Alertas is the first of a set of applications from Brazilian agriculture firm Velos. It connects with onboard machinery to report back to farm owners and managers on their equipment status and driver behaviour. Working as a freelancer, I was approached by the client’s developer who needed some guidance on improving the UI and user flow of the application. The budget and time constraints were tight, so the aim of the project was to supply suggestions for immediate change that they could then go on and develop further and test.
- UX improvement
- UI improvement
- Branding refresh
- App store icons
10 Hours to Boost an Agri Report App
Problem Statement
The current design of the app included all the functionality that the users needed but was not designed in a way that was clear how to use those functions. The top menu bar included three layers of filters, titles of equipment and problems were too long to be visible on the interface, colour was not being used strategically to quickly communicate problems that needed to be dealt with.
Challenges for me as a designer were firstly the 10 hour time limit but also the fact that I cannot speak Portuguese. A quick online workshop with the client and developer helped me to understand the process and intention of the app better, in order to really pin point what was crucial to get across on this first page.
Research
The time frame of the project did not allow for any user research, but I did conduct some brief competitor analysis and stakeholder research. As this was more aligned with a UI design project I also created mood boards and proposals for updated branding and colour schemes which were then shared with the client.
Sketches and Wireframes
Before creating digital prototypes I brained stormed with the developer and created some very rough sketches on how we could best utilise the layered filtering system for the report cards within the app. The decision was to separate out each key filter option (date, equipment and alert type) giving the user greater control over what information they wanted to see at any one time. I also redesigned the layout of the cards to ensure the full alert messaging could be seen at anyone time and in such away that would allow the company to scale the application over time.
Final screens
The project included giving Alertas a new identity and set of app icons that could be used for this app and the remaining 2 that would come later in the year. The RexAgri Alertas branding as it stood used a series of overlapping hexagons, which I kept but simplified to a very minimal, mechanical feel. The client requested using green both as a reference to Brazil and their agricultural business, so I selected a range of contemporary greens that would work well across their digital platforms.
The new alert cards on the homepage have big clear titles using a set of icons that are repeated throughout the app. The filter options of date, equipment and type are brought to the bottom and now correctly labelled. Information in the cards is aligned left with number indicating amount of alerts on the right. The screen also includes a search bar to allow the user to easily search and filter for specific reports.
Date selector now allows users to pick a date range, current app will only allow 1-2 days of reports. This gives user greater freedom to choose the information that they need.
The new design allows the user to filter the data on the home screen by two levels. The filter communicates more clearly how to sort the information on the homepage, including visually differentiating by card and row.
Lauren Day 