Establishing trust in the Open Source Observatory
The China Open Source Observatory is the flagship product of Rush Doshi’s China Strategy Initiative. It is the largest archive of Chinese-language material translated and made publicly available. In this project, we aimed to set the foundation of OSO’s MVP.
Timeline
3 months
Team
Managing Director, 1 PM, 1jr designer, 2 engineers, 2 stakeholders
Role
Lead Designer
Methods
Google Sheets, Competitive Analysis, Visual Design, Prototyping
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Business: Automate the process of building this library
User: Finding accurately translated Chinese material
Defining the problem: How might we establish OSO as a trusted source for translated Chinese-language material?
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Provide search, topic pages, and tags to structure an ecosystem of the content
Partner with Anthropic to translate PDFs and create datasets to utilize with features
Implement a user tier system to allow different levels of access to library documents
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Communicate OSO’s value proposition
With the product launch, we wanted to highlight key offerings that go beyond just the AI language translations
Increase operational efficiency
Given the 10k+ PDFs their team had to both upload and translate, they needed an effective process
Increase content relevancy
Different types of users needed more or less access to the library
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Knowledge gap
Without a strong understanding of AI, it took some time to comprehend the importance of matching features to the datasetTight timeline
Delivering a high quality, meaningful experience under a tight timeline with a completely new engineering team
Further Context
Working dataset
Competitive analysis of similar use cases
Early Ideations
With direction clear, we experimented with various component layout options to create a look and feel that was inviting yet trustworthy and to set the tone for the platform. The goal was to establish a design language that felt approachable, modern, and intentional.
Final Designs
After trial, error, and many revisions, I delivered a product that struck the right balance between constraints and creativity. To improve our brand and product perception, we ensured a seamless experience that aligned with the brand’s educational and trustworthy feel.
