Identifying the User Problem
Like many companies, D2L's first stab at building an analytics product was to take a "technology first" approach (ie: "we have data, let's sell it"). This approach led to an unclear value proposition amongst users, and significant churn. The solution was hitting a sour spot that was too complex to use and not flexible enough.
One of the first things I did when I joined the project was to dig into the user research to identify the different goals users needed to solve, so that we could target our solution accordingly.
Focusing in
Working with product management, the decision was made to build a solution which allows users to create their own simple dashboards based on their individual needs, without requiring them to understand complex table joins or SQL queries. I designed the basic create / edit workflow, and the layout and visuals for the most common metrics that educators want to see. This design work involved choosing the right visualization for the data, and working with the engineering team to ensure colour combinations and hover states were accessible.
