Nepal | Journalism trainees
The Open Data Editor, a tool by OKFN.org
is where Data Validation happens
A native desktop app for Researchers, Journalists & non-technical data folks to detect and fix errors in their Spreadsheets.
I was hired to Redesign the app. I took everything learnt from existing Research, Mixpanel metrics, Support tickets and turned them into High fidelity Prototypes. This allowed us to test ideas quickly, and make sure we are building the right thing for our users.
The ODE is a Data management product for everyone to explore, validate, download errors report, and edit the metadata of their excel documents.
Built over 2-week sprint cycles alongside a talented team comprising a Product owner, PM & Engineers.
Romina
Sara
Guergana
Evgeny
Patricio
Respect, Ownership & Trusted collaboration
Role expectation
Gov-tech | Software design | Data
May - Dec 2024
The UX Consultant tasked with Redesigning the app is expected to work independently without much guidance, has experience with enterprise software design, Dashboards and very specialized, complex workflows.
The Designer takes Research insights, Mixpanel metrics, & user feedback from the Product owner; They also align, and deliver work within the constraints of the Engineers.
Overview
Background, Problem, Solution & Impact
Project background & objective
The organization decided to pivot from the v1 built by Engineers that targeted various types of Data users, and could accept all kind of files. This new product is de-scoped, and focuses on a solo user profile: non-technical data professionals, and elevates their experience by solving all the reported Usability issues. Given the de-risked product, and a clear feature list, the expected outcome is an intuitive, elegant and accessible Desktop app.
Problem framing
Users had troubles understanding how to navigate the product.
The expected behaviour of the design patterns were inconsistent, and outdated leading to them abandoning the app.
Goals
1
Audit current screens, user flows, and suggest improvements; Optimize for Engineering velocity
2
Increase Engagement metrics. Fix the broken UX logic, Design new interfaces, Identify & solve usability problems.
3
Iterate rapidly with the Engineers & Product owner; Ship implementation-ready
Figma files on tight cycles.
The Result
Business Impact & Outcomes
A free course on the redesigned ODE
A new release
Training camps on the ODE
More context
Collaboration, & Constraints
Focus on Engineering velocity
Timeline: 6 months
Device constraint: Desktop app for Mac, Windows & Linux
Design framework: Google MUI (Google Material UI)
The codebase existed on Google MUI, and this framework became the confines of my Components design. This structural decision impacted the architecture and functionality of my designs.
This means that the Prototype solutions presented to the Engineers had to be the top 2 winners that won’t cost time to build.
We conducted A/B testing sometimes to select what resonated most with our users.
© June 2025