The brief.
Annotation, management and more.
Black Sesame Technologies is an artificial intelligence company focused on image processing and visual perception algorithms. Their engineers need hundreds of thousands of images that are annotated with detailed information to train their models.
The task forces responsible for annotating images, internal labeling teams and outsourced labelers, have been asking for a platform that encompasses the entire annotation process. At the same time, in order for management to track the cost efficiency of each contracted company, workers must record their daily work time.
The labeling task force, which includes users with drastically different responsibilities, needs to maintain a seamless and productive workflow, all while accurately recording their work time.
Challenges and constraints
The biggest challenge I faced in this project was the language barrier. Both the team working on this platform and the users of the tool were located in China, and did not speak English.
Between the asynchronous communication due to time difference, and the difficulties communicating with the China-based team, gathering information and receiving feedback felt like an insurmountable wall at the start of the project.
With the help of a US-based teammate who acted as a translator, I persevered, learned to read a few Chinese words, and successfully drove the platform's design in a better direction.
The story so far...
Although the project had a bumpy beginning, I redesigned the workflow of the primary persona, the labeling worker, by balancing business requirements and user needs.
After building, revising, and translating a greyscale prototype, I usability tested with several labeling workers, and iterated on the design based on their feedback.
Currently, I have prepared a high-fidelity prototype for usability testing, as well as additional research for the platform's secondary personas, the managers and reviewers. However, due to urgent project deadlines, participants are not available.
This case study will be updated when the project proceeds.
