The research scientists at Space Telescope Science Institute partnered with the Zooniverse team to crowdsource the data analysis of the beautiful spiral galaxy M83. They needed a tool that allowed a non-astronomer to visually analyze image information that is difficult or impossible for a computer to collect automatically.

They asked for my help, as a part of the Office of Public Outreach, to make their project user-friendly and compelling. I worked with their developer to design a user workflow and interface design that was easy to use and met the project's science goals.

The finished product can be seen at ProjectStarDate.org — it mets its data collection goals ahead of schedule, but the website is still in operation as an educational tool. 

Roles: 
UX Workflow • Usability • Web Design • Branding • Visual Production 

This project had to balance the very specific data collection needs of the researchers' science goals with a user base that may have little-to-no knowledge about astronomy... while allowing power users to navigate with less hand-holding. In collaboration with the team I developed many variations on the user workflow until we arrived at a solution that made everyone happy. Descriptive flowcharts, like these examples mid-process, helped the researchers work out the details in their methodology -- is the user doing the right task at the right time? -- and provided clear direction for the development team. 

The researchers had several specific tasks for users, most of which required guidance or explanation. The first stage of the activity presented a series of 3-4 questions about the image, aided by context-sensitive help on the left and a feedback indicator on the right, to help estimate the age of the star cluster in the center.

A simple measuring tool narrowed down the age more specifically.

Finally, the user could explore the image and look for additional interesting features. Through the Zooniverse API, they could have a conversation with the scientists about what they found.

Several custom icons were designed for the interface, for interface controls and to represent different features of interest for the "Explore" page. The latter had to be clear at a small size and represent the object visually, and the pointers had to be visible on a variety of backgrounds.

This project was completed while employed at Space Telescope Science Institute, a NASA contractor.