Designing for a Product That Did Not Exist (Yet)
In 2014, I designed and developed a site for a satellite product company. The scope of design applied to all aspects of the project: from brand to layout, interaction to content.
The biggest challenge of the project was to convey the potential product that was then non-existent: an API that would allow users to search satellite images with parameters such as image resolution or cloud coverage.
Through our early meetings, I identified a few problems awaiting to be solved:
- Sell a product to both developers and non-developers.
- Present said product that was not only technical, but fictional (for the time being).
- Do so with grace and integrity.
Mocking up the API — and presenting it in meaningful visual ways — took more rounds of communication with the client. Our discussions focused on defining a clearer scope of what the product would actually entail. We arrived at the conclusion that a hybrid (interactive) graphic would tell the whole story, as I reasoned in one of our design memos:
The site eventually featured sample API queries along with interfaces (such as toggles and slides) of satellite imageries (both CC-licensed photography from NASA and hosted maps from MapBox) that illustrated the would-be results of these queries.
Since its conception, the company has changed its name and brand aesthetics. They now have a real API, a graphic interface for satellite image search (bravo!), and a more streamlined product delivery.
Some interactivities from my original design remain on their current site. I choose to not link to it since so much has changed and this post is more about the initial process. If you are interested in my work onthis project, feel free to email me for details.
