Presented at IA Summit 2016, Atlanta

1. Architecting for simplicity and
meaning amidst information chaos
Shopify Reports: A case study

2. Oh hey...
@virginiastart@_kyleaparker

3. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

4. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

5. Spring in Ottawa

6. 1. Layer in complexity
2. Integrate design, content, and research
3. Embrace vulnerability
Today we’re going to talk about how to...

7. What is Shopify?

8. What is Shopify reports?

9. Disconnect between tasks and data

12. Bad data visualizations

13. It had to be approachable

14. How do you design business
reporting for 243,000+ merchants?

15. 1. Layer in complexity
2. Integrate design, content, and research
3. Embrace vulnerability

16. Figure out what information
you’re dealing with

17. Business processes Store Channel Product Variant Customer Addres
Engagement ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Carts ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Checkouts ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Sales ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Payments ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Taxes ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Gift cards ✓ ✓
Conversion ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
The bus matrix

18. Define your information objects

19. Sales
Customers
Traffic
Products

20. See what else is out there

22. Do just enough mapping

23. Store
performance
Business
operations
How much did my store
make this week?
I need to do my
taxes.

24. Define and prioritize tasks

25. Shopify reports
Keep track of your project truisms
Do the hard work for our merchants
Are organized by merchant task
Can be saved and favourited
Etc.

26. Get out of the office

27. Eureka!

28. Think big, start small

29. Take one piece and make it your baby

30. Don’t pull the rug out from under your users

31. “Everything changed on the day of the
new design’s launch. All of a sudden,
everyone’s current knowledge was
shifted back–almost to the point of a
brand new employee.”
- Jared Spool

32. Before After
Implement in increments

33. Be scrappy!

34. To layer in complexity:
✓ Figure out what information you’re
dealing with
✓ Define and prioritize tasks
✓ Think big, start small

35. 1. Layer in complexity
2. Integrate design, content, and research
3. Embrace vulnerability

36. Include everyone from
the beginning

39. Become experts together

40. Become experts together

41. Become experts together

42. Learn about your users together

43. Let content lead the way

44. Content first!

45. Don’t get trapped in
discipline silos

46. Keep other teams close

47. To integrate design, content, and research:
✓ Include everyone from the beginning
✓ Let content lead the way
✓ Break out of discipline silos

48. 1. Layer in complexity
2. Integrate design, content, and research
3. Embrace vulnerability

49. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of
innovation, creativity, and change.”
- Brené Brown

50. Show off your work
(even if you think it sucks)

51. Show your work early and often

52. Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable

53. Hold team health checks

54. Share honest feedback

55. Don’t gloss over the prickly bits

56. To embrace vulnerability:
✓ Show off your work
✓ Check in with your team often and
honestly

57. 1. Layer in complexity
2. Integrate design, content, and research
3. Embrace vulnerability
Today we talked about how to...

58. Thanks!
@virginiastart@_kyleaparker

59. References
Designing Embraceable Change, Jared Spool
Just Enough Research, Erika Hall
NN/g UX Conference (Chicago, 2014)
The Power of Vulnerability, Brené Brown

60. Images
Slide 3: flickr.com (Matt Wiebe)
Slide 5: vogue.com
Slide 6: cbc.ca
Slide 14: observer.com
Slide 31: bac-lac.gc.ca
Slide 46: @jazyfent
Slide 55: thewallpaper.co
Slides 10, 21, 23, 34, 45: unsplash.com