Reimagining Unified Taxonomy

To facilitate a smoother and more efficient privacy review process at Meta.

Overview
Research
Research
Home Page
Search
Details Page
Visual Design
Final Product
As a design consultant on Meta's Privacy Infrastructure team, I enhanced the onboarding and navigation experience of Unified Taxonomy (UT), a central portal for data annotations in privacy reviews. I led the design of the homepage, optimized search, and improved the node details page, ensuring a more efficient and seamless data annotation process.

Team

Unified Taxonomy
‍- 1 Technical PM, 1 taxonomist
- 1 front-end engineer, 2 back-end engineers

Timeline

8 weeks (Jul - Oct 2023)
🚀 Shipped Nov 2023

Role

End to end product design
- Requirements gathering
- User Research & IA
- UX Design, UX writing

Problem

Usability issues within UT is currently hindering users from efficiently completing their tasks and results in increased engineering hours spent on privacy-related work. ‍

Solution

I led the design of the homepage, optimized search, and improved the node details page, ensuring a more efficient and seamless data annotation process.

BackgroundEnsuring user privacy is a top priority at Meta, requiring products to undergo a privacy review before launch

To meet regulatory requirements to protect data privacy, Meta products need to go through a privacy review process before launch to avoid potential risks.
Meta's Privacy Updates

Context & ProductUnified Taxonomy (UT) is integral to Meta's privacy commitment, serving as the initial stage in the Privacy Review Process by assigning meaningful labels to data.

Home Page for average and admin users

A comprehensive home page that allows users to get a quick glimpse of UT, quickly access nodes, and view node requests

To meet regulatory requirements, Meta products go through a privacy review before launch to avoid potential issues. Understanding the contents of data tables, beyond typical data formats like integers and strings, is crucial for safeguarding confidential user information.
Meta's Privacy Updates

Home Page for average and admin users

A comprehensive home page that allows users to get a quick glimpse of UT, quickly access nodes, and view node requests

Product in a nut-shellUnified Taxonomy (UT) is at the core of Meta's privacy commitment, acting as the initial stage in the Privacy Review Process by assigning meaningful labels to data

Understanding the contents of data tables, beyond typical data formats like integers and strings, is crucial for safeguarding confidential user information.

The Challenge
As an engineer-designed tool, UT has usability issues that hinder engineers from efficiently completing tasks, resulting in increased hours spent on privacy-related work

Home Page for average and admin users

A comprehensive home page that allows users to get a quick glimpse of UT, quickly access nodes, and view node requests

SolutionLed the design of a revamped UT Portal to enhance users' efficiency in searching, browsing, and evaluating annotation nodes

(1) Home Page: Introduced a user-friendly product home page for tracking and browsing nodes
(2) Search: Redesigned the search flow to streamline navigation
(3) Browsing: Improved the evaluation experience by synthesizing information on the nodes detail page

Success Metric & ImpactThe revamp leads to significant increase in usability and satisfaction

26.3% ⬆️

in user satisfaction

User Satisfaction
according to the newly embedded in-app survey

31.6% ⬇️

in browsing time

Browsing Time
according to analytics dashboard

12.5K ⬇️

in est. engineering hours

estimated engineering hours
for users to complete privacy review annually

User Quotes

estimated engineering hours
"I like the clean design and user-friendly navigation of the new UT."

My ContributionLeading the end to end experience of revamping Unified Taxonomy

Led Research & Design

I executed user journeys, usability testing, created wireframes, prototypes, and design specs.

Influence Vision

I guide product direction with a user-centric focus, balancing technical constraints.

Foster Collaboration

I collaborated with 1 TPM, 1 taxonomist, and 4 engineers to bridge gaps and enhance communication.

Let's see how I start from the ground up!

User ResearchAlthough tasked with just creating prototypes at first, I advocated for research to understand our users and the current landscape

50h+ background research

on UT and the privacy ecosystem through Wiki, user feedback, and prior research

9 user interviews

conducted with internal users including new, existing, and admin users across 3 countries

5+ Design artifacts

crafted design stories, affinity maps, gap analysis, and Journey maps

50+ hours

Background Research

on UT and the privacy ecosystem through Wiki, user feedback, and prior research

9

User interviews

conducted with internal users including new, existing, and admin users across 3 countries

5+

Design Artifacts

crafted design stories, affinity maps, gap analysis, and Journey maps

💡Insight 1: Confusion for new users

When users initially access UT, they are directed to the taxonomy page with no contextual information about UT's purpose or navigation.

💡Insight 2: Finding the right node to annotate is hard

The node discovery experience is suboptimal due to duplicated names, a lengthy hierarchy, and ineffective search results.

💡Insight 3: The amount of info on the portal is unorganized and overwhelming

The portal presents information in a scattered manner across different tabs, making essential details not effectively presented to users."

PersonasCategorizing users based on their unique pain points and needs

Based on prior research, it's evident that UT has various privacy user types. After engaging in discussions with stakeholders, I categorized them into three main groups based on their purposes for accessing UT and synthesized their needs.

New User

1. Learn UT's features and navigate efficiently
2. Find the right annotation

🌟 Focus - Average User

1. Quickly find the right node to annotate
2. Track status of request

Admin

1. View and approve requests
2. Track taxonomy syncing progress

50+ hours

Background Research

on UT and the privacy ecosystem through Wiki, user feedback, and prior research

9

User interviews

conducted with internal users including new, existing, and admin users across 3 countries

5+

Design Artifacts

crafted design stories, affinity maps, gap analysis, and Journey maps

🌟 Core User

💡 Decision: With over 80% of our users being average users, we decided to prioritize their needs while catering to administrators' needs

User Journey MappingIdentifying gaps in current experiences to solidify project goals and guiding UT's long-term product direction

💡 Decision: Focusing on improving onboarding, explore, and evaluation process

We decided to focus on the key phases that majority of user pain points occurs. Once users identify the right node to use, the annotation process becomes much easier.

Let's see how I solve the problems for each step

👨 Let's consider Jim, a typical user of UT

You are a software engineer on the Ads team. You are directed to UT to complete a privacy review task assigned to you. You don't have much context about the privacy space previously.

Step 1. Onboarding Home PageHow can we onboard new users to UT and continuously provide value?

❓ Problem: Lack of onboarding and general glance of UT

Users land directly on the nodes details page upon entry

Design ExplorationsProduct Home Page: Explore various ways to present info efficiently

👌 Pro

- Allows users to see everything in one place

👎Con

- Can lead to information overload
- Less info is presented

Vertical Layout

👌 Pro

- Able to show more content
- More uniformity

👎Con

Longer scroll to see contents presented

Features within sections

👌 Pro

- Users can request nodes quickly
- See everything in one view

👎Con

- Information overload
- Governance issues with too many requests submitted

Features within sections

👌 Pro

👌 Users can request nodes quickly

👌 Pro

👌 See everything in one view

👎Con

👎 Information overload

👎Con

👎 Too many requests might cause governance issues

Final Home Page DesignCombining insights from user testing, technical feasibility, and business goals

Throughout the process, I documented and aligned the product vision with stakeholders through user stories and meeting notes.

Onboarding Tour & Feedback Survey

UT Intro Card, Quick access to nodes, track requests

Feedback Group

I can ask in the group for support

Feedback Group

I can ask in the group for support

Feedback Group

I can ask in the group for support

Feedback Group

I can ask in the group for support

🤔 Visual Design Explorations

I explored different layouts and design patterns to find a harmonious balance between aesthetics and usability.

Bento Box Layout

👌 Pro

- Bento box design allows users to see everything in one place

👎Con

- Can lead to information overload
- Less info is presented

Vertical Layout

👌 Pro

- Able to show more content
- More uniformity

👎Con

- Longer scroll to see contents presented

Features within sections

👌 Pro

- Users can request nodes quickly
- See everything in one view

👎Con

- Might lead to information overload
- Governance issues with too many requests submitted

Before

After

Step 3. EvaluationHow might we improve the evaluation experience by reducing information overload for users?

❓ Problem: Node Information is unorganized and overloaded

Previous UT Nodes Detail Page

A new Information Architecture to prioritize essential information

I proposed a three-tab information hierarchy for a clearer structure, implementing progressive disclosure to present essential annotation information by default, with the option for users to explore more details as needed.

💡 Decision: Progressively Disclosed crucial information identified based on interview insights

During user interviews, I had users guide me through their current annotation process, documenting their primary needs. These insights informed the decision on what essential information should be disclosed to users first.

Visual Design ExplorationsEngineering products don't have to be boring; they should be functional yet visually delightful

I improved the visual consistency of UT by building custom components based on Meta's XDS Design System. This ensures consistency across products while preserving UT's distinctive branding.
Original logo
Design Iterations

Final Logo

Home Page for average and admin users

A comprehensive home page that allows users to get a quick glimpse of UT, quickly access nodes, and view node requests

Final SolutionRevamped UT: the elevated taxonomy browsing and labeling experience

After multiple iterations, we achieved an improved UT experience, enabling users to navigate and annotate data more efficiently.
01
New Home Page

A comprehensive home page that allows users to get a quick glimpse of UT, quickly access nodes, and view node requests

02
Admin Home Page

Customized Home Page for admins to monitor node usage, syncing status, and view pending requests

03
Clear hierarchy for Node Information Page

A revamped details page with a clear structure and less information overload for users

04
AI-Powered Relevance Search

Suggesting users relevant nodes using the capabilities of Meta Gen AI

05
Integration into the Meta Privacy Ecosystem

Efficiently access key node information in other privacy products

01
New Home Page

A comprehensive home page that allows users to get a quick glimpse of UT, quickly access nodes, and view node requests

02
Admin Home Page

Customized Home Page for admins to monitor node usage, syncing status, and view pending requests

03
Clear hierarchy for Node Information Page

A revamped details page with a clear structure and less information overload for users

04
AI-Powered Relevance Search

Suggesting users relevant nodes using the capabilities of Meta Gen AI

05
Integration into the Meta Privacy Ecosystem

Efficiently access key node information in other privacy products

Future Directions & UX StrategyBuilding long-term vision: Surfacing UT annotation in other privacy products

I suggested integrating the hover card to display node information across other privacy products, fostering integration within the privacy ecosystem and establishing a competitive edge for UT among various privacy products.
Polymer Portal (Another privacy product)

Reflections Bringing a more user-centric approach to an engineer-driven product

Advocating for design by building trust
In the initial stages, I faced resistance when attempting to conduct user research or invest more time in understanding the user. However, I learned that by demonstrating the tangible impact that thoughtful design can have, I successfully earned the trust to delve deeper into user research and influence the overall product direction.
‍
Beyond the current landscape, focus on the strategy and the ecosystem
I learned to consistently advocate for a strategic problem-solving approach that goes beyond the immediate challenges, focusing on unifying systems and addressing broader ecosystem issues.

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