Container Tracking
A digital platform that offers immediate visibility with the highest quality by the swipe of a credit card without the need for contracts, commitments, or IT for small shippers, Mid-Sized Shippers, and 3PLs.
Providing a data-first approach gives the users the insights to mitigate supply chain risks and make informed decisions in real-time using dynamic ETAs, automated exception detection, and proactive alerts.
Role:
User research, Product Design, UX/UI Design
Client:
Innovation Labs @Project44
Team:
Innovation Lab
Date & Place:
Nov 2021 - July 2022. Colombia
Project Overview
Context
The innovation department in Project44 has its hands full. In a moment when the freight industry hasn’t yet fully digested any of the changes faced by the COVID-19 crisis and the struck the industry suffer with an unprecedented blow.
Challenge
Because of this, Project44, the undisputed leader in real-time visibility, through its innovation department want to launch a new product that can contribute to strengthen the company’s position in the freight industry not only for enterpirces but also for those small and mid-sized shippers & 3PLs, always in a way that is aligned with Project44 business strategic capabilities.
What should Project44 do to offer real-time visibility for small and mid-sized shippers & 3PLs who typically ship less than 2,500 containers per year?
The Team:
The team was a mix of ‘us’ and ‘them’ (Consultants and Project44) combining our expertise with their in-house specialties to cover all aspects.
Our team: 6 of ‘us’ brought core capabilities such as Developers, UX/UI, and Product Design.
Their team: 2 of ‘them’ provided Business Design, and Enterprise Architecture know-how, to feed into requirements along the course of the project.
My role in the Innovation Lab was as UX/UI & Product Designer. I was the at the beginning of the project UX/UI Designer but as we move forward, I change my role to Product Designer/Owner and act as the liaison for the development team and the PM from the client size for collaboratively designing and releasing the product. I designed and facilitate the user’s interviews, planned and conducted research, analyze the data and communicated the insights, and conceptualized and crafted several proposals with the team.
Design Process
This was one of my biggest projects during my time at Project44. I embarked on this project with a lot of questions about how to enhance small and mid-sized shippers & 3PLs to become part of the company.
I need to start by understanding the trends and changes freight businesses and customers were facing and foresight new opportunities based on those trends.
I used a mixed methodology using Lean Start-up, Growth Hacking, and Business Design. I structured a design process using the Agile method, that incorporates key phases of Discovery, Definition, Design, and Delivery to guide the team through the process of coming out with an MVP around the new real-time visibility platform.
Disclaimer:
*Some of the images are blurring and some text is rephrased because they belong to the project and can’t be shown.
The Opportunity
I analyzed and synthesized all the data collected from primary and secondary research, trend analysis and I start defining the design opportunities for the project. By understanding the users’ needs I was able to create the user flows for the MVP. This information allows us to define the route in consequence of the established objectives.
By understanding the business objectives, as well as the needs and desires of the different users, I defined an initial design proposal, which helped me to put the objectives of this project in context.
I translated the insights into “How might we..?” to reframe the challenge, set priorities and clear guidelines for the design phase.
How might we offer real-time visibility for small and mid-sized shippers & 3PLs who typically ship less than 2,500 containers per year, and have more constrained budgets, and value easy and convenient tracking with a flexible payment plan and no commitment?
Service Prototype
At this stage, after some iterations and previous mockups, the “final prototype” was designed. It was important for us to ensure the alignment of the design requirements, and the business needs and also have a service as seamless as possible.
After developing the first prototype, we wanted to verify our assumptions in a qualitative user test. With the help of a test guideline that we created in advance, we were able to gain valuable insights and integrate them into the final designs.
Moreover, we conducted a pilot with 5 users at an earlier stage to find out their needs and desires, and compare if our product was a market fit. This allowed us to verify our assumptions and further improve our product.
