FOOD DISTRIBUTION

SHIPMENT TRACKING

TRANSFORMED

PRODUCT STRATEGY

USER RESEARCH

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Desktop incoming-shipment tracking dashboard showing purchase order details, vendor and item information, a Dallas-to-Portland route map, delivery progress, carrier details, temperature status, and shipment totals.

FOOD DISTRIBUTION

SHIPMENT TRACKING

TRANSFORMED

PRODUCT STRATEGY

USER RESEARCH

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Desktop incoming-shipment tracking dashboard showing purchase order details, vendor and item information, a Dallas-to-Portland route map, delivery progress, carrier details, temperature status, and shipment totals.

FOOD DISTRIBUTION

SHIPMENT TRACKING

TRANSFORMED

PRODUCT STRATEGY

USER RESEARCH

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Desktop incoming-shipment tracking dashboard showing purchase order details, vendor and item information, a Dallas-to-Portland route map, delivery progress, carrier details, temperature status, and shipment totals.

FOOD DISTRIBUTION

SHIPMENT TRACKING

TRANSFORMED

PRODUCT STRATEGY

USER RESEARCH

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Desktop incoming-shipment tracking dashboard showing purchase order details, vendor and item information, a Dallas-to-Portland route map, delivery progress, carrier details, temperature status, and shipment totals.

DURATION

4 MONTHS

MY ROLE

LEAD PRODUCT DESIGNER

DELIVERABLES

USER PERSONAS

JOURNEY MAPS

HIGH-FIDELITY MOCKUPS

DURATION

4 MONTHS

MY ROLE

LEAD PRODUCT DESIGNER

DELIVERABLES

USER PERSONAS

JOURNEY MAPS

HIGH-FIDELITY MOCKUPS

DURATION

4 MONTHS

MY ROLE

LEAD PRODUCT DESIGNER

DELIVERABLES

USER PERSONAS

JOURNEY MAPS

HIGH-FIDELITY MOCKUPS

Project Overview

For a major U.S. food distributor, speed from supplier to shelf was a critical competitive advantage. Yet incoming shipments were still tracked through Excel spreadsheets and a shared email inbox, creating delays and making logistics problems hard to resolve. When something went wrong—like a lost shipment—it could take days to sort out. I was brought in to design custom enterprise software that gave shipping coordinators better visibility into incoming orders and a faster way to resolve disruptions.

Project Overview

For a major U.S. food distributor, speed from supplier to shelf was a critical competitive advantage. Yet incoming shipments were still tracked through Excel spreadsheets and a shared email inbox, creating delays and making logistics problems hard to resolve. When something went wrong—like a lost shipment—it could take days to sort out. I was brought in to design custom enterprise software that gave shipping coordinators better visibility into incoming orders and a faster way to resolve disruptions.

Project Overview

For a major U.S. food distributor, speed from supplier to shelf was a critical competitive advantage. Yet incoming shipments were still tracked through Excel spreadsheets and a shared email inbox, creating delays and making logistics problems hard to resolve. When something went wrong—like a lost shipment—it could take days to sort out. I was brought in to design custom enterprise software that gave shipping coordinators better visibility into incoming orders and a faster way to resolve disruptions.

KEY CONSTRAINTS

Lack of Domain Expertise

Designing the new workflows required a strong understanding of food shipping, logistics operations, and the types of problems that can disrupt incoming orders.

Lack of Domain Expertise

Designing the new workflows required a strong understanding of food shipping, logistics operations, and the types of problems that can disrupt incoming orders.

Lack of Domain Expertise

Designing the new workflows required a strong understanding of food shipping, logistics operations, and the types of problems that can disrupt incoming orders.

Resistance to Change

Shipping coordinators were hesitant to adopt a new tool that might create more problems than it solved or disrupt the workflows they already relied on.

Resistance to Change

Shipping coordinators were hesitant to adopt a new tool that might create more problems than it solved or disrupt the workflows they already relied on.

Resistance to Change

Shipping coordinators were hesitant to adopt a new tool that might create more problems than it solved or disrupt the workflows they already relied on.

My Approach

To design software that truly supported shipping coordinators, I needed more than requirements—I needed firsthand exposure to how transportation and logistics work on the ground. I spent a month embedded at a local distribution center, observing daily operations, building trust with the team, and learning where their workflows broke down. That immersion shaped both the product direction and the collaborative design process that followed.

My Approach

To design software that truly supported shipping coordinators, I needed more than requirements—I needed firsthand exposure to how transportation and logistics work on the ground. I spent a month embedded at a local distribution center, observing daily operations, building trust with the team, and learning where their workflows broke down. That immersion shaped both the product direction and the collaborative design process that followed.

MY ROLE

Managed the design team, led product strategy, and oversaw design execution across the project.

Managed the design team, led product strategy, and oversaw design execution across the project.

ACTIVITY BREAKDOWN

PRODUCT STRATEGY

40%

USER RESEARCH

30%

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

30%

USER RESEARCH

On-Site User Observation

I conducted on-site observation with shipping coordinators at a distribution center, documenting their tools, workflows, and workarounds while discussing their frustrations to understand how a long-standing system was actually used in practice.

OUTCOME

A deep understanding of real-world workflows that informed functional and design requirements

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Co-Design Sessions

I facilitated recurring co-design sessions with end users at the distribution center, reviewing workflows and rough wireframes together, gathering feedback, and encouraging them to sketch ideas to uncover gaps and refine requirements.

OUTCOME

A validated design direction that accelerated future iterations

USER RESEARCH

On-Site User Observation

I conducted on-site observation with shipping coordinators at a distribution center, documenting their tools, workflows, and workarounds while discussing their frustrations to understand how a long-standing system was actually used in practice.

OUTCOME

A deep understanding of real-world workflows that informed functional and design requirements

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Co-Design Sessions

I facilitated recurring co-design sessions with end users at the distribution center, reviewing workflows and rough wireframes together, gathering feedback, and encouraging them to sketch ideas to uncover gaps and refine requirements.

OUTCOME

A validated design direction that accelerated future iterations

USER RESEARCH

On-Site User Observation

I conducted on-site observation with shipping coordinators at a distribution center, documenting their tools, workflows, and workarounds while discussing their frustrations to understand how a long-standing system was actually used in practice.

OUTCOME

A deep understanding of real-world workflows that informed functional and design requirements

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Co-Design Sessions

I facilitated recurring co-design sessions with end users at the distribution center, reviewing workflows and rough wireframes together, gathering feedback, and encouraging them to sketch ideas to uncover gaps and refine requirements.

OUTCOME

A validated design direction that accelerated future iterations

USER RESEARCH

On-Site User Observation

I conducted on-site observation with shipping coordinators at a distribution center, documenting their tools, workflows, and workarounds while discussing their frustrations to understand how a long-standing system was actually used in practice.

OUTCOME

A deep understanding of real-world workflows that informed functional and design requirements

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Co-Design Sessions

I facilitated recurring co-design sessions with end users at the distribution center, reviewing workflows and rough wireframes together, gathering feedback, and encouraging them to sketch ideas to uncover gaps and refine requirements.

OUTCOME

A validated design direction that accelerated future iterations

Design Solution

The research changed how we understood the job. Shipping coordinators were not managing every shipment in motion—they were detectives, stepping in when something went wrong. That insight drove the design solution: a system built to separate signal from noise, highlight the shipments that needed attention, and consolidate scattered information into a single source of truth for faster investigation and resolution.

Design Solution

The research changed how we understood the job. Shipping coordinators were not managing every shipment in motion—they were detectives, stepping in when something went wrong. That insight drove the design solution: a system built to separate signal from noise, highlight the shipments that needed attention, and consolidate scattered information into a single source of truth for faster investigation and resolution.

Design Solution

The research changed how we understood the job. Shipping coordinators were not managing every shipment in motion—they were detectives, stepping in when something went wrong. That insight drove the design solution: a system built to separate signal from noise, highlight the shipments that needed attention, and consolidate scattered information into a single source of truth for faster investigation and resolution.

KEY DELIVERABLES

USER PERSONAS

HIGH-FIDELITY MOCKUPS

KEY DELIVERABLES

USER PERSONAS

HIGH-FIDELITY MOCKUPS

USER PERSONA

Law and Order: SKU

Law and Order: SKU

We learned that Transportation Specialists were not trying to manage every shipment equally—they were trying to quickly detect the few that posed real risk. Their work depended on visibility, speed, and confidence, yet fragmented tools and inconsistent data made it hard to know what needed attention and why. That insight shaped the design solution: create an experience that reduced information hunting, highlighted the most important issues, and gave users a more reliable way to investigate and act.

User persona profile for Tracy D. Livery, a transportation specialist, showing her goals, design needs, responsibilities, pain points, and challenges managing incoming shipments.
HIGH-FIDELITY MOCKUPS

Single Source of Truth

Single Source of Truth

During the observation, we saw users constantly move between email, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools to resolve shipment issues. I designed a unified dashboard that consolidated the critical details for each shipment into a single view. Users could quickly check vendor and carrier information, review route progress, monitor delays, scan item-level shipment data, and access notes and activity history. This gave shipping coordinators a faster, more reliable way to investigate problems and respond before disruptions escalated.

Visuals have been restyled for confidentiality. Functionality and user experience remain unchanged.

Visuals have been restyled for confidentiality. Functionality and user experience remain unchanged.

Visuals have been restyled for confidentiality. Functionality and user experience remain unchanged.

Desktop incoming-shipment tracking dashboard showing purchase order details, vendor and item information, a Dallas-to-Portland route map, delivery progress, carrier details, temperature status, and shipment totals.

Lessons Learned

This project reinforced that meaningful enterprise design often begins with learning the work before redesigning the workflow. By spending time inside the distribution center, I was able to move beyond process diagrams and understand how shipping coordinators actually operated under pressure: the shortcuts they relied on, the information they trusted, and the moments when the existing system failed them. That immersion helped turn an unfamiliar domain into a practical design foundation and gave users confidence that the new tool was being shaped around their reality—not imposed from outside it. The biggest lesson was that the product did not need to make users manage everything more closely; it needed to help them find the few shipments that required action. Reframing coordinators as investigators changed the design from a broad tracking tool into a focused exception-management experience. By consolidating scattered information, surfacing risk, and involving users throughout the design process, the final direction supported faster decisions while reducing the fear that a new system would disrupt proven ways of working.

Lessons Learned

This project reinforced that meaningful enterprise design often begins with learning the work before redesigning the workflow. By spending time inside the distribution center, I was able to move beyond process diagrams and understand how shipping coordinators actually operated under pressure: the shortcuts they relied on, the information they trusted, and the moments when the existing system failed them. That immersion helped turn an unfamiliar domain into a practical design foundation and gave users confidence that the new tool was being shaped around their reality—not imposed from outside it. The biggest lesson was that the product did not need to make users manage everything more closely; it needed to help them find the few shipments that required action. Reframing coordinators as investigators changed the design from a broad tracking tool into a focused exception-management experience. By consolidating scattered information, surfacing risk, and involving users throughout the design process, the final direction supported faster decisions while reducing the fear that a new system would disrupt proven ways of working.

Lessons Learned

This project reinforced that meaningful enterprise design often begins with learning the work before redesigning the workflow. By spending time inside the distribution center, I was able to move beyond process diagrams and understand how shipping coordinators actually operated under pressure: the shortcuts they relied on, the information they trusted, and the moments when the existing system failed them. That immersion helped turn an unfamiliar domain into a practical design foundation and gave users confidence that the new tool was being shaped around their reality—not imposed from outside it. The biggest lesson was that the product did not need to make users manage everything more closely; it needed to help them find the few shipments that required action. Reframing coordinators as investigators changed the design from a broad tracking tool into a focused exception-management experience. By consolidating scattered information, surfacing risk, and involving users throughout the design process, the final direction supported faster decisions while reducing the fear that a new system would disrupt proven ways of working.