Rotariu Andrei

PROJECT

UI/UX Design

CLIENT

HESA

DATE

2021

DESIGNER

Rotariu Andrei

About the client

HESA, the Higher Education Statistics Agency. 
Experts in UK higher education data that collect, assure and disseminate data about higher education (HE) in the UK. The mission is to improve lives through the digital transformation of education and research.


Role and
mission

Higher education has been too slow to recognise data as a strategic asset of similar importance to human resources. My role was to improve the data analysis and formatting process. At the same time, an important point was represented by the creation of an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand platform for people who are already trained in the field of data analysis

A working system users could interact with:

  • system notifications
  • a collection activity log
  • around 200 derived fields, which are added during enrichment
  • 500 live quality rules in the quality report
  • credibility reports

User Persona
Expert Analysts

Who they are

Someone who creates their own analysis from data. This user downloads spreadsheets into their own statistical models to create personal datasets.

Access to the data for analysis is more important to them than its presentation.

“Written reports give helpful context, but I would prefer to see the data. It has to be very easy to find what I want.”

What they want

  • have clear links to the latest available economic data
  • find specific data, such as historical data
  • create datasets to support their statistical models
  • access data quickly, as they are time-pressured
  • avoid being distracted
  • know when the next release of data is due
  • see clear signposting for data revisions

Behavior and preferences

They may use an application programming interface (API). An API allows users to import data between computer software automatically.

These users prefer to access data via a desktop computer. They will bookmark browser pages. They know when information is due for release, so will sit on the site to wait for it, often on the release calendar page.

What they like

  • Datasets and previous releases are simple to find and re-find.
  • The impact of changes to methodology is being made explicit.
  • Data and analysis are not being conflated – presentation is unimportant to them.

What they do not like

  • Delays to data releases, or changes to their frequency.
  • Datasets using different formats and layouts.
  • They get frustrated if they cannot find clear links to data quickly.

User Flow

HESA Data Platform offers multiple possibilities for several types of users with various actions. Being a rather complex application, here is only the High-Level version of user flows in the application.

From wireframes to user interface

  • Connect the site’s information architecture to its visual design by showing paths between pages
  • Clarify consistent ways for displaying particular types of information on the user interface
  • Determine the intended functionality in the interface
  • Prioritize content through the determination of how much space to allocate to a given item and where that item is located

Specifications and guide document

HESA Data platform is a platform made to serve the educational institutions of the state of Great Britain. For this reason, the use of adjacent software like InVision, Zeplin, and Figam was not accepted for security reasons and the entire design system had to be documented internally in terms of technical design specifications.

Each icon was made in SVG format for better performance and a shorter loading time of the app and documented as a code for developers.

More than 23 user flows were created to better understand the application and its functionalities



Project summary

Aside from evaluating the market research, I conducted a quick user survey, produced a set of lo-fi wireframes, transformed them into high-fi UI designs, built them into a prototype, create a design system, and performed a mini usability test.