UX Case Study — Self-Initiated

Track Ease

A logistics and task management tool designed for operations teams who live in spreadsheets — and shouldn't have to.

ROLE

UX Designer

TIMELINE

4 Weeks

TOOLS

Figma, FigJam, Notion

01 Overview

Web-based logistics and task management application built for small-to-mid-size operations teams. The design challenge came directly from personal experience: after years in retail operations and assistant management, I watched teams rely on messy spreadsheets, text message chains, and whiteboards to manage daily task loads and shipment tracking. TrackEase replaces that friction with a single, scannable interface.

Design Challenge

How might we give operations supervisors a real-time view of task completion and logistics status — without requiring them to chase down updates from team members?

02 Research & Discovery

Why This Problem Matters

This project is grounded in lived experience. During my time as an Assistant Manager at Save On Foods, I managed a team of 15–20 associates across receiving, stocking, and floor operations. The biggest daily pain point was never the work itself — it was visibility. 'Who has the freight? Where's that order? Is that task done?' I designed TrackEase to answer those questions passively, without a single extra conversation.

Research Approach

I supplemented personal experience with 4 structured interviews with people currently in operations or logistics-adjacent roles (shift supervisors, warehouse leads, a retail store manager). I also reviewed 3 competing tools: Monday.com, Trello, and a generic WMS interface.

Key Insights

Operations staff check task status approximately 6–10 times per shift — overwhelmingly on shared screens or phones.
The biggest complaint about Monday.com and Trello: 'Too many clicks to update a simple status.'
Supervisors want to see team-level progress, not just individual tasks — who is behind, not just what is behind.
Shift handover is a known pain point: outgoing supervisors struggle to communicate incomplete tasks clearly.
Mobile access was cited as critical — operations workers are rarely at a desk.

Marcus, 34 — Warehouse Shift Supervisor

"I need to know where we are at a glance. I can't be stopping to check in with every person every hour." Marcus manages 12 people across 3 zones. He's on his feet all shift and checks his phone constantly. He wants a dashboard he can scan in 5 seconds.

Priya, 28 — Operations Coordinator

"The handover notes are always incomplete. The next shift never knows what's actually done." Priya works office-side, coordinating inbound logistics and communicating with drivers and store teams. She needs to assign and reassign tasks quickly when delays happen.

03 Define & Ideate

Core Design Principles

Scan before scroll — the most critical info appears above the fold on every screen.
One-tap status updates — changing a task status should never require more than one action.
Team view first — progress is shown at team/zone level before individual task level.
Handover-ready — every shift ends with an auto-generated summary that can be reviewed in 60 seconds.

04 Design Process

Information Architecture

Structured around 4 views: Dashboard (shift-level overview), Tasks (assigned work by zone/person), Shipments (inbound/outbound tracking), and Handover (shift summary + notes). The IA deliberately mirrors how supervisors think about their day, not how a generic project management tool is structured.

Wireframes

Early wireframes focused on the Dashboard and Tasks views, as these were identified as the highest-frequency interactions. Key decisions at wireframe stage:

Status indicators use shape + colour (not colour alone) to support colour-blind users.
Task cards show assignee avatar + status + time-sensitive badge — three data points maximum.
Mobile layout collapses to a list with swipe-to-update gesture for in-aisle use.

High-Fidelity UI

The final UI uses a neutral dark sidebar with high-contrast content areas — a pattern familiar from tools like Notion and Linear, which many operations coordinators already use. I chose a dense but legible layout to support users who need to process many items quickly without scrolling.

View Interactive Prototype →

05 Prototype & Testing

Participants

Tasks Tested

Iterations Made

Findings

Handover flow: All 3 participants completed successfully. Two noted the auto-generated summary saved them 'at least 10 minutes' compared to their current process.
Task reassignment: 2/3 completed first try. 1 participant expected a drag-and-drop interaction rather than the dropdown reassign modal.
Unexpected insight: All 3 participants asked whether they could add voice notes to a task — not in scope but a strong signal for a future feature.

Iterations

Added a drag-and-drop alternative for task reassignment on desktop view.
Increased the tap target size on mobile status toggles — initial size was too small for gloved hands (a real constraint in warehouse settings).
Added a 'flag for follow-up' option to the handover summary, surfaced as a one-tap action.

06 Outcomes & Reflections

Based on usability testing, all 3 participants could assess shift-level task status in under 10 seconds without assistance. The handover flow was completed successfully by every participant, with two noting it would save them significant time compared to their current process. The one-tap status update reduced task-update friction significantly compared to the Monday.com baseline tested during competitive analysis.

What Made This Project Different

Unlike purely speculative portfolio projects, TrackEase is grounded in 4 years of first-hand operations experience. I understood the user not by interviewing them — I was them. That context shaped every design decision, from the tap-target size to the handover flow structure.