Alation
Foundational design system for a data catalog
Year, Duration
2022, 4 months
Role
Product Designer
About
This project was for Alation, a data catalog series-E company. Alation pioneered the modern data catalog and is now leading its evolution into a platform for data intelligence. Our task was to create a design system that could help modernize and refresh their application.
Team
2 Product Designers
Product Manager
Engineers
Target audience
Alation users & new potential clients
Skills
UI/UX Design
Prototyping
Consulting
Project summary
By creating the building blocks of a design system, we gave Alation the tools to modernize their app and make it easier for users to navigate. On a small team of two product designers (including myself), we designed over 30 components and plugged them into a prototype for the client to envision how their refreshed app will look.
ISSUE AT HAND
How can we simplify and solidify the user interface so that users have an easier experience navigating the app?
01. GOAL
To give users a more pleasant app experience
Alation users were complaining about the difficulty to find what they were looking and the difficulty of navigating the app with ease. Our goal was to modernize the UI through a more unified and clean application.
02. CHALLENGE
Alation's competitors comparably have a better user experience
With increasing competitors challenging the data catalog industry, how will Alation stand out? While Alation’s tool exceeds their competitors’ in many ways, Alation’s lack of modern UI and inconsistency of color, typography, and components led to users having a difficult time navigating the application.
03. SOLUTION
A refresh to their design system
We created an extensive design system that will make it manageable for Alation’s design team to take over and revamp their app. The idea is that what we hand-off will act as building blocks for Alation to continue to grow as they tackle more of the UI.