FADAMA 2.0

UX/UI

Desktop

Fall 2024-Present

Design by Jackson Vaughan and Fangyu Zhou

Development by Matt Berry, Runzhao Hu, Louis Qian, and Chenxin Wang

FADAMA 1.0 is a free, community-driven database designed to document forensic anthropology methods and their outcomes. By providing a centralized, searchable repository of anonymized case data, it supports methods development, accuracy assessment, and standardization across the field. As the first collective resource of its kind, FADAMA helps practitioners, researchers, and students to share data and advance the discipline through education and research.

FADAMA 2.0 aims to improve usability across the board with a full UIX overhaul while also serving as a capable online case management tool for scientists. I joined the team to replace the UX designer on this phase roughly halfway through the process.

Context

Problem Space

The Next Generation

FADAMA 1.0, while functional, suffers from significant design and usability issues. The interface was clunky, with poorly designed method input fields that often displayed awkwardly, reducing overall flow. Additionally, it lacked a robust case creation tool to support a limited scope of standard forensic anthropology analysis—key components like case photos, bench notes, intake information, and final reports were missing. FADAMA 2.0 seeks to address these shortcomings with a complete redesign and the introduction of a comprehensive case creation and management system. By making it easier for users to contribute anonymized cases, the database can grow into a more powerful resource, improving the accuracy of method assessments for Sex, Age, Ancestry, and Stature as definitive identifications are linked to existing cases.

Intervention

My Responsibilities

As a designer who stepped in part-way through the project, I’ve been refining nearly every workflow within the software. However, my most significant impact has been on two specific flows so far:

Method Creation

The process by which administrators build new methods to publicly display for FADAMA users. Notable because there is not an easy way to migrate methods from the old FADAMA to the new, so an emphasis on ease of use in creating methods manually is key.

Open Access Database

How users can interact with and download subsets of FADAMA’s database

Benchmarks

Online coding environments

CodePen, Online Python

When designing the method builder tool for FADAMA, I looked to split-screen code editing environments for their ability to let users edit and preview changes side by side. These setups make it easy to see the impact of adjustments in real time, which felt like the perfect model for a tool where users need to add fields and customize their collections of options while keeping an eye on how the final visual outcome will look.

Library Search Tools

University of Illinois Library Search Engine

For the Open Access Database search tool, I referenced complex library search tools such as the U of I Library that use AND and OR operators to handle nuanced queries. Every case in the database comes with a wide range of variables—such as estimation type, demographic data, and time of creation—and it was important to give users the ability to define their searches with precision. By incorporating a similar logic, the tool would allow users to build highly specific query sets, ensuring they can efficiently filter and retrieve exactly the data they need.

Process + Iteration

Method Builder

The method builder creates a fast feedback loop between edits made to a method’s composition and what the final product looks like. This is especially important in a context where the administrators are not used to a complex field editor in general: making the emphasis on the final product will naturally help builders tweak their method to get it to look exact how they want it to with less time wasted.

Open Access Database Search

The Open Access Database Search tool visually maps the relationships between different pieces of logic. The tool is organized into four large category cards, each containing smaller modules. Both the modules and the cards can be assigned operators (AND, OR, NONE) to define how each variable interacts with the others, giving admins precise control over how their search queries are constructed.

The panel on the left serves as a way to condense information about what the user has selected, making it easier to go down the list to understand what kind of search query is in use.

Upgrading Forensic Anthropology's Preeminent Online Database