Rosenverse
Latent Scope: Finding structure in unstructured data

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 AI and UX 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
Ryan Matthew
DesignOps without Boundaries: Building More with What You Have
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Ellen Chisa
The Values of Design
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Adrian Howard
Sturgeon’s Biases
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
How to Identify and Increase your "Experience Quotient"
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Billy Carlson
Tips to Utilize Wireframes to Tell an Effective Product Story
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Sam Proulx
Mobile Accessibility and You
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Satyam Kantamneni
Do You Have an Experience Vision?
2023 • Enterprise Community
Jemma Ahmed
Research at an inflection point: Adapting to a new era of collaboration, equity, and innovation
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Meghan Bausone
Systems Thinking and Design Innovation: Working with Leverage Points in Rural Maternal Health Systems
2026 • Rosenfeld Community
Bria Alexander
Day 1 Panel: Up to the Minute: The latest in AI’s impact on UX
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Theresa Slate
Why Changing Hearts & Minds Doesn’t Work When Promoting DE&I Efforts, but Checklists Do
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Peter Levin
Solve a Problem Here, Transform a Strategy There: Research as an Occasion for Expanding Organizational Possibility
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Samuel Proulx
Designing for Disability, Innovating for Everyone
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Jodi Forlizzi
Design and AI innovation
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
PJ Buddhari
Meet Spectrum, Adobe’s Design System
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Iain McMaster
Design and Product: from Frenemy to Harmony
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold

More Videos

Bas Raijmakers, PhD (RCA)

"Contextualizing sound bites or clips is crucial; otherwise, they risk losing meaning when separated from their original story."

Bas Raijmakers, PhD (RCA) Charley Scull Prabhas Pokharel

What Design Research can Learn from Documentary Filmmaking

March 11, 2022

Tamara Kartoziia

"The focus isn’t on head to head competition, but on specialization and differentiation in the Italian market."

Tamara Kartoziia

Think global, adapt local: how service design accelerated B2B market entry by 6 months

November 20, 2025

Anupama Dhareshwar

"AI models hallucinate when they fail, they fail unpredictably."

Anupama Dhareshwar

From blueprint to bot: Designing resilient AI-powered services

November 19, 2025

Yulya Besplemennova

"AI can help manage cognitive overload and speed up work when you have short timeframes and no team."

Yulya Besplemennova

[Demo] Stress-testing GenAI in user research synthesis

June 4, 2024

Giff Constable

"Finance is the common language that all domains can speak, especially critical if you want a seat at the executive table."

Giff Constable

Financial fluency for product leaders: AMA with Giff Constable

April 11, 2024

Catherine Dubut

"We could impact the end-to-end customer service and customer experience through our most underutilized asset: our store employees."

Catherine Dubut

Bridging Physical and Digital Spaces: Approaches to Retail Service Design

March 18, 2021

Yolanda Rankin

"Technology can be used for harm, like facial recognition systems misidentifying people of color as criminals."

Yolanda Rankin

Black Feminist Epistemology as a Critical Framework for Equitable Design

March 11, 2021

Brigette Metzler

"Research repositories and libraries are social things — many teams look for best practices beyond just building a library."

Brigette Metzler Dana Chrisfield

Research Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community

August 27, 2020

Ryan Matthew

"Batch edits allow updating multiple variables at once and moving them between design systems without losing their connection to the foundation file."

Ryan Matthew Alex Kurchev

DesignOps without Boundaries: Building More with What You Have

September 10, 2025