Year: 2019
Role: Principal Product Designer
Role: Principal Product Designer
tl;dr
I designed the user experience and user interface for an enterprise smartphone application. My UX/UI design was the MVP of ChainCode B.V.’s courier app, allowing their contractors to manage their work schedule. Besides hands-on creative services, I also provided design consultancy services.
Brief
ChainCargo is a Dutch logistics startup providing emergency freight transport capability. For their formal launch, Emkore Limited was asked to build an app couriers use to manage their schedule. The app had to be designed and built within 2 weeks’ time, for Android and iOS smartphones.
Deliverables
1. Use ChainCargo’s brand guidelines to craft a simple UX/UI for Android & iOS smartphone users.
2. Ensure a low barrier to entry; the UX should be self-explanatory.
3. Design with longevity in mind, so ChainCargo can expand the app in the future.
Background
In order to be able to assign cargo to couriers, the ChainCargo app tracks the user’s location in the background. This information allows ChainCargo to optimize operations by assigning rides based on location & traffic conditions. To make sure that the app is compliant with privacy law, we designed the app so users are only tracked during times they indicated to be available for work.
User Experience
In defining the user experience, I researched work schedule workflows and came up with three core variables:
1. Available OR Unavailable: is the courier available to provide urgent transportation services?
2. Any Time OR Sometimes: If available, during what time is the courier available?
3. Day AND Time: If sometimes available, which days & hours?
Considering the single purpose of the app, and the novel character of this workflow in the logistics industry, I decided to design an equally simple UX. Using a form with conditional formatting the user is given granular control over their scheduling and can update availability in real-time.
Since the brief emphasized longevity, I included a navigation drawer to switch between Home and About pages. While this not the simplest UX, it enables the client to easily add pages and features in future without redesigning navigation patterns.
Considering the single purpose of the app, and the novel character of this workflow in the logistics industry, I decided to design an equally simple UX. Using a form with conditional formatting the user is given granular control over their scheduling and can update availability in real-time.
Since the brief emphasized longevity, I included a navigation drawer to switch between Home and About pages. While this not the simplest UX, it enables the client to easily add pages and features in future without redesigning navigation patterns.
User Interface
With a focus on functionality and simplicity, I designed a clean user interface using ChainCargo’s brand colors. Since we were using Material Design, I avoided using OS specific design elements as to appeal to both Android & iOS users. With font weights optimized for on-screen text usage, Work Sans was the perfect typeface for both header and body texts. I used FontAwesome Pro Light icons to complete the design.
The overall result is a UI that stands out through simplicity, enabling both new and existing users to easily manage work schedules.
The overall result is a UI that stands out through simplicity, enabling both new and existing users to easily manage work schedules.
Credit
Jonas Hartmann, Lead Developer