Instinct Environmental Company

From spreadsheet to web application, increasing GIS analyst task efficiency by 65%.

65%

increase in

task completion efficiency

increase in

task completion efficiency

My role

Lead UX/UI Designer
User Researcher
Usability Testing
Client Success Liaison

The team

Ashwin Datta, Founder, CEO
Gabe Larabee, Lead Developer
Alec Wright, Lead UX/UI Design
Tim Helms, Hardware Engineer
Trevor Bachand, Hardware Engineer

Problem

Land management companies like Weyerhaeuser and Stimson—two of Instinct's largest clients—were struggling to keep track of data relating to soil health, temperatures, humidity, and more. Instinct's new sensors were bringing in real time data to GIS analysts, but the data spreadsheets were difficult to read and interpret.

Research

Instinct's sensors had very few competitors. The companies that did similar work were researched and insights were gathered into a competitive audit.

Insights

After the audit, three key insights were made.

No other known company had its own interface for the user to interact with and customize.
Instinct's live data feedback was unique, providing data much faster than other competitors.
Users had to manually enter data collected from one spreadsheet to another, there was no automation.

Considerations

After initial research was completed, it was time to begin the design process. Some design considerations were:

Simple Flow

Information architecture needed to be as simple but intuitive as possible. The architecture needed to be modular, so it could scale up in future iterations.

Interactive

The app needed to be modular and interactive—including a map showing the live status of Instinct's sensor network.

Accessibility

The target user was most often involved in manual labor and did not have much technological background. The app needed to be easy for anyone to interpret data.

Conceptualization

With the product considerations in mind, we began work on wireframes. We needed to keep things simple and clean. Since Instinct contracted with Weyerhaeuser for a proprietary web product, the team decided on a scalable, widget based design that included an interactive map, showing sensors and quick data. This would allow Weyerhaeuser to get the product they needed while allowing Instinct to scale this design and market to more clients.

Usability test

With wireframes completed, a basic usability test was run with a team on UserTesting.com. Once completed, wireframes were upscaled to high fidelity and sent to Weyerhaeuser users to run a test with their team. The feedback returned was encouraging.

Manuel

I like how I can easily view the temperature differences in each sensor location.

Heather

I love the map, I'm curious which sensor is measuring what though.

Michael

Never really liked browsing these [spreadsheets] so I'm happy I can have this window open and take each measurement that I need for other programs.

Dave

Working with Ashwin and the team has been great. I can tell how much thought you've put into this app. I want the alarms to send to my phone, can it do that?

Jessica

The alarm system looks like it will really help out. Especially for those on the night shift, allowing us to get some rest.

Antonio

I like that we can view the sensor status here in the office instead of hiking to each sensor like before. I don't see how to filter all the data.

Insights & Iterations

After reviewing the data from the usability studies, users were able to complete all the tasks assigned, and the app received great feedback.

However, I noted that some users expressed frustration navigating through all options around how the data can be displayed. This frustration from user fatigue supports the "paradox of choice" hypothesis. In further iterations, the team streamlined the data display options into less choices for the user.

After reviewing the data from the usability studies, users were able to complete all the tasks assigned, and the app received great feedback.

I noted that some users expressed frustration navigating through all options around how the data can be displayed. This frustration from user fatigue supports the "paradox of choice" hypothesis. In further iterations, the team streamlined the data display options into less choices for the user.

Interactive map

The Instinct development team used Google Map's API for our interactive map. Icons were designed to show sensor locations and alarms. The team added a toggle filter to display different data across the map. We also added a hover overlay, showing sensor status and current readings.

Sensor Icons

Instinct's sensor communicate in a hierarchal network. Child sensors send their data to the parent, which sends data via satellite connection directly to Instinct's database.

Two sensor icons were designed to distinguish between the child and parent sensors.

Color variants were added to give the user a quick visual on sensor connection status.

Mobile app

Our clients at Weyerhaeuser needed a system for their sapling nursery to alert their team when temperatures dropped too low. Their team asked for a mobile app to alert them via alarm, phone call, and text message when these alarms were triggered.*

*Due to an NDA I signed, I cannot show screens that share any data surrounding Weyerhaeuser's proprietary product.

Metrics

With the completion of the web and mobile app, Instinct delivered a product that had large impacts on the team at Weyerhaeuser. Their GIS analysts reported a 65% increase in task completion time after six weeks. Their nursery workers reported a 60% decrease in response time with Instinct's temperature alarms.

With the completion of the web and mobile app, Instinct delivered a product that had large impacts on Weyerhauser's team. Their GIS analysts reported a 65% increase in task completion time after six weeks. Their nursery workers reported a 60% decrease in response time with Instinct's temperature alarms.

Instinct's product showed the market that their cutting edge sensor technology drastically reduces task completion times—saving money and providing real time, actionable data to help protect the planet.

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