Improving the dashboard design of a complex data platform

Project snapshot

A clearer operations platform shaped around monitoring, interpretation, and decision support.

Datalytix is a platform for large datasets from water purification plants and hundreds of IoT devices that monitor and optimise critical systems. The organisation wanted the data visualisation product to scale as a product in a growing market: clearer for operators and decision-makers who use it daily, not just more screens. Prequel ran an eight-week, two-phase engagement — discovery and research, then a visual design concept and prototype — facilitating research, leading workshops, and guiding visual design with the team so insights stayed tied to what shipped in the UI.

The interface felt dated and dense. Interaction patterns did not reflect different operational roles, and there was little room to tailor views to how people work across sites and modules. There was no deliberate onboarding: users were expected to infer structure, language, and workflows on their own. In complex B2B tools that shows up as slower adoption, heavier support, and a product that reads as “technical” rather than dependable.

Phase one combined market scan, competitive review, discovery and design workshops, interviews, personas, and early journey mapping. The aim was a shared model of who uses the platform, under what pressure, and where the UI blocked them — not a slide stack for its own sake.

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