Our design process, principles, and personas were invaluable during my time at FarmIQ. Paired with good communication, they helped guide us towards coherent software that farmers love to use.
To aid in the decision making process, we created some guiding design principles. I decided that the design team would lead this effort then seek buy-in from the other departments. After a couple of workshops we distilled our efforts down to the five themes above.
For our high level design process, we took cues from design thinking and lean UX. We sprinkled in some important details that enabled new team members to get up and running quickly.
Personas
Farmers come in all manner of personalities, each with their own set of goals and needs. For this reason we crafted a deliberately narrow set of personas that aligend with our high level business goals. We wanted to step away from our previous tendency to be be all things to everyone.
