VizChitra 2025: India's first community-driven Data Visualization conference

Overview

When I first began my journey in designing data products, I found myself sitting with messy spreadsheets more often than Figma screens. In the years since, I have realised that the processes data goes through to become dev-ready are just as important (if not more) to a designer as they are to a developer. The learning - one needs to understand the numbers deeply before making them understandable to others.

How might we..

• standardize data collection across stages while ensuring integrity?
• digitize and centralize all data into a single, unified system to streamline access and management?
• make it easier for users across hierarchies to monitor and take action?
  help users build a sense of trust with the data presented to them?

My process as a designer has evolved to solve these recurring problem statements. From designing outcome measurement dashboards for government officials, and data exchange platforms, to central repositories for bird researchers, and systems for surveillance of cattle diseases, the outcome of my process is products that make data understandable, and usable.

Through continuous collaboration with researchers, developers and data teams, I have learned to bridge this gap between numbers, stakeholder needs, and end-users. This talk explores the often-overlooked work of designing for data. Through real-world examples and my learnings while creating them, this session offers practical strategies for building data products.

Key Takeaways

1. What kind of data activities can you do on spreadsheets before you move to Figma
2. How to facilitate conversations with research, data and dev teams to ensure good UX while also meeting technical feasibility
3. How to design for diverse users while balancing understanding and actionability

Target Audience

Individuals who are curious about building user-friendly data products, and those looking to improve collaboration with their engineering and data teams.

Speaker Bio

Anushka is a Product Designer and a number-crunching storyteller. In her 4+ years of industry experience, she has collaborated with product owners, data engineers, developers, and researchers from several domains to bridge the gap between data and people.

Currently at Parallel HQ, previously at CivicDataLab
Visiting Faculty at Srishti Manipal