This platform provides real time datasets on key economic indices across 52 African countries. I led the UX efforts by simplifying user flows, conducting user research, and creating an intuitive and immersive data experience.
I designed a responsive web platform that allows users to access, explore, and analyze economic data with ease. The platform covers indicators such as inflation, GDP, employment rates, trade statistics, and more.
The goal is to solve the problem of fragmented and outdated economic data by building a simple and reliable platform where users including economists, analysts, journalists, and policymakers can find accurate and up to date data in one place.
Accessing accurate, real time and centralized economic data across African countries is difficult. Users often struggle to find reliable datasets that are easy to navigate and understand.
A platform that provides real time and accessible economic data across 52 African countries for analysts, policymakers, economists, and researchers who need a reliable and easy to use source for key economic indicators.
I was the UX design lead on this project, working closely with a team of two UX designers, one researcher, one copywriter and one accessibility expert.
In making this project, I went through design thinking approach for systematically identifying the user needs in order to ideate the solution that given lasting value for the customer.
The first step in this phase was to understand the problem we were trying to solve and gain a clear picture of what users actually needed. This meant identifying their pain points, what motivated them, and the gaps they currently faced when accessing economic data across the continent.
To get accurate insights, I used a mix of qualitative research methods. I conducted one-on-one interviews with economists, analysts, journalists, and researchers to allow them speak freely about their frustrations and how they currently source data.
I also ran a short quantitative survey to gather broader context about user behavior, roles, and data usage patterns. Synthesizing the feedback, it became clear that most users relied on multiple disconnected sources, faced delays in accessing updated figures, and lacked tools to easily visualize or compare data across countries.
This phase helped uncover the key problem areas and gave direction for what the product needed to solve from day one.
A major part of this project was dedicated to continuous user interviews and investigating existing platforms that provide economic data. I kept iterating and digging deeper to understand exactly how users currently access data and where the gaps were.
To guide my research, I broke down the prompt into questions I wanted to explore:
How do users currently find and access economic data on African countries
What indicators are most important to them and why
What tools or platforms do they trust and use regularly
What frustrates them about the current process
What would make their workflow easier
I spoke to economists, policy analysts, journalists, and researchers across various sectors. I guided the conversations using these questions and mapped out the feedback using affinity mapping to identify common themes and patterns.
Understanding Existing Tools
Most users depended on a mix of fragmented sources like World Bank databases, national bureaus, scattered PDFs, or news reports. These sources often lacked real time updates, were hard to navigate, or required too much effort to clean and analyze. Users found it difficult to compare metrics across countries or visualize trends over time in a single place.
Key features users wanted were ease of access, a clean interface to view and compare data, the ability to download datasets quickly, and tools that support both casual insights and deep analysis.
Primary Research
With a clearer understanding of the landscape, I moved into one-on-one interviews to hear directly from the users.
Participants
n = 6
Roles included economists, financial analysts, researchers, policy consultants
Based in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa
All familiar with working with data and digital tools
Interview Focus
What platforms do you use to track economic indicators
What data points are most important in your daily work
What challenges do you face accessing up to date information
How do you usually prepare reports or share data
What would an ideal dashboard look like for you
Key Findings
Users want centralized access to reliable data
Users often cross-check multiple sources to confirm accuracy
The current process of data collection is time consuming and repetitive
Users want to filter and compare data quickly without complex tools
Most users feel there is no one place to access clean and ready-to-use African economic data
These findings helped validate the problem and gave me a solid direction to begin defining the product structure.
Once the key insights from users were clear, I started creating early sketches to address their pain points and build a product that meets their needs. I used How Might We statements to keep the designs focused on solving specific challenges.
In this process, I made a site map and user flows for critical routes to aid users navigation and also to guide the usability design processes.
After testing the initial sketches with five participants, a few pain points came up that I addressed before moving on to wireframes.
With the dashboard taking shape, it was time to turn to its brand and style. In order to get a consistent visual message which resonates with and informs the user, I co-created a style guide which was influenced by the brand guidelines
With the structure and style set through the work done with the usability design and visual design steps, I could start working on the high-fidelity designs. Using a UI kit and the style guide in conjunction with the wireframes from earlier stages, I worked out issues for it to be both usable, fit within the style guide, and accessible.
User Testing
After designing a few high fidelity pages, I ran them through an accessibility audit to check for color and contrast and screen reader readability, this passed the WACG 2.2 guidelines.
Accessibility Audit
After designing a few high fidelity pages, I ran them through an accessibility audit to check for color and contrast and screen reader readability, this passed the WACG 2.0 guidelines.
Next Steps
I’d like to explore more of the ideas I tested in my sketches and low-fidelity wireframes. One area to focus on is enhancing comparison tools, so users can easily analyze economic indicators side by side across countries.
I also want to improve the onboarding experience — helping users understand the value of real time data and guiding them to customize the dashboard based on their interests and roles.
Additionally, I’d work on building features for saving favorite datasets and setting alerts for important updates.
Learnings
Applying a human-centered design approach through research, ideation, and testing was incredibly valuable. It reinforced the importance of deeply understanding user needs before jumping into solutions.
Balancing my own assumptions with user feedback was a challenge but essential to create a product that truly serves the audience.
Collecting data through interviews and usability testing helped keep the focus on real problems and prevented bias. Tools like How Might We statements were key to keeping the design process focused and purposeful.
Future versions could include features like expert insights, more advanced data visualization tools, and customizable notifications to help users stay informed effortlessly.
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