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
The Problem
During the early stages of our problem discovery phase at BroadHacks2024, we surveyed researchers and found that many wanted to share updates about their latest work but struggled to do so due to limited time and the cumbersome nature of existing processes.
The Solution
We created Broad Institute Atlas, a lightweight tool to help researchers quickly share progress. After winning a hackathon, our design manager saw its potential to solve similar issues in Terra, where external collaborators wanted easier access to research updates within workspaces.
It All Started From a Hackathon…
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.
Curation & Control
Create Activities
The 'Create Activities' feature embodies Curation & Control, allowing users to host any activity, set an activity type filter, and selectively invite specific people during the creation process.
Easy Middle Man: Momentos Feature V1: Journal-Style
Initially, the Momentos feature was a simple journal for users to log reflections. However, this approach conflicted with the ‘Easy Middle Man’ vision by keeping users overly engaged with the app.
Momentos Feature V2: Short Video Sharing-Style
I pivoted to a video-based experience inspired by TikTok. This would better allow users to see how others are experiencing enjoying activities and to be inspired to do the same. So users are not kept endlessly engaged, but instead motivates them to go out and create their own Momentos.
Request to Join Feature
"Originally, the app had like and comment buttons, but they encouraged passive engagement.
Replacing them with ‘Request to Join’ made interactions more spontaneous and fun, motivating users to actively participate rather than just scroll.
Free & Funky Onboarding Illustrations
Creating Momentos
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.
Branding
Full Prototype
Next Steps
User Testing & Feedback Loop
Going forward with these iterations I would like to usability test with engineers especially when comes to features like ‘Request to Join’ since it’s so different then the common ‘Like’ button.
Exploring lightweight interaction features
I plan to further develop the goal-setting aspect. At the end of the onboarding, I included example goal concepts to encourage users to engage in activities and create Momentos.
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.