IBM Data Science Experience
(now called Watson Studio)
Data Science Experience (DSX) is a cloud-based, innovative, end-to-end experience enabling data scientists to learn, create, and collaborate across multidisciplinary teams. Aimed to make data simple and accessible, it merges a powerful set of tools with an online community for data scientists. DSX was the foundation of IBM’s current data science & AI businesses.
DSX exists because David Townsend (who led Design for the Analytics division) and David Schultz (who led IBM’s California studios) saw an opportunity to solve IBM’s problem with breaking into the data science market. The idea came from building a deep understanding of the target personas from our user research, and creating a clear vision for an offering that aligned with user needs. Once we shared our vision with leadership, they dropped the ongoing program and assigned development resources to our concept.
IBM DSX. All designs by the IBM San Francisco design studio under the direction of David Schultz
Community for Data Scientists, unique in the industry
Persona data, we used this to drive our product vision. This was generated from User Research from all of the IBM Analytics Design Studios
Slide from our original pitch deck, created and presented by David Schultz
Storyboards used to explain the user value
Community plus data science tools in one place
Embedded data science tools
Immediate access to data
The DSX "war room" on a Friday evening, this is David's San Francisco IBM Design team working with an IBM Data Scientist
DSX launch event with our Product partner (Armand Ruiz) using the video (below)
Video used to launch DSX, created by our Design team under the direction of David Schultz
As any student of design history will tell you, IBM has a rich design legacy, dating back to the days of Eliot Noyes, Paul Rand, Charles & Ray Eames and Isamu Noguchi. IBM made a major push to regain its leadership in design with the creation of IBM Design in 2012. In the following years, IBM hired well over one thousand designers, and set up studios in 41 locations worldwide. The studio we founded in the heart of San Francisco was focused on data science, with the goal of making data simple and accessible for anyone to use to make better decisions. Surprisingly, DSX was the first winner of the prestigious Red Dot design award in IBM’s storied history.