Logistics
Fleet Operations Optimization Through Ethnographic Research & Service Design
35%
faster workflows
21%
fewer communication incidents
70%
reduced role involvement
Legal Disclosure:
Client identity and materials are anonymized. Metrics reflect representative outcomes. Request a confidential walkthrough
Overview
Context
Challenge
- Disjointed tools and manual processes created delays and frustration
- No centralized system for real-time communication
- Redundant data entry across multiple platforms
- Failed earlier attempts to integrate tools without addressing user experience
Role
UX Strategy & Design Director (Vendor Engagement)
- Defined UX vision and long-term strategy
- Directed extensive research, including ethnographic and user journey mapping
- Oversaw design system foundations and QA
- Aligned stakeholders on a service-design-led approach
Strategy & Execution
- Immersive research: Conducted 100+ days of fieldwork with vessel crews, dispatchers, and maintenance staff; created personas, empathy maps, and day-in-the-life scenarios.
- Workflow mapping: Documented how tasks spanned multiple roles and systems; identified redundancy and friction.
- Service design reframing: Restructured workflows to reduce role involvement by up to 70% and consolidate communications into unified, role-aware interactions.
- Prototyping & validation: Built and iterated wireframes, tested with representative users, refined navigation, terminology, and role dashboards.
- Design system foundation: Delivered a component-based system with role-specific patterns and a night mode interface for overnight crews.
- Delivery leadership: Shipped full UX documentation and implementation support. Established a new internal standard for software delivery.
Example: Regional Division Rollout
To understand how logistics teams worked in real-world conditions, I joined crews on vessels, participated in dispatcher shifts, and observed repair workflows.
From this research, we uncovered that:
- A single workflow often required six different personas to complete, with redundant data entry and frequent delays.
- Manual tracking left critical status updates outdated or lost.
- Overnight crews needed low-light interface variations to reduce fatigue and error.
By reframing these workflows through service design, we streamlined one of the most critical coordination flows, reducing the number of roles involved from six personas down to three. This eliminated unnecessary handoffs, simplified communication touchpoints, and introduced visibility into task progress.
The result was a system designed around actual field conditions, making coordination faster, clearer, and far less error-prone.
Outcomes
35%
faster workflows for dispatch and coordination
21%
fewer communication-related incidents within six months
70%
reduced role involvement in daily workflows
UX process adopted
as an internal standard across multiple departments
FAQ
- How do you share specifics under NDA?
- I provide anonymized visuals and metrics. Detailed walkthroughs are available under NDA on a live call.
- What made this case different from typical UX projects?
- It required immersive ethnographic research and service design to solve root problems, not just interface issues.
- How was success measured?
- By reductions in workflow time, communication incidents, and adoption of UX processes across departments.
- Is the approach transferable?
- Yes. The same research-driven, service design methodology applies to any industry with complex workflows and fragmented tools.
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