Black Swan Data Trendscope
2018
Building a predictive analytics tool using AI for the FMCG and Health industries.
Context
Black Swan Data builds tools that collect, classify, enrich and visualise quantitative data for qualitative insight.
The primary consumers of this insight are product development teams in FMCG industries.
I was the first Product Designer to join the team, and the second person in the Product team.
What is Trendscope?
Trendscope is a predictive analytics tool. It allows a user to select a topic of interest within a data set, existing or own, and analyse trend maturity before making a decision.
The product allows users to track items of interest, tweak parameters and generate reports, effectively reducing traditional product testing from 12 weeks to a few minutes.
Product proposition in concept
What was the challenge?
I was tasked with streamlining the suite of 10 apps and tools that lived on the SaaS platform, by user relevance.
The goal was to:
- Consolidate functionality to a targeted set of apps
- Revise and define the range of use cases
- Reduce maintenance and infrastructure overhead
Platform applications
What did I do?
Being the only designer amongst over a few hundred Data Scientists and Engineers, I worked to embed design into the delivery cadence and win hearts and minds.
From Design Frameworks to Design Principles
From basement whiteboard sessions to requirements and Design Sprint output
The multiple mis-steps along the way
And some ideas that needed airing, so we could let them go
Countless redpen sessions with Solution Architects
Early glimpse of the product interface that met user expectations
Predictive trend visualisation was key for navigation. It also corrected our methodology
Communicating the brand across all touchpoints, digital and physical
The Beta product that was eventually v1
Reflections
Trendscope was pivotal for some of our clients.
"Its like Google Trends on steroids!"
Head of Insight, Global FMCG Brand
Over a period of 16 months, my team and I were able to create a product that exceeded market expectations in our chosen focus of predictive analytics.