Visual editor & navigation redesign
Y42 is a web-based Data Orchestration Platform that provides
a unified space for building, monitoring,
and managing data pipelines. With built-in Git version control functionality, it enables seamless management of changes and versions, and facilitates collaboration among big data teams.
As part of an initiative to improve users’ first 15–30 minutes on the platform, I focused on the visual editor and rethought the entire product navigation.
Year
2024
Timeline
3 months
Tools
Figma,FullStory,HEX,PostHog
My role
Sr Product Designer,UX/UI Designer,Researcher,Design System
DesignerTeam
Product Manager,Product Designer
Problem statement
Context
Customer feedback pointed to a set of issues in the visual editor, Lineage view. Working there was hard, sometimes impossible, without constantly switching back to List view.
The aim: make Lineage view work for every workflow, promote it, and see how users adopt it.
It mattered competitively too — many competitors offer a visual editor.
Business
problems
- Lineage view lacked the functionality common workflows needed, despite its value for visualization
- Many assets overloaded the canvas and made it hard to navigate
- No central place to manage assets, like the assets tree in List view
- Weak filtering and search
- Inconsistent zoom and focus behavior kept losing the asset or node in use
- Expandable panels cluttered the screen
Design
goals
Combine the strengths of List and Lineage views in one improved Lineage view
Fix the identified issues and act on customer feedback
Measure adoption and test whether Lineage view could become the main, default working mode
Decide whether Lineage view deserves further investment
Process & solution
Process
Discovery
Gather all available internal data: user feedback, insights from Customer Support, Sales and PMs; watch user sessions.
Create designs & documentation
Create designs; plan research and define hypotheses for the next iteration.
Release & Design QA
Gather data & conduct user interviews
Validate hypotheses, see how well the improvements are adopted, and scope the next iteration.
Plan the next round of improvements
Solution
Two-level navigation
A slimmer global navigation cuts visual clutter in the Space. It works on two levels: Organization, for managing Spaces and low-frequency jobs, and Space, for daily pipeline work.
Organization level
Space level
Assets tree
The assets tree is the control center for finding and managing assets. The canvas nodes are left to do one job: show dependencies.
Asset focused mode
Asset Focused mode filters the canvas to one asset and its connections, so the pipeline in progress stays in view.
Creating downstream assets
A clear entry point on each node creates the next downstream asset, so a pipeline grows right on the canvas.
Zoom behavior
New zoom behavior for the canvas, assets tree, and details panel keeps the current asset in focus.
I also documented how the canvas and every element on it should behave.
Final designs
Designs
Achievements
Key result
1.5 months after release...
Twice as many users completed their daily tasks in Lineage view.
Fewer complaints and more satisfaction from customers who had tried Lineage view before.
Lineage view now supports all core product workflows.
More insights and context gathered for the next iterations.
