Manta AI's Data Intelligence Tool

At Manta AI I led design for a complex data intelligence platform that helps teams understand how their data moves, transforms, and connects. The product brings clarity to large and fragmented data ecosystems, giving operators real visibility into pipelines, dependencies, and risks. My role was to shape the product vision, build a cohesive design system, and work closely with engineering to ship fast in a high-stakes, high-complexity environment. The tool is used by data teams, analysts, and engineering leaders who manage sensitive information and massive workflows. My goal was to make the experience feel clean, intuitive, and calm even when the underlying systems are chaotic. Every screen needed to balance power with clarity, and every interaction had to respect the technical depth of the user. — Customer problem Data teams struggle to understand where data comes from, how it transforms, and what breaks when something changes. Existing tools are either too technical, too fragmented, or too slow. Leaders often rely on outdated dashboards or manual documents to track dependencies across pipelines. — Business problem The company needed a platform that positioned Manta as the single source of truth for data lineage. It had to solve deep technical problems while offering a modern interface that could scale across industries. The product needed to communicate trust and sophistication while maintaining speed across the entire workflow. — Goal Build an end-to-end experience that simplifies the complex world of data lineage and metadata intelligence. Present deep insights in a way that feels approachable. Reduce noise. Provide visibility. Offer a clean and consistent interface that lets users focus on the most important information. — Understand I partnered directly with the CTO and engineering teams to understand problems from the inside. I reviewed real customer pipelines, internal tooling, and industry workflows. I mapped how data moves through organizations and identified moments where operators feel stuck or overwhelmed. I also explored competing products. Most were cramped with visual noise, lacked hierarchy, and made simple actions harder than they should be. This helped me define a direction that felt fresh: calm layouts, clear spacing, clean typography, and screens that breathe. — Define We needed a design system that could support fast iteration. Something flexible enough to handle highly technical workflows while staying consistent across the platform. I created a component library that included navigation, tables, graphs, action bars, structural patterns, and content surfaces. The design language centered around clarity. Neutral colors. Sharp contrast where needed. Clear spacing for thinking. Pages structured around primary tasks. Secondary actions placed intentionally so the interface always guides the user. — Create & Test I designed multiple flows including onboarding, pipeline overviews, lineage visualization, risk surfaces, and various detail views. I worked side by side with engineering to validate feasibility and made sure the designs translated cleanly to the real system. We shipped in fast weekly cycles. I tested early iterations with internal experts and customer stakeholders. Feedback loops were short. We refined every detail as we learned more about usage patterns. Examples of design decisions: • Grouping actions by intent rather than location • Using progressive disclosure for dense technical data • Creating flexible layouts that adapt from simple pipelines to complex multi-system networks • Ensuring key insights appear immediately without digging — Results The platform shipped fast and evolved into a stable, scalable system. The design system reduced UI inconsistencies and improved speed across the entire team. The product gained credibility with enterprise customers who valued both the depth of insight and the clarity of the interface. Manta continues to build on this foundation, expanding the product and deepening capabilities across the data ecosystem. My design work supported that growth and helped create an experience that feels modern and trustworthy in a technical space.