companies -- Google, Amazon, Apple, Wal-Mart, P&G, and etc

Data and analytics are the new raw material

• A heightened interest in data and analytics to drive major business decisions

• Enterprises are rapidly expanding their collection of sources of information and building business on it

• The stake is high

Large data design challenges

• Limitless data, limited screen• What can I do with the info• Finding a needle in a haystack (drill-up, drill-

down)• Performance

Principles for large data UI design

• ‘Push’ not ‘pull’• Data visualization drives insights and decisions• Create ‘stickiness’ in the UI• Go wide and deep

Principle I: ‘push’ not ‘pull’

I can build my own reports? I don’t want to…

Reporting application V1

Reporting application V2

Principle II: data visualization drives insights and decisions

“There is a magic in graphs. The profile of a curve reveals in a flash a whole situation — the life history of an epidemic, a panic, or an era of prosperity. The curve informs the mind, awakens the imagination, convinces.”

Henry D. Hubbard

Dashboard V1

Dashboard V2

Different visualization for different use

Visualization for decision making

Is data visualization always necessary?

• Use for key metrics or summary-level data• Use when user actions can be guided• Use when users can draw an additional layer of insights

and gain clarity from it• Use to present trends, patterns, complex relationships

• Avoid-- ‘Eye candy’ visualization-- Inappropriate use of charts-- Visual overload

Principle III: create ‘stickiness’ in the UI

Usability heuristic: flexibility and efficiency of use

Accelerators – unseen by the novice user – may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.

Recently accessed data

User customization

Principle IV: go wide and deep

“Above all else show the data.”

Edward Tufte

Breadth and depth

The dilemma of multiple drill-down paths

Performance issue handling

• UI feedback• Asynchronous client-side processes• Data fetching on demand• Module-level timeout messaging

Export visual cue (before)

Export visual cue (during)

Export visual cue (after)

On-demand fetching

Review

• ‘Push’ not ‘pull’ -- Don’t ask users to curate and select what they want to see

• Data visualization helps-- It informs users to make sound decisions

• Create ‘stickiness’ in the UI-- A ‘sticky’ UI ‘remembers’ what users recently accessed and last customized

• Go wide and deep-- Large data sets require a flexible and intuitive UI approach that enables users to reach a single data point in a wide span of data aggregation and across many levels

Q&A

Cathy Lu

•cathyhasclu@gmail.com•www.linkedin.com/in/cathylu•User Experience Design•Advertising.com Group