If you’d like to learn more about this project, please reach out.

Contour Toolbar

Palantir, 2017

Improving usability & feature discovery of Contour, a visual data-analysis tool

Contour Toolbar

(About)

Contour is one of the principal applications within Palantir Foundry that aims to empower users, regardless of technical expertise, to interact with large, intricate datasets in a visual, structured way.

After conducting internal audits and stakeholder interviews, my team identified a major challenge: the app's increasing complexity started to prevent users from fully leveraging its features and resulted in their inability to use the app without extensive training.

As a lead designer on this project, I focused on improving walk-up usability, feature discovery and overall user experience of the tool by redesigning the apps’s core toolbar.

(Role)

UX/UI design
Research

Illustration
Front-end support

Design highlights

Curated action categories featuring illustrations & descriptions empower users to independently explore the tool’s functionality.

Curated action categories featuring illustrations & descriptions empower users to independently explore the tool’s functionality.

New quick search mode for advanced discovery using keywords.

New quick search mode for advanced discovery using keywords.

Improved insert-board action for more flexibility when interacting with data paths.

Improved insert-board action for more flexibility when interacting with data paths.

Compatibility with different modes and viewport sizes.

Compatibility with different modes and viewport sizes.

(Outcome)

The redesign reduced required training sessions, substantially diversified feature usage, and enhanced overall tool engagement. It also established a precedent for visual documentation inside the platform, influencing other teams to introduce similar features.