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Redesign
NYC
Open Data

Data for everyone

A more accessible platform to all skill levels

About NYC Open Data
NYC Open Data is a platform for New Yorkers – enabling everyone to learn about where they live, work, eat, shop and play.​

The Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics (MODA) and the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) partner to form the Open Data team. As a hub of analytics in the City, MODA advocates for the use of Open Data in citywide data analytics and in the community.​

Besides making the data open and transparent, NYC Open Data also provides online tools for exploring the data sets. For our project, we will be testing, improving and adding analytical features to the existing NYC Open Data website.

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Redesigned NYC Open Data dashboard
" So hard to use..."
The platform is even hard to use for people who have analytics background. The product owner of NYC Open Data hope us to take deeper look into users' painpoints then improve the current experience to allow more users enjoy features provided by the product.

The user research I conducted mainly focused on the usability of Filter, Visualize, and Summary, the three most common features. To mimic real NY environment, participants we invited come from different cultural backgrounds, speak different languages, and work in various industries. They were asked to finish the following 4 tasks with dataset 311 Service Requests on NYC Open Data.

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Designated tasks to research participants
The analysis of user research results
Diagnose
I classified all functional sections based on to what extent each section/button changes the dataset:

•  whether are native English speakers
•  whether have data analytics background

Some wordings such as 'Roll-ups' and 'More Views', are confusing for even native speakers. In Kyle's task 4, he tried almost all options except the correct one 'Roll-ups&Drill-downs'. Things I observed:
•  Where do they tend to click
•  What stopped them from completing the tasks
•  Can they limit their clicks within a certain area instead of clicking everywhere
Filter

Changes to make:
‍•  Highlight clickable area
•  Reword features
•  Remove irrelevant staff
Summary

Changes to make:
‍•  Summary should not be part of Filter
•  Reword 'Roll-ups&Drill-downs'
•  Rearrange functionalities in this section
Visualize

Changes to make:
‍•  Hide unnecessary sections for a cleaner visual perceiving
•  Make misleading functionalities less prominent
•  Highlight required areas
Redesign
I classified all functional sections based on to what extent each section/button changes the dataset:
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1. Switch to another dataset (dataset X to dataset Y)
2. Manipulate within the current dataset, such as shrink it or color it by filtering or formatting
3. Providing information about the dataset without making any changes on it
By reading this flow chart, we can see even though all these 7 buttons are for purposes of different triggering level , they were still put on the same layer without being distinguished clearly.

This is the main reason why every participant spent a significant amount of time clicking all around aimlessly instead of limiting their clicking within a certain area.
Here I rearranged the information structure according to their different purposes.

Some changes could be seen here include taking summarize as an independent tab at the same level of Filter and Visualize, moving More Views up, making Conditional Formatting under Filter, etc. The next step is changing wordings and making up other details.
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New
Restructured Layout
A more clear waterfall hierarchy combined with icons to provide users with a more intuitive view.
Restructured Layout
A more clear waterfall hierarchy combined with icons to provide users with a more intuitive view.
Old
New
Restructured Layout
A more clear waterfall hierarchy combined with icons to provide users with a more intuitive view.
Restructured Layout
A more clear waterfall hierarchy combined with icons to provide users with a more intuitive view.
Ask users for information in a more natural-language-like way
Quick filter corresponds to each column
Used to be ‘Conditional Formatting’
One-click visualize and never get lost again
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New1
New2
Chart & Map
Since some participants didn't comprehend 'Visualize' appropriately, I decided to change the wording to 'Chart&Map'. Also most participants found enabling Apply button very difficult, I highlighted required fillings and hid distracting elements.
Chart & Map
Since some participants didn't comprehend 'Visualize' appropriately, I decided to change the wording to 'Chart&Map'. Also most participants found enabling Apply button very difficult, I highlighted required fillings and hid distracting elements.
SETTINGS
Used to be the confusing and prominent  ‘Add Data’
Required areas will be highlighted
Optional settings will be hidden by default
Chart & Map
Since some participants didn't comprehend 'Visualize' appropriately, I decided to change the wording to 'Chart&Map'. Also most participants found enabling Apply button very difficult, I highlighted required fillings and hid distracting elements.
One-click visualize and never get lost again
Old
New
Summarize
It used to be 'Sort&Roll-Up', which confused all participants.  I also changed the order of description wordings in the tab.
Nobody knew that 'Sort & Roll-Up' is 'Summarize'...
Summarize
It used to be 'Sort&Roll-Up', which confused all participants.  I also changed the order of description wordings in the tab.
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New
Export
Social icons and Embed could be place under the same genre Share. Also I inclined to use tab instead of the drop-down menu for keeping all options on the same horizontal level, which eases users' information hunting process.
Export
Social icons and Embed could be place under the same genre Share. Also I inclined to use tab instead of the drop-down menu for keeping all options on the same horizontal level, which eases users' information hunting process.