Moi Helsinki. Personalised user interface solutions for generative data

Abstract

In the modern days, online search stands out as the most popular way to access a major amount of information. At the same time, browsing through too much data could lead to an information overload. Helping users to feel more individual, as well as appropriately navigating them through the data is an objective designers should raise.

In the theoretical background of this work, I bring attention to techniques that allow one to work with generative data and its contextualisation. I study historical and philosophical aspects of information perception, as well as the modern experience of working with online search engines such as Google.

I refer to information architecture principles that can adapt user interface designs to generative content. In the age of big data and information pollution, a designer’s objective could be employing technology to make data more human-centred.

Along with the theoretical writing, this thesis also consists of project work. Moi Helsinki is a location-based event calendar for the Helsinki area. The calendar gathers information about events retrieved from social media API, and showcases aggregated data in a single feed. Moi Helsinki reshapes the data output with the help of interface personalisation, showing the most relevant results at the top. It employs a user’s current geographical location in order to tailor search results based on proximity for each visitor. The options provided to website visitors within the UI are extended with further customisation, which can be enabled by adjusting the data output beyond just a user’s location.

Setting aside certain distinctive features of event calendars, Moi Helsinki chooses another path to explore. Being more of a mediator than proprietor, Moi Helsinki offers a new way to reshape the data and communicate human-centred values through user interface.