Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to conference ticket holders.

Log in Create account

For 90 days after a conference, only paid ticket holders can watch conference videos. After that, all Gold members have access.

Contact Support if you are having any issues.

Latent Scope: Finding structure in unstructured data
Conference ticket
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 • Designing with AI 2025

This video is featured in the AI and UX playlist.

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."

Jack Behar
How to Build Prototypes that Behave like an End-Product
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Farid Sabitov
Automatization for Large Enterprise Teams
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Collaboration: learning from other fields beyond our own [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
2024 • Advancing Research Community
Sara Asche Anderson
Not Your Ordinary Re-Brand: Design's Path to Driving Customer Obsession at Best Buy
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Joel Branch
Humanizing AI: Filling the Gaps with Multi-faceted Research
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Dave Hoffer
UX Job Search AMA #2 with Joanne Weaver and Dave Hoffer
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Scott Plewes
Why Isn't Your UX Approach Going Viral?: A Mathematical Model
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Prayag Narula
HCI 2.0: Humanity Deserves the Attention that UX Research has to Offer
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Peter Morville
The Architecture of Understanding
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Emily Danielson
“I mean, I can lift a shovel”: Design Skills in Disaster Response
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Leah Buley
Closing Plenary: The Crisis of Digital
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Uday Gajendar
Day 1 Welcome
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
James Rampton
The Basics of Automotive UX & Why Phones Are a Part of That Future
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Lada Gorlenko
Theme 1: Intro
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Maria Giudice
Remaking the Making Company: Moving from Product to Experience
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Brianna Sylver
Lead With Purpose
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold

More Videos

John Calhoun

"If nobody owns the onboarding experience, it likely won’t get done or get the energy it deserves."

John Calhoun Rachel Posman

Two Sides of the DesignOps Coin: Teams Ops and Product Ops

January 8, 2024

Laura Gatewood

"Social pain affects the nervous system in the exact same way as physical pain."

Laura Gatewood Laine Prokay

Beyond Buzzwords: Adding Heart to Effective Slack Communication

September 23, 2024

Erin Weigel

"Guardrail metrics help catch unintended consequences like increased customer service calls despite higher conversions."

Erin Weigel

UX Lessons from running more than 1,200 A/B Tests

July 10, 2024

Susan Simon-Daniels

"The fundamental things do apply as time goes by."

Susan Simon-Daniels

War Stories LIVE! Susan Simon-Daniels

March 30, 2020

Noreen Whysel

"Doing design right early, just like failing early, helps to prevent time-consuming mistakes."

Noreen Whysel Katie Saindon

Short Take #4: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers

December 6, 2022

Jorge Arango

"Tools like Obsidian and Notion are hypertext-native and make linking a first-class feature, fulfilling visions from the 1960s."

Jorge Arango

Exploding the Notebook: How to Unlock the Power of Linked Notes (2nd of 3 seminars)

April 19, 2024

Lisa Welchman

"Digital governance is about who’s supposed to make the decision, not what the decision is."

Lisa Welchman

Cleaning Up Our Mess: Digital Governance for Designers

June 14, 2018

Zariah Cameron

"Lived experiences like poverty or homelessness bring a richer, deeper lens than a textbook study ever could."

Zariah Cameron

Streamlining an Inclusive Design Practice

October 3, 2023

Louis Rosenfeld

"Collaboration with peers and speaker coaches creates better content and stronger relationships beyond the conference."

Louis Rosenfeld Jemma Ahmed Christian Crumlish Uday Gajendar Chris Geison

Coffee with Lou #3: What Makes for a Successful UX Conference Presentation?

May 2, 2024