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In Summer 2022, I worked as a Product Design Intern at AirMatrix. As a solo project, I designed a strategy to inform drone operators about upcoming weather conditions so that they can plan their drone operations accordingly.
I was also involved in numerous other design projects during my internship here. If you would like to learn more, please contact me!
I handed off this design near the end of my internship. As I checked back on AirMatrix's website, I am delighted to see that my designs are currently in use on the product!
After presenting this design, the founders loved it so much, they decided to put it on the roadmap for the other flagship product, Libra (AirMatrix's government product)!
skills
Figma, visual design, interaction design
duration
2 weeks
Palladium is a product that allows drone operators to manage and plan drone operations. Weather conditions are crucial information to drone operators as it determines how and whether drone operators are able to carry out operations successfully.
Drone operators rely on weather information to select the suitable drone model, altitude, route of operation and even operation date.
Drone operators need to check the weather information before the operation to ensure that the planned operation can proceed as planned. There may be sudden weather changes that force operators to modify their planned operations.
Drone operators need to rely on third-party applications for accurate weather data, which disrupts their operation planning process
Now that I have identified the two major user scenarios, I needed to scope out the feature a little bit more.
Based on expert interviews and competitive analysis, I identified the 5 most important weather information, why they were needed and their level of detail.
Since I wasn't familiar with how drone operators worked and the role of weather in drone operations, expert interviews allowed me to gain a deep understanding to the drone space.
Competitive analysis allowed me to understand how drone operators regularly consumed important information. Working in tandem with insights gathered in interviews, it allowed me to prioritize what information to present.
Now that I have identified the two major user scenarios, I needed to scope out the feature a little bit more.
It turns out that weather information is incredibly crucial in all parts of the workflow. Operators need it when planning the flight and when preparing for takeoff.
From planning to execution, it should be as accessible as possible in any point of the workflow for the user.
Weather information often acts as supplementary information when making important decisions, such as when planning out the route.
It is important that weather information does not overshadow primary information needed (such as sky lanes available)
Scannability of information should be prioritized.
Easily accessible - Weather information is crucial in multiple parts of the drone operation planning process. A widget allows operators to access weather information easily, regardless of where they are in their operation planning journey.
Supplemental - Weather information acts as a supplement to map information that is important to drone operators. With a widget, operators can look at two complementary pieces of information at the same time. Widgets also communicate information hierarchy effectively.
Interactive - The relevance of weather information varies with operation types and planning process. The interactive widget allows users to hide irrelevant information when desired.
To design a widget that is consumable, I took inspiration from multiple weather apps and sources.
Weather icons - Weather icons are commonly used to convey weather information about a period of time.
Proportionate hierarchy - Key information such as date and temperature is proportionately large compared to other pieces of information, such as precipitation and humidity, to relay its importance.
Based off expert interviews, I ranked the five pieces of critical weather information mentioned above in terms of importance. This was reflected in the final widget design.
I also explored displaying certain weather information directly on the map, as opposed to having a separate weather widget.
This idea was discarded because it prevented operators from viewing critical map information clearly. Operators also need to locate other weather information that is placed elsewhere. This solution quickly became visually overwhelming as more and more weather information was rendered on the map.
Another exploration was just displaying today's weather initially. Operators need to click the widget another time to view weather information of other days.
This idea was discarded because it my research indicates that weather information of the week is equally, if not more, important to operators. Given that Palladium is a desktop-primary product, most operators can quickly access today's weather on their computer's menu. The tradeoff of having more condensed information of the week was worth it over emphasizing today's weather in detail.
In a quick startup environment, timelines are tight and not all features could be developed before the deadline. Here, I learnt how to design for MVP instead of the most well-rounded feature solution.
This was my first time working in a design team in a corporate environment. I learnt how to seek out help from design mentors, critique other member's work, and support each other as designers!