Ag Tech
Does your product design keep in mind how busy farmers are?
Have you thought about the unique environment your users work in?
Need a designer with insight into agronomy and farming systems?
Simple, elegant designs
Farmers are busy, operating over large areas, many with huge crop or livestock numbers in their care. To successfully support these responsibilities and improve productivity, solutions needs to be functional, highly efficient and reliable.
Imagine the damage to crops if a low water reading goes unnoticed or if a pump has failed to stop. Single events can lead to enormous financial losses and other catastrophic results.
In my designs, I look for the simplest ways to display complex information. I keep the language used and information displayed clear and concise, free of jargon and unnecessary distractions. Efficiency is also delivered through consistency of text, iconography, colour and layout.
Frame of reference
Unique environmental situations are also key factors in creating products for farm management. For example, scale and contrast in a design are especially important when intended for use outdoors.
Internet coverage becomes a major consideration. 3G or 4G, thought of as omnipresent by city dwellers, actually isn’t when we’re talking about rural areas. Even where it is, data speeds are low. Multiple strategies exist for dealing with intermittent connectivity.
Also, taking into account the spectrum of digital literacy among primary producers ensures product success and achievement of desired outcomes.
Industry expertise
There’s a steep learning curve for designers working on ag-tech projects, since terms and concepts of farming systems can be pretty foreign to most. Having both grown up in horticulture and worked for a number of ag clients before, these are not so foreign to me. If you need someone who knows the concepts of agronomy, what terms like evapotranspiration mean, and the units of measure that apply to agricultural applications then get in touch.
I will create solutions for you that balance your user’s needs with your business and project objectives, and meet industry standards and best practice.
How I work
I deliver the entire product life-cycle and can take on as many or as few phases as your project needs.
Plan
Working from your requirements or conducting user and competitor research, I identify the scope of the work. Budgets and schedules are confirmed.
Design
Building on critical industry knowledge user flows are designed, followed by detailed wireframes, finished visual designs and interaction prototypes.
Develop
Build the app to the highest quality, providing regular build for client review. Test with the client and potential users, ensuring objectives are being met.
Deploy
Prepare marketing and App Store materials and publish either through the appropriate App Store, private enterprise distribution or MDM solution.
Measure
Monitor app analytics for success, issues, customer sentiment and engagement opportunities, feeding back to the product owner.
Repeat
Building on successes, repeat process to add and refine features based on business needs and user feedback.
Some of my work
Myriota – Customer Dashboard
Myriota are trialling new satellite communication technology for use in remote asset monitoring, including water level, temperature, humidity and other sensor data.
Anatomize was engaged to draw on their experience in ag-tech and design a customer dashboard that is both simple and powerful.
In just a few weeks, Chris designed the responsive web-app interface with a bold aesthetic, creating deceptively powerful ‘tiles’ for each data type. They communicate critical information relevant to that sensor and draw attention where it is necessary to alert the user.
Each tile can be expanded to show the user device location and historical readings in a touch-optimised highly focused chart.
Observant – Equipment Management App and Style Guide
Chris was hired to bring fresh eyes to Observant’s software design in time to lead their critical equipment management product.
He implemented a number of process changes within the business to better integrate research and design into the software development workflow and interviewed customers and partners to understand their needs.
In addition to the design of this new keystone software, Chris created a living style guide, enabling fast and consistent design of their future software offerings.
Vic. Gov. – Agriculture, Energy & Resources – Internal Mobile Application Style Guide
As part of the Systems for Enhanced Farm Services program Anatomize was hired to design a flexible design language for the portfolio’s field apps.
We took inspiration from the overarching department’s colour palette, designing a colour scheme and layout recommendation that brought a unity to the Mobile Workforce program.
Styles were also set for fonts and illustrations, and all app icons were redesigned to act as a cohesive family.