internal data report design
2023 - 24
Aggregated Data Report Tool.
Project Abstract
The Onsale Report Card is an internal tool developed for Ticketmaster to monitor high-demand events.
It consolidates critical event metrics like visitor count, collision rates, and redirects into a daily, visually optimized report. Distributed via email and Slack to over 35 senior executives, the report enhances real-time decision-making by simplifying data visualization. The phased development approach includes future plans for additional datasets and platform integration, ensuring continuous improvement. This project highlights the importance of cross-team collaboration and responsive design, making data accessible across desktop and mobile platforms.
Year : 2024
Team : Product Designer, 1 Product Manager, 1 Frontend engineer.
Duration : 14 weeks.
MY ROLE
I was responsible for crafting the report designs while conducting secondary research. I ensured clear communication with design leadership and stakeholders, gathering feedback throughout the process.
Context
Ticketmaster's Onsale Management Tool (OMT) tracks real-time key metrics for high-demand events, providing stakeholders with a comprehensive performance overview.
It helps to track crucial metrics like the number of visitors, collision rate, total redirects, and more. Essentially, it gives us a comprehensive view of how each event is performing. This is an important tool to evaluate the onsale success which is monitored by major stakeholders of Ticketmaster on the daily basis.
problem
The current process of monitoring high-demand onsale events at Ticketmaster is hindered by overwhelming data, a lack of standardized event grading, and insufficient cross-team visibility, making it difficult for stakeholders to quickly assess success and collaborate effectively.
Solution
Consolidated daily report that simplifies the assessment of high-demand onsale events through enhanced data visualization, standardized grading, and wider distribution, improving visibility and decision-making across teams.
Increased Reach and Visibility: By distributing the report daily via email in a newsletter format, it will reach a broader audience within the organization. This wider dissemination ensures that more stakeholders are informed about the success and failures of onsales, leading to enhanced visibility across departments and teams.
Enhanced Data Visualization: The report will feature improved visualization and prioritization of onsale metrics. This means that data will be presented in a visually appealing and easily understandable format, allowing stakeholders to grasp key insights at a glance. Consequently, stakeholders can avoid spending excessive time analyzing complex datasets within the OMT tool, leading to more efficient decision-making processes.
plan of action
The plan involves a phased approach starting with an MVP, followed by additional metrics, system health monitoring, and eventual integration into the Onsale Management Tool.
Phase 1: MVP
....solution that we are focusing for this case study
Scope :
Delivered daily via email.
Filtered topline business metrics for the report.
Phase 2: Inclusion of additional metrics
More advanced metrics like activity on events detail page, abuse metrics, reserve error data and conversions would be included in Phase 2 of the development plan. Strategically, there will also be efforts to enhance backend storage of onsale data. This will enable more efficient retrospective comparisons of onsale data, ultimately improving analysis and decision-making processes.
Phase 3: System health and fan experience
Success / error rates for services and critical incident reports are part of the Phase 3 plan.
Phase 4: OMT Migration
The final phase of this project would see a complete integration of the report within the OMT platform. This will include deep links for detailed analysis, along with new features like report exporting and customization.
DISCOVERY
Existing workflow entailed sending data via Excel files, which required stakeholders to manually skim through extensive data sets.
This method was inefficient and prone to errors, as it demanded significant time and effort to extract key insights from complex, unstructured data. Users often faced difficulties in quickly identifying critical metrics and trends, leading to delays in decision-making and a higher likelihood of overlooking important information.
I participated in a brainstorming workshop where the team identified the need for a consolidated report of key event datasets.
This workshop was conducted with the goal of solving the 3 key problems mentioned above. This exercise helped the team to come up with various solutions. We as a team determined that a report card sent out as an email daily would be the best and viable solution at this point.
Collaboratively, we determined various data sets and set OKRs to visually determine the strength of the event.
We identified 7 key data sets for the report card based on their impact, relevance and ability to determine on-sale success.
A basic conceptual layout of the table was derived out of the 7 data sets. Design wise, the next phase was to identify how we make the data more digestible, visually appealing and easy to read.
Design research
"The primary visual design objectives will be to present content to readers(users) in a manner that highlights what's important, arranges it for clarity, and leads them through it in the sequence that tells the story best."
- Stephen Few (Show me the numbers)
Plethora of data visualization patterns were analyzed for this project to understand key patterns and best practice. Typically, they start with a highlighted section at the top, showcasing key metrics and their performance relative to set OKRs. This section offers a fresh perspective on the data and aids understanding by providing comparison points to assess current data. Following the highlights are the main data sets, usually organized in tables and subsequent information relevant to the data presented.
Visual structure study
I began exploring the design layout with equivalent size placeholders to understand scale, hierarchy and gaps.
After ensuring alignment with all business and product goals and consolidating the required information for the report, the next step was to dive into brainstorming sessions.
The aim was to explore various iterations of the visual hierarchy, tailored specifically to meet the objectives of the project.
After extensively presenting the visual study with product, Option 1 was deemed best visual approach for this report card. The sequence of information presented made it easier for users to skim through the data without friction and confusion.
Visual designs
Trying out and beyond
The design exploration process involved intensive brainstorming sessions with stakeholders and leadership.
While many designs were considered, only a select few were prioritized and refined through iterations to develop a robust outcome.
Exploration 1
What did not work : While the design tone was initially on point in this version, there were numerous loose ends that didn't quite align. Although the table structure allowed for a more intuitive data consumption experience with sufficient breathing space, the overall table design and color choices didn't meet the expected standards.
Exploration 2
What did not work : There was a strong visual focus on the title of the table which is not the most critical aspect of this report. Also, Injecting key highlights within the table would restrict some modularity in expansion moving forward.
Exploration 3
What did not work : The report achieved an appropriate level of visual contrast within the data, maintaining a clean structure and visuals. However, certain design elements such as the artist icon, highlight card background color, and alignment of the main call-to-action (CTA) did not align with the updated global design system standards.
iteration based on feedback loop
and a lot of iterations..
After a lot of feedback and going back and forth on the design, A robust visual design was prioritized. The finalized version adhered closely to the established design system, resulting in a cleaner and more polished appearance. To enhance professionalism, unnecessary graphic illustrations were eliminated from the final design.
But there was a challenge…
responsive design challenge
To ensure effective email presentation on mobile devices, the table design was rethought due to limitations on dynamic content.
While my focus thus far has been on designing for the desktop viewport (1440px width), I structured the design elements in a manner that allows for seamless adaptation to the size of an email viewport (720px).
But here's the fun part.
Given that most users access their emails on mobile devices, we faced the challenge of ensuring the design adapts to a mobile viewport (375px).
However, due to email limitations, making the table dynamic wasn't feasible. To maintain user experience, I had to rethink how we present tables for mobile devices.
..and we did explore a few mobile variants
A crucial consideration in mobile design was consolidating datasets and exploring different iterations based on this principle. I experimented with various approaches to break the table into vertical slices, as illustrated below.
I promptly shared these exploratory ideas with relevant stakeholders and design leadership to gather additional feedback. I also collaborated with the enterprise division team to understand their take on the data-heavy table design for mobile. I also conducted an MVT experiments with fellow designers to see which format is easier to read and understand. Following the feedback exercise, Version 4 (far right) emerged as the preferred choice due to its feasibility in development and its naturally easy-to-read format.
final designs of mvp
Introducing the Onsale report card
Due to the nature of artist's image being uploaded from client side, there were a lot of edge case scenarios where the background overlay images turned out to be light or very dark hence causing accessibility concerns. Altogether, I got rid of the background image to reflect a minimal look.
audit after development
I identified and flagged 6 visual discrepancies in the developed design to ensure accuracy and consistency before final production.
IMPACT and moving forward
Fostering healthy discussions across 35+ senior executives and clients daily.
The release of the report card has been received positively. Currently, this version of the report card is distributed to over 35 senior business executives and clients across Ticketmaster's operations through various channels such as email and Slack.
The majority of these executives assess this report on a daily basis to grasp the performance of critical events and stimulate more business discussions regarding the rationale behind the data and the events as a whole.
The next phase of development is set to commence in mid-Q2 and will incorporate additional datasets to complement the strength and grading of the on-sale process.
looking back
My Reflections
As the first project working in Ticketmaster, working on this project was a great learning experience in my career.
Keeping technical managers in loop
A key factor in a successful product launch is maintaining a humble relationship with your technical counterparts.
Keeping the product and engineering teams continuously informed about your explorations helps bridge the technical gap and enables a holistic understanding of the design from both feasibility and technical perspectives.
Soliciting feedback from them initiates valuable discussions and broadens the perspective on how to approach design considerations from different angles.
Asking a lot of questions, before, during and after the project.
Witnessing my manager initiate meetings and pose the "right" questions to attain a more holistic perspective and comprehensive understanding on the problem was a valuable learning experience for me.
This proactive approach not only minimizes common friction points that may arise during the design phase but also aids in decoding the problem as a whole.
Additionally, I learned the importance of not hesitating to ask questions at any stage of the design development process, recognizing it as a crucial skill that I need to further develop.
