Product Design
Background
Houzz publishes quarterly industry reports for stakeholders to better understand renovation and design market trends. Although the brand had recently undergone a rebranding, the report design had not been updated for years, resulting in outdated visuals and inconsistent layouts. This project focused on redesigning the entire report style and creating a scalable infographic guideline for future use.
The Team
Collaborated with another brand designer on exploration, style definition, guideline documentation, and final report implementation.
Teammates
Timeline
My Role
Conducted research and explored layout & visual styles.
Redesigned industry report layouts and data visualizations.
Delivered the final infographic style guide for future reports.
Problems
The existing reports suffered from unclear hierarchy and constrained layouts that limited how charts and text could be displayed. Chart styles were outdated, and color usage lacked contrast, making it difficult to distinguish categories. Most critically, visual elements were inconsistent from page to page, leading to a fragmented reading experience.
Our goal was to redesign Houzz’s industry report system to align with the updated brand identity, establish a unified infographic style, and create a reusable guideline that ensures consistency and clarity across all future reports.
Layout System & Content Structure
To create a more organized and scalable presentation, we defined a custom 16:9 grid system tailored for information-heavy slides. The grid allowed for clear hierarchy, flexible chart placement, and alternative layouts based on content density. We also formalized a content structure to ensure consistent spacing, alignment, and readability across every page.
Chart & Graph Definitions
I analyzed the types of visualizations used in past reports—such as line charts, stacked bars, grouped bars, tables, and donut charts—and redesigned them to be more modern, bold, and brand-aligned. Each chart type was mapped to its ideal use case, ensuring that the chosen visualization accurately represented the underlying data. This included updating outdated charts (e.g., replacing inappropriate bars with line charts to better show trends).
Color Usage Guidelines
The original palette of Houzz green, yellow, and blue lacked flexibility and sometimes created misleading emphasis. I expanded the system by defining categorical, sequential, and diverging color sets, along with clear rules for when each should be used. For highlight scenarios, we emphasized key data using the brand green or red, while supporting values used muted shades or greys for better readability and hierarchy.
Refined Reports
We redesigned Houzz’s quarterly industry reports with a cleaner layout, clearer hierarchy, and modern data visualizations. Updated charts, typography, and color usage improved readability and helped highlight key insights more effectively.
Refined Reports
We redesigned Houzz’s quarterly industry reports with a cleaner layout, clearer hierarchy, and modern data visualizations. Updated charts, typography, and color usage improved readability and helped highlight key insights more effectively.
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