Want to work together?
If you like what you see and want to work together, get in touch!
susirepo@gmail.com
Tulu is a tool for farmers in Latin America to keep records of their crops and harvest, connect with potential customers, and manage their frames. This app comes from the client's idea of bringing technology to the land fields and incentivizing younger generations to see a future in farming.
Researches
UX Strategy
UX Designer
UI Designer
Facilitator
Client from Colombia
3 months
Figma
Framer
Miro
The client came to me with a request for a farming app after they tried documenting farmers' data through a survey sent to several of their potential clients. They envisioned a product that could collect big data from and for farmers to use to automatize processes and find fearer market opportunities.
Create an app that is easy to use for non-tech users and interesting enough to catch the attention of younger users. Given that the product's vision is a potentially robust app, creating a strategic plan to design the app in different stages was challenging.
For the MVP, I designed the intro for new users to fill in the information about their farms and the stages of their crops. After farmers finish, they can post their harvest on an e-store built within the app.
For the kickoff meeting, I designed a workshop-like activity on MIRO to understand their perspective, the stage of the project, their expectations, and potential ideas, recommendations, constraints, or important aspects to consider before starting the design process. In this session, I also got to meet the stakeholders of the project.
● The project is at an early stage. This product will be the MVP of the product they want.
● The user is not clearly defined. They have doubts about who will use their product.
● Potential constraints: low internet connections, farmers may not be used to using their phones for work, and potential users may have low schooling levels meaning that the data provided must be simple and clear for the to use.
● They need to gather all the information from the farmers to deliver a predicting service based on big data.
● They aim to bring closer producers, buyers, and sellers to a more trustworthy ground.
I analyzed six competitors and over ten relatable services with their strengths and weaknesses. This analysis helped me understand the market and take reference from existing tools and patterns.
After interviewing young farmers, farmers from an older generation, and new farmers, we decided to focus on two persona profiles. The first one is someone who has been working the land for many years, considered to be an expert. The second persona is someone from a family of farmers who has gone to the city to pursue better opportunities but end up coming back to take charge of the farm.
To better understand the flow of this product, I created a map with each layer based on the information the client requires from farmers and the needs from the trends, user, and competitor research.
Then, I recreated the app map with low fidelity to have a better perspective and find the missing spots while simplifying wherever possible.
The client had a name and a general idea of what they wanted the brand to look like, however, we put together a brief to change the name and redesign the style of the brand. Since the name has to be admissible for registration in different countries, the selection process is ambiguous, so far the name is TULU but this can change in the future.
After a lot of iterations and exploration of the colors, layout, icons, and imagery used, we ended up going is a simple, modern, youthful concept.
● Font: Since mobile services in rural areas are not good, and users usually have low-end smartphones, I decided to use a default font that doesn't need extra space to load or store space.
● Imagery: A mix of real photos for the product lists and illustrations to add youthfulness and dynamism to the intro of each flow and homepage section.
After many iterations, the final design is simple and easy to go through even though there are many steps users need to take before starting to use the service.
Firstly users fill in their personal information to get started with a new account. They can decide which way to take among four options. These options make the flow faster and more accurate for the specific need of users. Farmers can begin by posting their products on the marketplace, filling in the details of new sowing, or just exploring the app.
Once they land on the homepage, they will be encouraged to continue filling in their farm information by having points or price incentives (not decided yet). This way the client gets the information they need to nurture their data bank and provide a better service to users.
Customizable widgets can be dragged and dropped to reorganize according to users' needs.
This is the latest prototype with the updated version of the design. This prototype is not fully functional yet, since we are still researching and testing the sort of information the different types of farmers require for each crop type. This prototype is used to test information input formats, UI, and overall experience.
Link to prototype in FIGMADuring TULU APP development, Susana showed a very structured design approach, first with a high understanding of our needs and the problem that we want to solve with the APP. After, she wanted to understand the final user, exploring, interviewing, and analyzing some of them. Later, she started the APP design, from sketch to a very detailed and interactive solution based on a deep comprehension of the final user and the APP's purpose.
I would describe Susana as a structured, creative, analytical, and empathetic APP designer.
Next, I will design a prototype with a different tool to Framer or Figma (yet to define) and run several user tests with the different types of user personas. Then learn how to create a more advanced product using no-code websites so the client can begin using the product and collecting data for more robust product testing. If possible, I'd like to ask for a developer's advice to curate the design.
This project is teaching me how to work alongside clients and stakeholders, to iterate based on the client's feedback, user test results, and my perception. It is also teaching me to be patient and flexible with the design and to keep an open mind to enhancing the product even when it feels like a drastic change.
After over four iterations of the design and four styles explored, I could go back to the whiteboard and redesign the concept of half the design which led me to a simplified and more coherent version of the product.
If you like what you see and want to work together, get in touch!
susirepo@gmail.com