USTrotting Phase 1 – Data & Analysis

First Step: Research & Exploration

Research is foundational to my process, rooted in atomic design principles and refined over time to meet evolving challenges. I explore the industry, organization, and user experience holistically—identifying gaps and opportunities through methods like surveys, contextual interviews, collaborative workshops, and (my favorite) whiteboarding sessions.

Coming into this project with little prior knowledge of harness racing, I quickly immersed myself, documenting insights as I uncovered the industry’s dynamics, stakeholder needs, and user pain points.

To avoid disrupting live membership portals, I partnered with web staff to launch a dedicated subdomain as the centralized hub for all redesign-related communications across the industry and membership.

Once we committed to collecting project-specific user insights, I designed the approved survey flows and deployed them via SurveyMonkey to gather actionable data.

Objective Alignment

To ensure alignment with organizational objectives, I facilitated cross-functional meetings to clarify and define project goals. This unified departmental efforts and streamlined decision-making across the board.

Industry

Early in the project, I analyzed data-rich platforms like the NHL and NFL to benchmark best practices in presenting complex statistics, exploring design strategies USTrotting could adapt to elevate its own data experience.

Organization

I conducted strategic interviews with department leads to uncover key organizational challenges and identify subject matter experts. Follow-up employee interviews revealed root causes of user-reported pain points and assessed current mitigation efforts, building a clear foundation for targeted design solutions.

Users

To generate targeted insights critical to project success, I analyzed legacy survey data, usability patterns, and analytics trends, then developed tailored surveys deployed via SurveyMonkey to fill remaining knowledge gaps.

User Experience Challenge
User Wants and Needs

Clear user understanding is crucial to delivering timely and relevant information.

As the architect, I led data strategy efforts, designing and presenting multiple user research initiatives. I also partnered with internal teams to launch a dedicated subdomain, centralizing all redesign communications for both public and internal stakeholders.

User Experience Challenge
Process Efficiency

Streamlined organizational success by identifying and presenting key process improvements to leadership and internal teams.

Architecture Challenge
Current State

To drive practical design improvements, I mapped and documented the structure and functional requirements of high-visibility sites, creating a shared framework that aligned cross-functional teams and accelerated project execution.

Documentation Challenge
Limited Existing Documentation

To ensure alignment and project clarity, I documented and regularly shared key insights, keeping the entire team focused, informed, and unified around a successful outcome.

Second Step: Data & Analysis

Data and analysis drive my design decisions by highlighting key issues and guiding collaboration. I built an Excel dashboard that unified survey responses into a clear, actionable view, combining qualitative and quantitative insights with prioritized action items to support leadership presentations and streamline decision-making.

Survey Responses Analyzed Across 4 Contextual Surveys
Interviews and Group Meetings

Data and analysis drive my design decisions by highlighting key issues and guiding collaboration. I built an Excel dashboard that unified survey responses into a clear, actionable view, combining qualitative and quantitative insights with prioritized action items to support leadership presentations and streamline decision-making.

To enhance usability and streamline processes, I created business process flows that mapped everyday user interactions, driving productive discussions around optimizing experiences. I partnered with the web team to implement Google Custom Site Search on the project subdomain and led organizational demos to ensure adoption.

Search term analysis and survey feedback revealed brand confusion, prompting me to design and present new logo variations that successfully resolved the issue.

User Experience Challenge
Search Interaction

USTrotting’s fragmented search tools made it difficult for users to access timely, relevant information. To resolve this, I implemented a branded Google Custom Site Search on the redesign subdomain, dramatically improving usability. The solution gained rapid adoption from both staff and the public, becoming a go-to resource for navigating site content efficiently.

User Experience Challenge
Brand Confusion

To resolve brand confusion and improve digital discoverability, I analyzed search behavior and found most users searched for “ustrotting” rather than “USTA,” which led to unrelated results. I presented this insight, along with a rebranding proposal, which resulted in leadership approval and the rollout of a new, more intuitive logo.

User Experience Challenge
Process Inefficiencies

USTrotting serves a broad user base, including less tech-savvy customers, necessitating offline and print-friendly processes. I audited and documented key workflows to identify opportunities for automation and efficiency, then partnered with subject matter experts to refine the solutions. Final proposals were presented to leadership and scheduled for phased implementation.

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