Product Provenance

Due to the high risk of poor quality and counterfeit of the meat, MLA needed to give the consumer the right tool to trust their product.

To increase transparency for the consumers, I designed a web app that could deliver traceability from feedlot to butcher using blockchain technology.

Services

User experience – User flow – Persona – Partner analysis – Moodboard – Mobile app – User interface design – Prototype – Sketch – Principle

Client

Meat & Livestock Australia – MLA
2019

My role

I had one sprint to deliver a POC. I collaborated with another UX designer on the research about the red meat industry in Australia and the blockchain technology. I had to make quick decisions to design my interface with a mobile-first approach.

This MVP includes a first-time user experience tutorial, high expected features and access to key documents stored in the blockchain. I build an interactive prototype to reinforce our design concept.

Context

TRACEABILITY = TRUST

In Australia, feedlotter, meat processor and exporter are committed to food safety, animal welfare, product quality, traceability, and customer service.

To be able to promote Australian red meat quality in Australia and international markets, MLA needs to give its consumers the right tool to allow them to trust their products.
As an innovative company, MLA wishes to investigate the benefits of using blockchain to trace and verify the origin of the red meat.

Challenge

provide EVIDENCE

Consumers are increasingly looking at where their food comes from, how it was produced.
They are demanding more detailed information about the authenticity of claims such as organic, fair trade and sustainable production.

How might we leverage blockchain technology to increase insight and confidence in consumer goods?

Solution

GIVE CUSTOMERS ACCESS TO KEY DOCUMENTS

Product Provenance offers a simple solution for consumers to read all the information about where the meat comes from and the journey. They will have access to key documents kept in the blockchain to verify the quality of the meat, such as:

  • Claims made about the product, for example, “Aussie Beef” or “Queensland Organic Grass-Fed Angus”
  • Demonstration of compliance with the religious - halal cut
  • Food safety attributes
  • Location and time across the supply chain

Design process

Research

Partners Analysis

What did we learn?

  • Trace the meat journey helps to promote the meat quality
  • Provide evidence allows consumers to verify the brand promise and leverage trust in its product
  • New technologies when implemented on the supply chains improve the commercial process

Blockchain Analysis

Why Blockchain Technology?
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It records data in an immutable way.

How does Blockchain Technology work?
It’s a database that is shared, replicated, and synchronized among members of a network. It records transactions, such as the exchange of assets or data, among the network.

What are the benefits of using Blockchain?

  • Identification & Location: track and trace
  • Food Security & Biosecurity: animal health, disease…
  • Product Quality: grading & taste, breeding & genetics
  • Commercial: facilitating trade and improving commercial processes
  • Environment: animal welfare, green credentials, and environmental integrity
  • Compliance: religious processes have been followed (halal) and market access (import conditions)

Traceability flow

What were the key findings?

  • Origin and breed
  • Cattle feeding
  • Disease check
  • Grading and Halal
  • Shipping

User flow

What were the key findings?

  • Documents access
  • NLIS tag: national livestock identification
  • NVO cattle report: animal welfare | AGIS certificate: disease check
  • Halal Status
  • Temperature check when the meat is transported

Personas

What were their goals?

  • Easy way to trace the origin and the journey of the meat
  • Verify key documents easily
  • Track containers and shipment
  • Spend less time on the phone with suppliers and retailers

Ideation

  • Digital mood board to help form a creative decision
  • Concept of a timeline for navigation

Prototyping

  • A first-time user experience: tutorials
  • An immediate scan QR code functionality
  • A product timeline
  • Easy access to documents

Reflection

What I learnt

I’m happily surprised at the amount of work I was able to make in a two-weeks design sprint.

I had no boundaries regarding the visual design for the Product Provenance. Through this project, I have come to better understand who I am as a designer: building the user experience through empathy – as my design has been based mostly on assumptions – and visual design – how interactions design communicate information to users.

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