Harvesthru
Fresher. Healthier. Together.
A community-based online marketplace for farmers to provide food supplies locally.
My RoleUX/UI Designer
Team
Emily Oh (Founder/Business Operations), Michelle Wan, Wye Mun Chin (UX Designers), Howard Wang, Dennis Juanito, Ana Selvarag, Kenneth Chen (Full-stack Engineers)
Timeline1 year
Note on Design Process
For this project, an executive decision was made by business operations to prioritize launching out an MVP as soon as possible. My main responsibilities were to create the company’s branding and design screens.
Overview
In October 2019, I joined a startup under the UCSD The Basement program. Our goal is to create an online marketplace platform that would allow communities to buy, sell, and trade crops from local farmers. I worked on strategizing user flow, designing mobile screens, and creating the web landing page.
User Experience Flow Map
I communicated closely with the team to align our vision for the product before getting into designing the visuals, This step allows the team to simplify features for the MVP (minimal viable product) and to have a clear structure of the overall direction we are prioritizing.
Branding System
We wanted Harvesthru’s identity to evoke feelings of naturalism, approachability, and simplicity for our audience. For the branding assets, we chose a bright luscious green and warm orange to symbolize a healthy lifestyle filled with a burst of social excitement. Meanwhile, the roundness of Nunito’s typography conveys a highly approachable tone.
Mobile UI Designs
After establishing an overall branding style guide and product vision, I communicated frequently with a team of engineers and business operations to ensure that the designs can be delivered within reasonable constraints and timeline while maintaining our vision.
Add Listing to FarmNote: This GIF is simplified and does not include all the screens in between.
Tracking OrdersNote: Sped up process to show order timeline’s function.
Web Landing Page Design
As part of the product marketing strategy, I worked on designing the structure of the landing page and created images to introduce the product to the public and jumpstart the process of acquiring a list of an initial userbase while the engineers work on creating a functional MVP.
What I Learned
This project was my first time working with a cross-department team. Prior to working on Harvesthru, I’ve only had experience working with other designs and only focused on the design process. However, I found it fascinating how there were conflicting priorities between different roles within the team while working on Harvesthru. I’ve learned that it’s important to not only align the product’s structural vision for the team but to constantly be aware and take into account potential pitfalls in each departments’ timeline, expectations, and assumptions. It’s very important to be clear about who should be making the executive decisions, communicating about vision changes, and having clear roles’ expectations.
As a user experience designer, I’ve also learned that design changes should be based on user-driven data and not just on engineer constraints and meeting business goals. By focusing on data, I can settle team disputes objectively.
