---
title: "Bridging technical depth and usability: The story behind Radar’s redesign"
description: "Cloudflare Radar was redesigned to make its real-time Internet data accessible to journalists, human rights advocates, and everyday users while preserving depth for network operators and researchers. The previous landing page used a bento box layout that gave everything similar visual weight, felt intimidating to newcomers, and lacked brand consistency. The new design introduces an interactive map as the primary navigational element, leading with traffic and outages to provide concrete, timely reference points. Below the map, a tabbed exploration flow replaces the old chart widgets, offering summary statistics and clearer calls to action. The design language blends marketing approachability, content structure, and product maintainability by migrating to Cloudflare’s Kumo component system, aiming for a human-centered experience that does not sacrifice technical rigor."
---

# Bridging technical depth and usability: The story behind Radar’s redesign

[Cloudflare](https://yomu.fyi/company/cloudflare) · Lai Yi Ohlsen · Oct 8, 2026

**Type:** Problem & solution

## Summary

Cloudflare Radar was redesigned to make its real-time Internet data accessible to journalists, human rights advocates, and everyday users while preserving depth for network operators and researchers. The previous landing page used a bento box layout that gave everything similar visual weight, felt intimidating to newcomers, and lacked brand consistency. The new design introduces an interactive map as the primary navigational element, leading with traffic and outages to provide concrete, timely reference points. Below the map, a tabbed exploration flow replaces the old chart widgets, offering summary statistics and clearer calls to action. The design language blends marketing approachability, content structure, and product maintainability by migrating to Cloudflare’s Kumo component system, aiming for a human-centered experience that does not sacrifice technical rigor.

## Context

Cloudflare Radar provides real-time Internet trend data from Cloudflare’s network. The previous design used a bento box layout that made information difficult to parse, gave everything similar visual weight, and felt disconnected from Cloudflare’s brand. Users reported the site felt intimidating to newcomers like students.

## Approach / What changed

They redesigned the landing page with an interactive map to provide a visual geographic reference, replaced the bento box layout with a tabbed data exploration flow, and migrated to Kumo components to align with Cloudflare’s product design system.

## Takeaways

- The previous bento box layout made information difficult to parse by giving everything similar visual weight and disrupting natural reading patterns.
- A user feedback that Radar was difficult to show to students reinforced the need for a more approachable experience for non-expert audiences.
- The design language blends marketing approachability, content structure, and product maintainability by migrating to Cloudflare’s Kumo component system.

## FAQ

### How does the new design improve navigation?

They replaced the bento box layout with a landing page that leads with an interactive map showing traffic and outages. Below the map, a tabbed flow organizes chart widgets into a clearer hierarchy with summary statistics and calls to action, guiding users from the global view into specific data stories.

### Why was a map chosen as the main visual?

The map acts as a navigation point into the insights below, guiding users from the global view into specific countries, trends, and data stories. The top section focuses on traffic and outages, with outages presented as concrete, timely data points and traffic communicating the scale of Radar's data.

### How does the design balance brand consistency with data depth?

The design language sits at the intersection of marketing pages, content experiences, and product interfaces. It blends approachability like marketing, structure like content, and maintainability by migrating to Kumo components from Cloudflare's product system, creating a more cohesive and trustworthy brand experience.

**Tags:** [Cloudflare](https://yomu.fyi/topic/cloudflare), [Design Process](https://yomu.fyi/topic/design-process), [Radar](https://yomu.fyi/topic/radar)

- Source: [Cloudflare](https://blog.cloudflare.com/radar-redesign)
- Source URL: https://blog.cloudflare.com/radar-redesign
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-10-08T15:00:11.654Z

[Read original post](https://blog.cloudflare.com/radar-redesign)