Speaking from the new Spark Technology Center in San Francisco, David Townsend, chief Designer at IBM, discussed his work with the IBM analytics design team. “The easier the product is, the more intuitive it becomes, the harder the design challenges,” he said.

“It boils down to being really curious and understanding the end user, having empathy for them, what is it we’re trying to solve for them,” said Townsend in an interview with theCUBE hosts John Furrier and Jeff Frick at IBM Spark Summit 2015.

Townsend sees his role as reducing the chaos, allowing his designers to focus on long-term goals rather than constantly dealing with the quick fix. “I create an environment for my design team where they can spend their time … working on design, working as a design team, and with the scientists figuring this out,” he said.

Do it right from the onset

Townsend believes that collaborating with the data architects from the very start of product development is critical. “It’s not a matter of getting caught up with the developers a year, two years from now, but we are right there at the very beginning of this, putting the design center together with the tech center and working together on how we’re going to figure this out and how we’re going to visualize and make it usable.”

Townsend aims for design so intuitive that anyone can access complicated enterprise software platforms. “The ultimate goal would be that in a couple of years from now, that kids in fifth grade are able to take our analytic platforms, our products, and actually use them,” he said. “That’s the direction I want to take.”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Spark 2015.