2018
Creating a Connected and Low-Touch Solution for Efficient Container Freight Station (CFS) Operations
In 2018, I worked as UI+UX specialist at Infomatics, a technology solutions company in Mumbai, led a project aimed at modernising CFS operations. Container Freight Stations (CFS) are critical hubs in global logistics that consolidate and manage shipments. However, the existing systems were manual and fragmented, resulting in inefficiencies and a lack of transparency in operations.
Goal
Much like how Amazon transformed the real-life shopping experience into an intuitive online journey, our challenge was to reimagine the CFS system with the same level of ease and efficiency. Develop a centralised, digital platform to enhance internal collaboration, streamline CFS processes, and improve customer engagement.
Process
Research & Systems Mapping
We designed a workshop to dig deeper into the system. This exercise not only helped surface their tacit knowledge but also laid the foundation for the software design — a blueprint grounded in real-world insights.
Mapping User Needs
Collaborated with end-users to identify their pain points and operational needs using the framework:
“I am ___________, and I need ___________ to ___________.”
Consolidated findings into actionable insights and categorized user actions into functional buckets:
- Notify/Track
- View
- Invoices
- Requests & Bookings
- Modify Documents
- View History
Defined the primary focus of the application as shipment tracking, with supporting features built around it.
Design & prototyping
- Designed detailed user flows for shipment tracking, incorporating various pathways such as:
- Tracking by unique shipment ID
- Stage-specific tracking (e.g., import/export stages, scanning, labeling)
- Structured dashboards to highlight key metrics and actions, providing users with at-a-glance insights and deeper drill-downs for shipment details.
Developed a comprehensive sitemap, data structure, and modular UI components for consistent design across the platform.
Data Structuring
For our case a user could have shipments that fall under different business segments like Import/Export and may also deal with different kind of shipments like FCL, LCL hence for different shipments and businesses there were different pathways to track. We first mapped these paths and then created a system of filtering and viewing shipments.
Dashboard design for the landing page was structured to highlight the main functions of the application and then adding other important features for easy access while giving a overview of the statud of the CFS
The drill down pages were for the roles that need to look at details of each shipment.
UI Component Libraries
- Working on front-end and creating component library with HTML and SCSS was such fun. It was equally helpful to communicate design interactions and animation to the developer for consistent UI patterns across platforms
Evolution of tracking UI — As out application was evolving so was our UI. The aim of the UI was to create an ease of communicating the tracks at a glance!
Key Learnings and Takeaways
Rapid prototyping, user testing, and iteration became second nature. We refined our workflows and developed a rhythm that allowed the product to evolve efficiently.
