Context
Canadian Sheep Federation
Established in 1990, the Canadian Sheep Federation (CSF), was created to provide a "strong national body that represented the Canadian sheep industry on issues of national importance." Playing a central role in growing and prospering lamb producers and new entrants, the CSF innovates the industry as a whole.
During Summer 2023, I had the pleasure of working with the Canadian Sheep Federation on the design team, working cross-functionally, on website redesigns, and AI sheep face tracking.
The bulk of my work, resided in the design and delivery of a new and improved internal AgroLedger web app for tracking and managing livestock. I presented to, and received approval from senior leadership including the Executive Director, landing the designs on the team roadmap, to be built for 2024.
Role
UX/UI Design Intern
Team
2 Designers
2 AI Engineers
2 QA Engineers
5 Developers
1 Project Manager
Timeline
May - Jul 2023 (3 months)
Preview ~ Final Designs
Ideation & User Research
Leading the ideation and user research, it was important to familiarize ourselves with the current design of the web app and its functions, categorizing all the screens of the app, and commenting on areas of need. I had to learn the ins n' outs of sheep farming very quickly to understand the functions within the app, and empathize with the farmers on a deeper level.
We continued by creating prototypes for what we believed were the most important user tasks: signing up, registering livestock, and creating a new report.
Using these prototypes and an assortment of questions, we conducted asynchronous testing on 12 participants consisting of early product adopters and family/friends, collecting data on design effectiveness, user efficiency, and user satisfaction. This initial research was mainly to identify common pain points for users, usability issues, and general opinions to assist in creating the next iteration of the website. The results of the tests can be grouped into 3 main issues:
01
Repeating/confusing words and sections
02
Visual Clutter; hard to identify CTA's
03
Maze-like site traversal; didn't know where they were
From there we continued adding suggestions and comments based on our research before prioritizing screens for design.
Final Redesigns
For the sake of brevity, I've selected a few screens that I led and owned the designs for, to showcase the overarching design direction, concept and atmosphere.
Sheep Dashboard ~ Operator View
Where farmers keep track of their registered sheep, from any of their premises. The new redesign removes excessive features unrelated to their sheep and provides 2 different view preferences. The card view offers a swift, visually engaging, and informal means of browsing content, allowing users to scan through items. The list view provides a more "get-to-the-point" approach, enabling users to access a greater amount of information simultaneously, facilitating a more strategic viewing experience.
Reports
Find your relevant reports here. The new design adopts a consistent list component across the website, leveraging user familiarity and pre-established understanding to streamline their interaction.
Sheep Overview ~ Operator View
Get a comprehensive overview of your registered sheep, including all their details, related reports and documents. The new redesign condenses unimportant information when not needed, and provides a more visual experience for easy reading and identification of crucial information.
Log in & Sign Up
The first page users see. The new redesign eliminates unnecessary transition pages, buttons, and input information, also putting a stronger and cleaner emphasis on the CSF x AgroLedger brand.
Exploration & Iteration
To land on my final designs, I went through multiple iterations and ideas. Check out some before-and-after's of the old designs vs. new ones.
Before
The previous iteration of the search and filtration feature lacked the necessary depth and specificity, making it challenging to conduct searches with ease. It also occupied an incredible awkward and large space.
After
The new design streamlines this feature, making for a more intuitive experience and providing deeper search options. This design also allows for scalability if new search filters need to be added.
Before
When adding new livestock, users were faced with options to both add individually or in bulk, leading to confusion for which to do, and taking up unnecessary real estate. No pun intended it also felt very "bulky".
After
The new design, lessens the user's cognitive load, allowing them to choose only what they need. The user can easily switch forms, adding just one or multiple livestock.
Before
The previous version of the login page was cluttered with multiple call-to-action buttons that essentially performed the same action, but due to their different labels, created confusion for users.
After
The new design cleans up the login page, and gives more context to new users about the tool. The new design also make this page, the first page users see, instead of providing an intermediary page to choose between sign up and log in.
Results
I led a second round of user research with the new designs, to validate our decisions and see the change in our measured metrics of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. Below are some numbers at the end of my internship!
36+
screens redesigned
49%
decrease in time to create a report
36%
decrease in time to register livestock
19%
decrease in time to create a new account
82%
decrease in mis-click rate when creating a report
29%
decrease in mis-click rate when registering livestock
56%
decrease in unfinished livestock registrations
34%
increase in user perception of ease of use
18%
increase in user perception of interface
Reflection & Takeaways
Constraints
Working within certain guidelines and ensuring the feasibility of our designs proved to be a fascinating journey, oftentimes requiring the presentation of multiple design alternatives.
Defending Designs
I found it valuable to consistently have a well-founded rationale for my design choices, as it enabled me to defend and justify my decisions effectively.