Quantitative Words: Designing with Data

Understanding your audience is key to being successful in business.

I do this by leveraging data.

With every product I design, I use tools like Google Analytics to collect data on my users. At every step of my design process, I rely on my quantitive ability to analyze these numbers to prove assumptions, define design decisions, and measure success.

Prior to whipping up visual deliverables, I collaborate with project managers and engineers to set KPIs, key performance indicators, for each project. The goal is to objectively understand the impact of a project by using metrics. KPIs enable my projects to move quickly and gain a holistic portrait of an audience. Some data points I consider are the number of daily active users, click rates, number of shares, revenue, and time spent on a page.

Once I have my stakeholders on the same page, I begin the actual designs. When comparing the performance of a new design to an old one, I will run task-based user testing using my proposed prototype. User testing requires real people to try to accomplish real tasks on your software. I am able to quantify the experience using metrics through observing both what users do and say. I often record the amount of time it takes for a user to achieve the same task using the current design and proposed design. Surveys return valuable metrics as well.

Once I ship a project, I use data to understand if it is successful. I circle back to those KPIs to understand the impact if we hit our targets, and most importantly understand where we failed. Unpacking the disconnects informs my future iterations. In general, when numbers fall short of goals, I see an opportunity is revealed to learn why the project did not meet the intended expectations. I also use quantitative data to overtime graph patterns in user behavior and craft infographics.

In conclusion, analyzing data is a crucial part of my process.

I am able to best understand audiences, solve their problems, and in turn achieve business goals. My quantitative abilities have set me apart from other designers in my field, allowing me to deliver digital experiences that have doubled audiences, landed large clients, and have lead to mass media exposure.

https://medium.com/@hoponboat/my-imagined-future-eb14f027a494