Improving model training accessibility
Industry
Tech, Artificial Intelligence
My role
Product design, Interaction design
Company
Mindsdb
Problem
MindsDB enables users to create and train models on their data, but as training can take a long time, users faced challenges tracking progress. Previously, they could only check a model’s status by clicking its name in the models tree, running a query, and reviewing the output table—which was cumbersome. Even if you knew how to check the state, there was no notification or alert to indicate when training was complete; you had to keep manually checking.
Opportunity
We have the opportunity to improve the model creation process by incorporating a real-time, intuitive indicator of model status. This will provide instant feedback on whether model training is completed or not, thereby reducing the need for SQL queries.
Proccess
We started by identifying the user states (online, online on another page, or offline) and carefully chose a location to make the indicator visible. We decided on the bottom of the menu tree and began animating it to draw attention.
User on Mindsdb SQL Editor
We notify the user when the model starts the training process, showing the progress and completion status. Users can track all previous or old trained models from the notifications.
To make it more visible and noticeable to the user, we used a bouncing ball animation. When the user clicks on "Run", we instantiate a small squishy model icon that bounces and flies up, landing where the models training list is located.
Because users might close the sidebar, we need to display a small bar when the user clicks "Run", This bar indicates the number of models currently training and can be hidden.
Additionally, users can clear completed training models from the list.
The user has the MindsDB tab open but is exploring another app
We notify the user about the model status using browser notifications.
User started training model and closed MindsDB
Users can manage all notifications and email preferences from their account settings. They can also adjust animation settings to reduce visual effects.
