Streamlining the Setup Process for Spatial Data Analysis
GeoMx User Workflow
Year: 2024
Role: Product Designer
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I collaborated with Rosalind's Head of Innovation to turn his concepts into a concrete product interface based on user insights. I worked closely with our PM, developers, and bioinformatic scientists to align requirements, deepen understanding of project goals, and facilitate smooth design handoffs. Using an established visual language, I led the updating of our design system by improving and creating new library components to match their new uses.
The Problem
Spatial data analysis is a relatively new but rapidly evolving field. Currently, many spatial analysis tools used by scientists are challenging to work with. These programs typically require researchers to have expertise in coding and statistics. Quality control often becomes inconsistent as data transfers between users, resulting in false positives and misrepresentation of genes and areas of interest.
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Researchers are losing out on accurate insights—low quality data often lingers in sets while key AOIs are accidentally lost.
The Solution: Make QC Simple for the Scientist
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Indicate which regions or AOIs pass thresholds that yield quality results. Highlight the ones that fail and mark them for removal.
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Suggest these thresholds to them while also allowing them to adjust parameters and quickly reprocess their data without having to go back and forth between programs.
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Visualize the user’s data as they are setting up their analysis for a more thorough understanding of its integrity.
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Give real time feedback to guide the user in the right direction.
Constraints and Challenges
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High subject matter complexity. Collaboration with team members that specialized in the domain was essential in understanding the workflows of the feature.
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Small team of developers, designers, and bioinformatic scientists working in an agile environment with tight deadlines.
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Limited access to users in a niche field. I collaborated with customer success managers to gain insights from a small pool of users.
Component Updates
While working on this project, I updated our design system to ensure we had the necessary components. This included updating any tables, charts, and banners that were needed to enhance our solutions.
1. Alert banners — Color coded to indicate levels of severity
2. Data tables — Rows with highlighted fields float to the top of the table, red taking priority over yellow.
3. Visualized data — designed to be modular in a grid layout so the designs can be reused in the future on other parts of the platform.
4. Modals — I ensured that modals were consistent functionally and visually throughout the setup flow.
Impacts
Building a design culture— I helped to foster open dialogue between teams throughout the design and development process. Maintaining an environment in which folks from different technical backgrounds felt comfortable to ask each other questions and provide support was essential in successfully delivering the final product. This included hosting a weekly Design Meeting where designers and developers could collaborate in real time, similarly to the pair-programming technique.