Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Latent Scope: Finding structure in unstructured data

Gold
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 • Designing with AI 2025

This video is featured in the Designing with AI 2025 playlist and 1 more.

Share the love for this talk
Latent Scope: Finding structure in unstructured data
Speakers: Ian Johnson
Link:

Summary

As a data visualization designer and developer the challenge I often face is what to do with unstructured data. One case study I can show is exploring survey results where the multiple-choice questions are straightforward to analyze but interesting open-ended questions like “What do your colleagues not understand about data visualization?” are much harder to crack. Latent Scope is an open-source tool I built that streamlines a process of embedding text, mapping it to 2D, clustering the data points on the map and summarizing those clusters with an LLM. Once the process is done on a dataset structure emerges from the unstructured text, allowing us to get a sense of patterns in the survey answers. Themes like “the time it takes” to develop data visualization pop out, as do “the importance of good design.” While people don’t use the same language to describe these themes, they show up as clusters in the tool thanks to the power of embedding models. https://github.com/enjalot/latent-scope

Key Insights

  • AI embeddings transform unstructured data like text or sketches into high-dimensional vectors capturing hidden semantic patterns.

  • Dimensionality reduction algorithms map these high-dimensional embeddings into 2D clusters, making patterns visually accessible.

  • Free text survey responses, often too large to analyze manually, can be organized and explored effectively through embedding and clustering.

  • Google Cloud user journey data revealed surprising usage patterns, like enterprise and beginner tools being combined unexpectedly.

  • Simple rule-based filters for harmful prompts in generative AI image models can be bypassed by subtle prompt variations; embedding-based classifiers are more effective.

  • Latent Scope is an open source tool enabling non-technical users to embed, cluster, label, and visualize unstructured text data locally.

  • Local runs of embedding and clustering models on modest hardware are practical, preserving data privacy and sensitive user information.

  • Embedding models trained on multilingual data can cluster semantically similar texts across diverse languages in one shared space.

  • Breaking long text into smaller chunks can make embeddings more manageable and improve similarity comparisons.

  • Hands-on exploration of embedding models via platforms like Hugging Face helps users internalize concepts of semantic similarity and pattern discovery.

Notable Quotes

"People just don't get that the design and the process is fundamental."

"Similar inputs will produce similar high dimensional numbers."

"Dimensionality reduction algorithms take data points in high dimensional space and put them close together in 2D if they're similar."

"We found patterns that product teams didn’t expect or even want to look for."

"Simple word-list based filters can easily be tricked by misspellings or slight variations in prompts."

"What if you didn’t know there were important questions you should be asking in your data?"

"Latent Scope lets you quickly explore hundreds or thousands of free text responses to find clusters and patterns."

"You don’t need special hardware; these open source models can run locally on an M1 MacBook or a gaming machine."

"Multilingual embedding models can cluster similar meanings across languages in a shared latent space."

"Downloading and playing with local open source models gives a different experience than using faceless APIs mediated through interfaces."

Ask the Rosenbot
Ellen Chisa
The Values of Design
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Taylor Klassman
The Evolution of UX Research Platforms
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Conference
Megan Campos
What Did I Miss? The Hidden Costs of Deprioritizing Diversity in User Research
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Cassandra Piester
Developing and Deploying Your Design Operations Strategy
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Sarah Brooks
Theme 3 Intro
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Taylor Jennings
Research Debate Club
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Conference
Bethany Brown
Rewiring operations with service design and AI
2025 • Advancing Service Design 2025
Gold
Mike Brzozowski
UX in everyday products: Empowering climate conscious choices
2024 • Climate UX Interest Group
Ignacio Martinez
Fair and Effective Designer Evaluation
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Tutti Taygerly
Make Space to Lead
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Roberta Dombrowski
Making Research a Team Sport
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Natalia Radywyl
Co-Designing New Power in Australia's Public Sector
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Alexia Cohen
Increasing Health Equity and Improving the Service Experience for Under-Served Latine Communities in Arizona
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Kara Kane
Theme One Intro
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Jules Monza
Use These Words and Count These Things
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold

More Videos

Jon Fukuda

"Without a human in the loop, AI can go off and do crazy disastrous things."

Jon Fukuda Amy Evans Ignacio Martinez Joe Meersman

The Big Question about Innovation: A Panel Discussion

September 25, 2024

Sam Proulx

"We move beyond checklist thinking to focus on real needs of real people."

Sam Proulx

Accessibility: An Opportunity to Innovate

March 9, 2022

Anna Avrekh

"Requesting glossy portfolios up front risks excluding candidates with strong problem-solving skills who may not have had opportunities to showcase visual design."

Anna Avrekh Amy Jiménez Márquez Morgan C. Ramsey Catarina Tsang

Diversity In and For Design: Building Conscious Diversity in Design and Research

June 9, 2021

Greg Nudelman

"Hands-free control with bots is critical to avoid dangerous distractions, like driving."

Greg Nudelman

Designing Conversational Interfaces

November 14, 2019

George Abraham

"Our tool is not partial to Sketch — we support Adobe XD and will soon support Figma, enabling flexible integration in design workflows."

George Abraham Stefan Ivanov

Design Systems To-Go: Reimagining Developer Handoff, and Introducing App Builder (Part 2)

October 1, 2021

Shipra Kayan

"I promise chief design evangelism is not religious."

Shipra Kayan

Make your research synthesis speedy and more collaborative using a canvas

January 24, 2025

Sam Proulx

"The experience of using a screen reader is probably 10 times faster as you become more expert with it."

Sam Proulx

Designing For Screen Readers: Understanding the Mental Models and Techniques of Real Users

December 10, 2021

Shipra Kayan

"VOC wasn’t a replacement for user research, but an enhancer that captured nuggets researchers might miss during discovery."

Shipra Kayan

How we Built a VoC (Voice of the Customer) Practice at Upwork from the Ground Up

September 30, 2021

Dane DeSutter

"You don’t need special software to get started analyzing gestures and embodied actions; you just need video and a notepad."

Dane DeSutter

Keeping the Body in Mind: What Gestures and Embodied Actions Tell You That Users May Not

March 26, 2024