Visual Design, Interaction Design, Writing, Strategy
Ground Signal is a geo-spatial social tool that uses the lens of location to help users understand how spaces and the people who occupy them evolve over time. Initially a consumer tool, the team pivoted to turn the proprietary technology into a robust enterprise platform.
Inspired by the intersection of local cultures and technology we focused on establishing a narrative that was driven by people and their relationships with their environment. I prioritized the development of this accessible voice and tone that would go on to influence written content across touch-points and serve as the basis for our identity system and visual language.
User testing quickly revealed that people were overwhelmed by the numerous levers we initially provided and the counterintuitive way that information was broken out across pages. We decided we wanted to take a new approach and present the social data as stories centered around individuals.
We tested ways to transform complex data analyses into visual representations of behavioral patterns. We wanted to seamlessly integrate with the stories happening at locations and enhance a viewers understanding as the experiences evolved with location, time, people, and events. All of these iterations served as a testing ground for what would become the web platform.
After designing and testing data visualization micro-sites, and leading internal interviews and exercises, I wrote a brand story and lead the creation of our visual language and the resulting brand book. This book served as a cultural guide for the team as well as a beacon of inspiration as we developed the component library for the platform. Full guide: Ground Signal brand book.
There were 3 specific lenses: Understand, Discover, and Engage, a direction that was conceptually informed by our user testing. Taking a persona driven approach. This 3 panel dashboard empowered users to quickly navigate and compare geo-spatial data visualizations in real time, allowing users to understand how individuals felt and behaved within specific locations and gradually how their behaviors evolved over time.
I decided our key visual distinction would be surfacing all relevant content on one singular page. The page would contain 3 panels that contained information relevant to one another, but functioned and scrolled idiosyncratically, this opened up a world of possibility in terms of how users could organize inputs and reveal discoveries.
