Broad Institute Terra Atlas
Project Overview
Terra Atlas began as a hackathon project to address researchers’ frustration with limited time to share their work. After conducting pre-hackathon surveys, we designed a simplified, repository-like tool to streamline research sharing. The project won first place and later evolved into a core feature of Terra, a genomic research platform by the Broad Institute’s Data Science Platform .
During my internship, I worked on integrating our project into Terra's Sharing Workspace to solve broader challenges, allowing researchers, funders, and external collaborators to view research updates more easily, despite the previously complex process.
Roles:
UX Designer
Team:
Just Me
Timeline:
2 Months
Tools:
Figma
It All Started From a Hackathon…
The opportunity arose when I noticed a flyer for a hackathon. The challenge felt like a great chance to learn and contribute. Even though it wasn’t part of my internship, my manager said hop on that opportunity, sparked what would later become Terra Atlas.
24 Hours Full of Prototype Grinding!
Social Media Interface: Utilizing what we’re familiar with. Allowing Broadies to interact through liking, commenting and downloading.
An Opportunity for Research: utlized d opened source pre-published results. Interact with the post through liking, commeting and downloading
Searching: Making discovering research much eaiser through by looking up genes, methods, datasets and hashtags
Esztablishing an Opporn Research: utlized d opened source pre-published results. Interact with the post through liking, commeting and downloading
Validated Concept (Figma Mockup Version):
Most of the 24 hours were dedicated to building out the HTML prototype, with a strong focus on prioritizing the core features we wanted to showcase.
Once the backend was in place, I had some time to design an ideal version of the frontend in Figma, presenting what Atlas could look like if we had more development time, giving judges a clearer vision of the project's full potential.
If researchers want to share workspace progress to outside affiliates, they often have to grant access to the full workspace.
These users typically just want an overview:
- Quick Project Summary ✅
- Recent Updates ✅
- Workspace Owners Tags ✅
- Notification preferences ✅
Example of a Terra Workspace With Too Much Information For Outside Viewers.
Current Challenges
Where Would The New Atlas Summary Feature Into Terra?
The opportunity arose when I noticed a flyer for a hackathon. The challenge caught my attention—it felt like a great chance to learn and contribute. Even though it wasn’t part of my internship, I asked my manager if I could join. He said yes, and that decision sparked what would later become Terra Atlas.
Before
Adding a 2nd Option in The Share Modal: Workspace Summaries
(Mid Fidelity Wireframe)
What Could The Prototype Solve for Terra Workspaces?
Where Would The New Atlas Summary Feature Into Terra?
The opportunity arose when I noticed a flyer for a hackathon. The challenge caught my attention—it felt like a great chance to learn and contribute. Even though it wasn’t part of my internship, I asked my manager if I could join. He said yes, and that decision sparked what would later become Terra Atlas.
Now
Full Flow: From Uploading to Viewing Research
Uploading Research From The Original Atlas Can Be Daunting!
Keeping The Visual Consistency of Terra
Creating a Momento embraces the funky and free spirit by giving users a short timer—like BeReal—to snap a photo or record a quick video of their activity. With no filters, it encourages authenticity, letting users capture real moments without the pressure of perfection.
Following a Corresponding Flow
Creating a Momento embraces the funky and free spirit by giving users a short timer—like BeReal—to snap a photo or record a quick video of their activity. With no filters, it encourages authenticity, letting users capture real moments without the pressure of perfection.
Following a Corresponding Flow
Creating a Momento embraces the funky and free spirit by giving users a short timer—like BeReal—to snap a photo or record a quick video of their activity. With no filters, it encourages authenticity, letting users capture real moments without the pressure of perfection.
A Reality Check! Company Layoffs…
As I continued designing and refining the Terra Research Atlas feature, our team received difficult news: Broad Institute’s Data Sciences Platform, which our small design team Terra operates under — would undergo major downsizing to meet long term strategic goals.
Despite gaining early validation and being added to the design roadmap, the project was paused before engineering could bring it to life. Still, this experience reinforced how user-centered design, even in a fast-paced hackathon setting, can spark meaningful solutions that resonate across an organization.
Full Prototype
Learnings
Make Things Connect
I used this project to prioritize and highlight my interaction and visual design skills. I focused on ensuring that design choices and components weren’t isolated. For example, in later versions, Momentos and Activities work together—users can share what they’re doing, and others can join directly from the Momento feed, not just the Activity feed.