Allison McCartney is an editor at the PBS NewsHour focused on education and informational graphics and a freelance designer in the Visual.ly marketplace.
While it's easy to blame an unsatisfying final product on the designer, it's up to the client to communicate effectively, give their designer all the tools they need to succeed and ensure that the best product is delivered.
When used correctly, analytics can reveal insights about content and websites that are otherwise invisible. But analytics often create a lot of noise with no obvious message, turning a tool that is intended to clarify user experience into a confusing mess of numbers.