the tableau community
TABLEAU ART DIRECTION, VISUAL DESIGN, WEB DESIGN • 2021
A new identity and web experience to celebrate the Tableau Community
The Tableau mission statement reads "we help people see and understand data" – the keyword there is people. Behind all the flashy data visualizations are thousands of passionate users who come together to create the amazing Tableau Community. These are the Tableau experts and enthusiasts. They are our DataFam. Collaborating across marketing teams, I developed a new visual identity that put the people at the center of the brand and helped launch a web experience that lets the community connect, learn, and find inspiration.
Design Objectives
A huge part of Tableau's success has been its ability to cultivate a vibrant user base – we call them the Tableau Community. They are the ones who create jaw-dropping visualizations, inspire new product features, and connect with other data enthusiasts around the world. However, there was a gap in how we shared the story about how much this community elevates our brand. The Tableau Community needed an identity. And more importantly, a dedicated web experience designed just for them.
Design a brand new look and logo for the Tableau Community.
Redesign the current community webpage into an entire community web experience connecting the people and programs.
The new branding is meant to be an extension of the Tableau brand, with a focus on people instead of our product.
Improve the user experience and consistency in components across the community website.
Creating the identity
CONNECTION TO THE CORPORATE BRAND
Leveraging the redesigned Tableau brand system, I combined elements of our color palette, typefaces, and iconography to create a new look and logo for the Tableau Community. This identity is meant to feel like it is an extension of the Tableau ecosystem, and is designed to be adaptable and scalable encompassing the many people, projects, and programs that make up the community.
Building the experience
CREATING A CONSISTENT COMMUNITY USER EXPERIENCE
While working to establish the right visual language for the community audience, we were also working hard to refine the way we connected with those same users across a disjointed web experience. The result was the recently launched "Community Hub" which is a launchpad for the numerous community-centric programs across Tableau. This new hub focuses on telling the story of the Tableau Community, allowing new users to find interesting information fast, and displaying relevant content that is up-to-date.
The core audiences
NEW USERS
The Tableau Community is an amazing group of people and instantly welcoming, but it can be intimidating to know how to get started. By intentionally surfacing all the different activities, programs, and events in the web design, these new users can find what resonates with them and begin their data journey.
EXISTING MEMBERS
These are the thousands of people that already "get" what the Tableau Community is all about. They have been to a Tableau Conference before. They're a part of the #datafam. They are the people who want to read all the blog posts, learn new skills, connect with others, and explore the amazing work being done by their peers.
DRAG THE SLIDER TO SEE THE BEFORE & AFTER
Creating new components
One of the main goals of this redesign was to ensure consistency across the entire community web experience. These pages are not meant for selling software, they are meant for learning and engaging. To solve this, I created a new visual style for our web components, which you can see examples of below. Using this new component library I worked hand-in-hand with the developers to deliver a cohesive user experience across all 16 community webpages.
Components built to scale
A key part of this project was to create a design system that scales across all the Tableau Community webpages – making sure users felt the cohesive experience and always offering ways to learn more and take action. This includes refining the component library for our website, introducing a new typography hierarchy, and creating modules that are easily repeatable with a consistent layout.
Bringing it all together
SHOWCASING THE VIBRANT COMMUNITY
The final result of this project was a new community logo and identity, a reimagined community homepage, and 16 supporting webpages, and plenty of social graphics to launch this new look. The system is built to scale across all the various community programs, global audiences, and work with an array of people-centric visuals. With this new brand, we have a way to showcase this rockstar community that is as fun, energetic, and inspiring as they are.
The Tableau Community is the most welcoming, insightful, respectful group I've ever met.
SEDALE McCALL, DATA ANALYST
Lessons Learned
LISTEN TO CORE AUDIENCE
When designing for a specific audience, seek their feedback and test the experience with them to see where there are opportunities to improve. They always have really insightful feedback.
SHOW & TELL
This project highlighted the importance of storytelling - internally the Tableau Community is something everyone we know and love, but externally we needed a way to show and tell this story to a wider audience.
© 2021 Matt Knorr. All Rights Reserved.