user advocate focused on delivering strategic and meaningful user experiences
MeatX
Meat X (name has changed due to privacy) is a premier international frozen protein distributor and supplier. Today, a multi-cultural, multi-lingual team does business in over 70 countries.
Challenges
Our ambitions were to create a strong foundation and solution that embraced a rapidly evolving business and a more diverse user base.
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Our high-level goals were to:
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Make it fast and easy to use for everyone (all team members, customers, and partners) everywhere.
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Give users more control over their dials
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Automate routine operations as much as possible
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Create a platform for innovation and deeper engagement.
My role
I led the design of the meat trade experience between October 2015 and June 2016 and collaborated with the Product Manager, MeatX President, and Dev team Lead on the screens, and platform features. As a single designer, I was responsible for user experience, user interface, and post-lunch iterative support.
The app launched globally in November 2017.
Process
At the outset of the project, we didn’t have a clear mission or specific goals for the meat treading experience. Without pre-existing insights, I partnered with our Product manager and the president of the company to explore how MeatX managers and buyers were getting around.
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Early Insights from the Field
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We tested the existing software with 8 participants. Our goals were to understand the challenges managers and buyers faced and the workarounds they employed.
Discovery
Buyers Expectations Changed Over Time.
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It became clear that Buyers expected the experience to just work with minimal effort whereas Managers were struggling to get all the documentation and close deals on time. As the MeatX app became more integral to their business process, their expectations evolved.
Curiosity revealed an opportunity to perfect the trade experience for everyone, everywhere.
Deeper Insights
Before I could jump into designing, it was important to define success and understand the health of the meat trading experience at scale.
Most orders require additional coordination effort.
Digging into the data revealed some big insights into the buying experience. Almost all orders involved some extra coordination effort such as a phone call to clarify the destination, packages, and additional legal documents. This data showed that the experience was hardly the “two clicks magic” for everyone in the process.
“In a market as busy as the international protein industry, over $1 million was wasted per week because of problematic orders.”
Reframing the Problem
The outdated software exacerbates the formation of problematic order plans between the Sales Manager and Buyers. Problematic order plans consist of inaccurate locations, ambiguous information, and inefficient requirements which causes confusion. Ancillary communication and additional efforts are required from Buyers and Managers to recover, which leads to frustration and wasted time.
“...how might we help Buyers and Managers form a better order experience?”
In an age where everything is demanding your time, MeatX gives your time back by making protein business orders fast, effortless, and calm. MeatX makes sensible decisions for you erring on the side of protection— informing you in ways that are understandable and actionable.
Request - we do the rest
MeatX finds you optimal offers based on who you are, where you are, and where you want to ship. MeatX saves you time without you needing to select multiple order requirements.
People-friendly walking-through instructions help users better understand and identify their order status in detail. No more nonsensical requests.
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Inspiring confidence on the confirmation screen
If the new experience was to do the heavy lifting on behalf of the Buyer, the confirmation screen needed to inspire confidence and show how the order experience was being taken care of.
A key design challenge was to consider how much emphasis should be given to this always-sensing state.
Launch
In the 3 months after my involvement on the project, the team continued to evolve and polish the visual design, as well as finesse the finer functional details as the app was being built. Although I was not part of this process, it was great to see most of my work brought to life.
In 2017 the MeatX app launched globally—an impressive achievement by the team, considering that it was a complete redesign and rebuild from scratch.
