Northstar
Operations leads using Northstar had the data they needed, but not the clarity. The work focused on information hierarchy, a consistent chart vocabulary and a design system that let the in-house team keep shipping with confidence.
- Sector
- Business analytics
- Role
- Lead product designer
- Scope
- Research, information design, design system
- Platform
- Web application
The challenge
Each team had built its own dashboards over time, using different chart types, colours and terminology for the same measures. Managers spent the first part of every review working out what they were looking at before they could discuss what it meant.
The approach
-
01
Understanding the questions
Working sessions with managers mapped the handful of questions each role needed answered daily, weekly and monthly.
-
02
A clear reading order
Dashboards were rebuilt to read top-down: headline status first, then trend, then detail on demand.
-
03
A shared chart vocabulary
A small, documented set of chart types, each with clear rules for when to use it, replaced dozens of one-off variations.
-
04
A system the team owns
Components, tokens and usage guidance were documented so the in-house team could extend the product consistently after handover.
The outcome
Northstar now has one consistent visual language across its dashboards and a design system the product team uses day to day. New views are assembled from established patterns rather than designed from scratch.
Disciplines Information design · Design system