Monolite: An Interactive exhibit for public engagement
Posters & Invites
Apparel Campaign
Apparel Campaign
Apparel Campaign
Monolite: An Interactive exhibit for public engagement
Product footprint calculation
Add, Visualize, Manage and Track
Green Story is a platform that helps fashion brands and suppliers conduct lifecycle assessments and calculate the environmental impact of their products' supply chains. It was created in response to the growing need to meet sustainability expectations, avoid greenwashing, and comply with ESG regulations in Europe and North America. Green Story’s mission is to empower two billion consumers to make greener, more informed choices while shopping.
This project was a joint effort with an awesome team of our CEO, 2 Product managers and me, where I was responsible for User experience and the User interface of the platform and saw the project through from the kickoff meeting, to the launch, and through multiple rounds of iteration afterward.
Project overview
To calculate accurate footprint for a product, our system required detailed data at each stage of the supply chain. Previously, this process was handled manually by a customer service executive who collected data from clients through back-and-forth email communication, using Excel sheets provided by the clients, and then inputting the information into the calculation system.
Clients were only given the final footprint number, with no visibility into how different parts of their supply chain contributed to the overall impact. If they made changes to their supply chain, they had to communicate these updates to the Green Story executive, submit new data, and wait for a recalculated result. There was no way for clients to directly see how their new supply chain compared to the previous one.
Validating the problem
Survey
To learn the motivations of our existing clients I conducted a survey.
External
20 existing clients who frequently used our services. ​
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The survey results reveal a strong demand in wanting to own and understand their data themselves.
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On average, 56% of users showed dissatisfaction with the current manual, email-based process, citing lack of visibility, delays, and difficulty making updates.
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75% rated it extremely important to have control over their own data
Interview
I interviewed the Customer Service Executive to understand the gaps in the current business process. Three key points emerged from this conversation, which helped define the project goals:
Internal
1 Customer service executive
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Getting the right data for the calculations
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Because some brand themselves did not own the process data, they would contact their supplier and wait for days and weeks to get a response.
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Difficult to keep track of the changes to the supply chain data and communication threads.
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​Brands often did not have complete data for their supply chains. In some cases, they sourced products from third-party vendors who kept their suppliers anonymous.
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Brands wanted support in visualizing and understanding their supply chain data so they could take appropriate actions to reduce their environmental impact.
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Due to the complexity of the data, they wanted a way to input information without needing to be experts themselves.
Goals:
It was clear that the current way of conducting business was not sustainable. It was time to take action.
The key focus areas identified were:
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Data Transparency: Make the process of inputting and visualizing data transparent and intuitive.
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Data Availability: Enable footprint calculations even when primary supply chain data is not fully available.
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Data Management and Understanding: Provide an easy way to manage supply chain data and identify gaps for improvement.
The challenge and next steps
Now that we had defined the problem and identified our broader goals, it was time to decide where to start. This project came with many unknowns from the business side. The marketing team had its own narrative about how they wanted to position the product, while the product team only had access to the existing Excel template and initial survey results. So we came up with a few next steps:
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Roll out an additional survey to gather insights on what users would want from the platform beyond just footprint calculations.
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I conducted market research to analyze our competitors and understand feature being offered
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Users would be most comfortable with having to provide the data they know and the remaining for the system to provide to be able to caluclate the footprint.
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​Users would want to see the impact of their supply chain and want recommendations from the system to improve it.
Market research revealed that there are businesses out there who have similar goals but there is no platform that is offering everything in one place. This is where we saw the opportunity to stand out.
Design direction
Based on the insights gathered and by breaking down the Excel sheets, I developed the user flow and a basic design direction to help the team visualize the flow:​
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Product Footprint Calculation: To calculate the footprint of any product, the minimum required inputs are identifying the details of the four stages in the supply chain: manufacturing, distribution, use phase, and end of life.
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Supplier Details: For each stage, there is a supplier providing the raw materials. Therefore, giving users the option to identify and add supplier details at the same time will reduce time and keep users engaged in the flow.
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Contextual Information: Context is crucial, so displaying the product name and supplier name at the top of all screens is important to maintain clarity.
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Supply Chain Visualization: The supply chain will be visualized through a chart view, showing a step-by-step flow of the multiple stages and parties involved in the process.
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Footprint Analysis: Users will have the ability to analyze the footprint by breaking it down at each stage of the chain, with a focus on highlighting the most impacted part of the supply chain.
Brainstorming & technical review
Now that everyone could visualize what the flow could potentially look like, we as a team conducted various brainstorming sessions to pin down the features and functional benefits of the platform. At our last round of brainstorming session we invited the engineering team to validate a few decisions through the technical lens.
We immediately got a feedback that some supply chains are very complex and would take time to render and fetch data from the server. - this was addressed by adapting to NextJS framework. The next issue was the chart view to visualize the supply chain, some of the elements were not viable at the time due and the design requiring a bit of exploration and we did not have the time for that.
Key features & functionality
Efficient product listing
Comprehensive supply chain transparency
Indepth Footprint assessment
Implementation and iteration
I made changes to the designs based on the feature set and feedback from the engineering team.
Usability test
The initial prototype was rolled out to 20 clients and internal team to test and familiarize themself with the platform.
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Overload of information at once making the users overwhelmed and anxious.
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The CTAs were not easily visible
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There was a lot to scrolling involved to get to the information
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Adding each product was a long process so users were getting frustrated and dropping off after completing two steps.
These learnings led to major change in the design components.
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The flow was further broken down into multiple steps for the user to add in the information one set after the another.
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We added an option to automatically map the supply chain information to a new product when they selected the sub category of the product.
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We implemented auto save, so that users could come back and start from where they left off.
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Bulk upload was introduced soon after this test, so that users could add in their product in bulk
Final design
Dashboard
Product listing
Product view
Supply chain chart
Result
Task completion rate
Error Rate
Tracked through smartlook, we recorded that 70% of the users were able to complete the task of adding the product with minimum error.
Through session recordings and overall statistics, we were able to identify common points of error. It was observed that the majority of errors arose due to system instability, while 10% of errors were caused by unclear CTAs and the lack of tooltips.
Feedback & learning
The platform was up and running, with 70% of users successfully adding a product. The average time taken to complete the basic product setup was 3 minutes. Additionally, 65% of users found the platform intuitive, and they appreciated the overall aesthetic, describing it as simple and easy on the eyes.​
Working with changing requirements is not easy but it all comes together in the end
Gather as much information as possible before starting the project. Going the extra mile and asking questions can help plant an idea and turn it into a clear requirement.
Keep the engineering team involved as much as possible.
Iterations and ongoing changes
The platform continues to grow and improve as more users onboard with Green Story. We are learning a lot from how users interact with the platform. It's important to continuously update the platform to align with evolving user motivations and goals. This includes changes such as updating button styles, repositioning CTAs, and transforming form fields from lists to dropdowns.