Clusters are typically used to organize and nurture big-ticket items, such as insights, backlog items, top findings, assumptions, hypotheses, and other UX or Product deliverables. They're designed to be enriched with evidence (highlights) either automatically or manually.
Once you have created lots of clusters, easily organizing them and finding them back is key. NEXT offers tons of powerful organization and search features for Clusters. In this article we'll give you a quick overview of how to create views of your clusters.
What are Cluster views and why are they helpful?
Views of Clusters offer a dynamic method for organizing and accessing your Cluster Library. Essentially, a view is a custom search that has been saved for future use, allowing for the presentation of Clusters in either a gallery or Kanban layout. This versatility enhances the functionality of Clusters by enabling users to tailor their Library according to specific needs. For instance, you could segment your Cluster Library into various views to support different applications: one might showcase Clusters focused on "insights", another on "assumptions", and a third could display Clusters each representing a distinct "persona" you have developed.
The Kanban view introduces an additional layer of organization through its column structure, which complements the "Label" feature well. This setup is particularly useful for visually categorizing Clusters. Take, for example, the creation of an "Assumption" view; here, you could incorporate columns to track the validation status of each assumption (such as "Needs Testing", "Validated", or "Rejected"). Similarly, for an "Insights" view, categorizing insights according to user groups and utilizing columns for this purpose can offer clear and efficient organization.
Creating Views
Create your first view
Creating a "view" is simple. Just follow the steps below:
Navigate to Library > Clusters
On the right-hand side of the search box, click "+ New view"
A new view is created (typically called View 2, View 3, etc.)
Click the downward arrow 🔽 in the view tab that was created
Give the view a name (e.g. "Insights")
Choose the layout (Gallery or Kanban)
Click outside the popup to save it
Limit which clusters show up in your view
To make sure only specific Clusters will show up in the view that you've created, you can apply and save a search to the view. This lets you created views for different types of Clusters. For example, apply and save search for the label "Insights" (if you have clusters with this label), and you can create an "Insights-only" view.
Follow these steps to get started:
Navigate to Library > Clusters
Open a view for which you'd like to apply & save a search
Enter your search query in the search box (ideally using a "label" filter)
Hit enter
A pink dot will appear on the view tab
Click on the downward facing arrow in the tab 🔽
Click Save current search
Now, each time you'll open the created view it will show the filtered clusters
Creating & using columns in a Kanban view
If you've created a view with a Kanban layout, you can create columns in which you can organize clusters. To do so, follow these steps:
Navigate to Library > Clusters
Open a view with a Kanban layout
Click on "+ Add column", type the desired column name and hit enter to create it
Repeat step 3 as often as needed to create your layout
Click-and-hold a cluster and drag it into a column to move it to that column
👋 In case you run into any issues with views, have questions, or want to brainstorm use cases for Clusters and views, feel free to reach out to us via the chat (pink bubble right below) or send an email to support@nextapp.co.