Good Idea

Let’s bring big data astronomy to everyone

Empowering people to participate in 21st century scientific discovery.

Good idea

Let’s bring big data astronomy to everyone

Empowering people to participate in 21st century scientific discovery.

Good idea

Let’s bring big data astronomy to everyone

Empowering people to participate in 21st century scientific discovery.

Innovate

Big Data

Science

Education

Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

In 2022, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) begins a ten-year project to continuously capture and analyze high-resolution images of the night sky. The telescope will provide professional scientists, educators, and astronomy lovers with new rich data that will inspire scientific insights.

From the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile, LSST will send 15TB of nightly observations to astronomers around the world, enabling new discoveries in areas as diverse as the detection of Near Earth Objects and understanding the role of Dark Energy and Dark Matter in the origins of the Universe.

How do we reach our many audiences and address their diverse needs?

Camila

Content Creator
Chilean Science Center

Lionel

Content Creator
Large Staff Planetarium

Lecia

High School Student
& Future Scientist

Sandra

Curator
Small Staff Planetarium

Tanya

Middle School Teacher
Title One School

Camila

Content Creator
Chilean Science Center

Lionel

Content Creator
Large Staff Planetarium

Lecia

High School Student
& Future Scientist

Sandra

Curator
Small Staff Planetarium

Tanya

Middle School Teacher
Title One School

Camila

Content Creator
Chilean Science Center

Lionel

Content Creator
Large Staff Planetarium

Lecia

High School Student
& Future Scientist

Sandra

Curator
Small Staff Planetarium

Tanya

Middle School Teacher
Title One School

Make No Assumptions

We conducted generative user research and stakeholder interviews with more than fifty people to directly understand the interests and needs of the Education & Public Outreach audiences.

Based on this research, we were able to identify LSST’s opportunities to provide distinct and differentiated value to their primary audiences reflecting the authentic science objectives of the LSST initiative.

How do we make a complex domain accessible to novice users?

It is Astrophysics

And for non-professionals, astronomy is a hobby, a delight and a way of seeing the Universe beyond our small blue planet.

To make Big Data Astronomy accessible to novice audiences, we worked with the EPO team, LSST scientists, and EPO audiences to identify and create content, visualizations, and interactive experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating LSST discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

How do we cultivate our community and fuel its growth?

Sustained exploration & discovery

Starting with the prompt “I want to…” we utilized service design methods to align people’s aspirations to belong to the LSST community with their interests, access methods, and capabilities.

We created tangible steps for teachers to use LSST data in classrooms, teens to connect with scientists, artists to visualize new imagery, and the general public to become citizen scientists. Experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating LSST discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

How do we cultivate our community and fuel its growth?

Sustained exploration & discovery

Starting with the prompt “I want to…” we utilized service design methods to align people’s aspirations to belong to the LSST community with their interests, access methods, and capabilities.

We created tangible steps for teachers to use LSST data in classrooms, teens to connect with scientists, artists to visualize new imagery, and the general public to become citizen scientists. Experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating LSST discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

How do we cultivate our community and fuel its growth?

Sustained exploration & discovery

Starting with the prompt “I want to…” we utilized service design methods to align people’s aspirations to belong to the LSST community with their interests, access methods, and capabilities.

We created tangible steps for teachers to use LSST data in classrooms, teens to connect with scientists, artists to visualize new imagery, and the general public to become citizen scientists. Experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating LSST discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

How do we prepare for a future that we can’t fully predict until the telescope becomes operational?

Solid foundation & ready for anything

This project’s guiding principles and validated prototypes represent our deep understanding of people’s fundamental needs and aspirations in astronomy.

The user experience framework intentionally prepares the LSST EPO team to continue to realize emergent opportunities for connection and education throughout the operation of the telescope, create content, visualizations and interactive experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating LSST discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

Innovation achieved

Accessible Data Visualizations

Prepared to utilize high resolution images captured by LSST, the Skyviewer enables educators and classrooms, citizen scientists, amateur astronomers, and data scientists to easily explore LSST data and learn more about observational and time-domain astronomy.

The Skyviewer provides a tangible gateway into LSST’s nightly observations, providing opportunities for data exploration, analysis, and new discovery.

Innovation achieved

Vibrant Content Portal

The LSST EPO content portal provides a launching point for the EPO’s many audiences to explore the core areas of astronomical research enabled by LSST.

The portal provides nightly updates to LSST’s ongoing operation, accessible resources and activities for educators, supported access to LSST data through science notebooks and API information, and media collections for use by planetariums and science centers.

Innovation achieved

Astronomy on the Go!

Mobile and tablet form factors are a critical aspect of ensuring youth and the general public can access and enjoy LSST data and discoveries in their free time.

LSST EPO content is crafted specifically for the mobile experience, enabling people to have a quick Astrosnack of information, or delve more deeply into the newly discovered wonders of The Universe.

Innovation achieved

Content & Community to Engage

Connecting not only with the science but with the actual scientists and engineers of LSST is an important part of the education and public outreach experience.

The ability to learn about astronomers provides a guide for youth to connect with future careers and helps the general public scaffold their knowledge of astronomy with interpersonal connection and human interest.

Innovation achieved

Data Access & Exploration with Jupyter Science Notebooks

Modern Big Data technologies are expanding and accelerating the opportunities for scientific discovery in the field of Astronomy.

The creation of Jupyter science notebooks and related resources for LSST’s education and public outreach program enables teachers, students, amateur astronomers, data scientists, and others to easily access, explore, analyze, and make new discoveries from LSST data.

Innovation achieved

Accessible Data Visualizations

Prepared to utilize high resolution images captured by LSST, the Skyviewer enables educators and classrooms, citizen scientists, amateur astronomers, and data scientists to easily explore LSST data and learn more about observational and time-domain astronomy.

The Skyviewer provides a tangible gateway into LSST’s nightly observations, providing opportunities for data exploration, analysis, and new discovery.

Innovation achieved

Vibrant Content Portal

The LSST EPO content portal provides a launching point for the EPO’s many audiences to explore the core areas of astronomical research enabled by LSST.

The portal provides nightly updates to LSST’s ongoing operation, accessible resources and activities for educators, supported access to LSST data through science notebooks and API information, and media collections for use by planetariums and science centers.

Innovation achieved

Astronomy on the Go!

Mobile and tablet form factors are a critical aspect of ensuring youth and the general public can access and enjoy LSST data and discoveries in their free time.

LSST EPO content is crafted specifically for the mobile experience, enabling people to have a quick Astrosnack of information, or delve more deeply into the newly discovered wonders of The Universe.

Innovation achieved

Content & Community to Engage

Connecting not only with the science but with the actual scientists and engineers of LSST is an important part of the education and public outreach experience.

The ability to learn about astronomers provides a guide for youth to connect with future careers and helps the general public scaffold their knowledge of astronomy with interpersonal connection and human interest.

Innovation achieved

Data Access & Exploration with Jupyter Science Notebooks

Modern Big Data technologies are expanding and accelerating the opportunities for scientific discovery in the field of Astronomy.

The creation of Jupyter science notebooks and related resources for LSST’s education and public outreach program enables teachers, students, amateur astronomers, data scientists, and others to easily access, explore, analyze, and make new discoveries from LSST data.

Transportation

Daimler-RideScout

We uncovered the real challenges car-free millenials encounter while navigating their cities: weather, budgets, timing. Our insight-driven design enables people to always find the best transportation option for their situation. Ridescout is now part of Moovel by Daimler.

Retail

RetailMeNot

During RetailMeNot’s explosive growth in 2013-2015, we partnered to create native mobile apps and mobile web experiences resulting in a 300% growth in annual revenue, 18 million users, and 5 star ratings for both their iOS and Android apps.

Health

Johns Hopkins

Through research and innovation practices we created a digital tool for health providers in rural areas to capture symptoms of obstructed labor early enough to save mothers’ and babies’ lives.

IoT Restaurants

SteadyServ

SteadyServ needed great software to realize the market potential of their great hardware. Through UX research and strategic design we created a product with a 98% retention rate that is now used by Coors, Anheuser-Busch, TGI Fridays, and Applebees.

Connected Home

Honeywell

Working across Honeywell’s multiple hardware and software platforms we synthesized existing designs, explored new approaches, and established cross-platform UI patterns. Honeywell’s home automation system was voted TIME readers’ favorite gadget at CES 2015.

Finance

Backbase

Our long partnership with Backbase creating innovative retail, business and personal financial solutions has led to 3 ‘Best in Show’ awards at Finovate Europe.

Let’s work together

Let's work together

Contact us