About the project

UN-Habitat collects Quality of Life data from cities around the world. The challenge wasn't a lack of information. It was the opposite. There were hundreds of indicators spread across multiple domains, making it difficult for users to quickly understand how a city was performing.

As the 5th person hired in the Quality of Life Initiative Innovation team, my team and I created and launched a global platform now with data rich information from over 82 cities around the world. A working prototype was launched within 5 months and along with my team, I established the brand identity of future projects underneath the Initiative. Through many reiterations, the platform launched globally in February 2025. My role was to design an experience that transformed dense datasets into something people could actually explore with confidence.

When people are faced with a wall of numbers, they don't know where to start.

Researchers wanted to compare cities. Government officials wanted to identify strengths and weaknesses. The public simply wanted to understand what the data meant.

Everyone had different goals, but they all shared one problem. The information was overwhelming.

I began by mapping how information related to one another instead of immediately designing screens. I explored different ways of organizing indicators, experimented with multiple visualization concepts, and looked for patterns that would help users compare cities without constantly jumping between pages.

One idea kept coming up during iterations. People naturally looked for summaries before they wanted details. That led me to redesign the data visualization using a half sunburst layout. It allowed users to understand the overall picture first, then drill into individual indicators only when they needed more information.

It sounds like a small decision, but it completely changed how the experience felt. Instead of decoding the interface, users could focus on understanding the city as a whole.

Each city has their own unique sets of data, therefore, it's important to show their identity immediately. This visual hierarchy helps users understand what is important to know first. Because we never assume all users would know what to do, clear instructions how on to interact with the platform was essential. In order to show that the 9 domains make up the city's quality of life, we used a fan chart to visualize the data. Used progressive disclosure so detailed information appeared only when needed (by hovering over the fan chart!) In order to show relationships between domains, indicators, and SDGs, we tagged the modal when users are hovering to learn more.

One thing I learned from this project is that good design is about helping people feel less overwhelmed. I have never worked as a data designer and this project gave me a lot of exposure to the field. This changed not only how I see data now but also how I approach design problems. The data never became less complex. The experience just became easier to navigate.