Data-Driven Design

What it is and how can we use it in our day-to-day jobs?

Raven
4 min readApr 4, 2022
Data-Driven Design by Felipe Guiñez

Data-Driven Design

5.7 million searches on Google, more than 100 thousand teams connected on Teams, 452 thousand users on Netflix…. this is what’s happening every minute on the Internet.

As humans, we have become a valuable source of data for the ecosystem, providing information based on our behavior.

We live in a world that does not rest when it comes to data generation. The best example is to ask yourself “how many times have I looked at my phone today before reading this article?”

An unimaginable amount of information is produced during one minute on the Internet, and the trend — driven in large part by the pandemic — shows that this is only going to continue to grow.

The Economy quote from 2017. And beside, users behavior in 2021.

In 2017 The Economist said: “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data”. Whoever has control over them, and knows how to interpret data, is going to lead the world.

Data-Driven Design is the primarily data-driven approach to design decision making.

Data-Driven Design allows us to understand what users want.

It’s to use the data as an engine to be able to make decisions and justify them on the basis of something solid (the data).

Data used in Design

One of the disciplines that has gained a lot of strength in recent years in the world is Data-Driven Design. For this, I must clarify, I am not a designer, I move in the world of Data Science. However, in my day-to-day, I interact with great designers, providing insights for their work, insights that could only be enabled by data.”

Faced with this new reality, the different methodologies and professions will have to evolve or simply be left behind.

W.Edward Demings quote about data

Data trends… what do we have to prepare for?

1. Growth: every 3 years the increase in available data skyrockets. By 2025 we should have 3 times the data we had by 2021… a real madness!

2. Real-time data: about 30% of global data will be processed in real-time, that is the estimate.

3. Unstructured data: 80% of the data will come from sources such as messages, videos, geolocation, streaming, audios, … all of which we call unstructured data.

Photo by Fabian Møller on Unsplash

If this causes you some kind of anxiety, just breathe and start with these simple steps:

1º Select your team
2º Stablish clear and realistic goals
3º Creat hypothesis.
4º Test and iterate.
5º Be patient

Conclusions

  • Not even the best designers can predict exactly what users need.
    Data will allow you to make informed decisions about the design process with a global view.
  • Data allows us to design exactly what the users need, and not what we suppose he needs.
  • “Data has a better idea”, they are available to help you.
  • Don't forget to… use data to search for information, validate conclusions, or anything you like. But DON’T be a slave.

And last, but not least… let me share with you a video to go deeper on this topic. Even though is in Spanish, you can put on subtitles and enjoy it!

Raven Talk: Data-driven design by Felipe Guiñez
Felipe Guiñez

Felipe Guiñez
Data Scientist Consultant
Raven

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Raven

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