Lead UX / Creative Data Scientist

Bringing the Human Touch to Digital Design

I apply data to design

abstract computer code flowing down screen like the Matrix

Left-brain Thinkers

Logic, analysis, linear, sequencing, thinking in words, organizing facts, pattern recognition

For more than a decade, I have studied (and taught!) the practical applications of data and analytics to UX design. In a world where just about anyone with access to professional-level tools can crank out “eye candy” designs that engage our senses …

… it’s more essential than ever to measure & analyze how our users are interacting with the digital products we make.

Too often, creative professionals are “numbers-phobic,” and fear that integrating data into the creative process will take over, and eventually replace them.

Not so. Check out my explanation of how data & analytics can augment creativity.

I apply design to data

Right-brain Thinkers

Imagination, feelings, visualizations, intuition, creativity, rhythm and tone, sensations

Meanwhile, the “Big Data Revolution” has resulted in many organizations buying into the myth that data & analytics provide some kind of magic solution to all their problems. So they ran out and hired teams of data scientists, and set them to work.

The data wizards dutifully ran out and collected and processed the data … and plunked thick, unreadable reports onto the laps of decision-makers. Who looked up in alarm, asking “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Data without context is just noise.

Design thinking brings meaning to data, without which, users struggle to extract value, as I explain here.

As a Lead UX Designer and Researcher, I have led teams and contributed directly to redesign efforts that optimized products to improve customer satisfaction. The formula seems simple: increased usability leads to increased use, leads to increased profits.

But as with everything, “the Devil’s in the details.”

For more on how I do this, check out my case studies.

Author David LaFontaine

I taught Digital Immersion and Online Multimedia at the Annenberg School at USC. I’ve also been awarded two Fulbright Grants to work in Ethiopia and Myanmar, and guest-lectured at a dozen other universities.

david lafontaine pluralsight course using predictive analytics to improve customer journey

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