REAL-TIME COLD-CHAIN MONITORING SYSTEM TO PREVENT PRODUCT LOSS IN TRANSIT
Building a unified hardware + software experience that helps business operators track environmental conditions and respond to risks before damage occurs.
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My Role
As a product designer, I worked across both digital and physical touchpoints, redesigning the monitoring dashboard, improving alert interpretation, refining geolocation tracking, and collaborating with cross-functional team and embedded engineers on the hardware interface.
Platform: Web-app
Year: 2023
Industry Sector: IoT Hardware + Monitoring Platform
Collaboration Tools: Figma, Asana, Google Doc, Miro
PROJECT OVERVIEW
WHAT IS GRICD ABOUT?
Gricd (now Figorr) is an IoT company that builds real-time monitoring systems for temperature-sensitive assets across industries such as food logistics, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and healthcare during transit. Their technology combines physical sensors with digital dashboards, allowing businesses to track environmental conditions in real time and prevent spoilage, compliance failures, and product loss.
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THE PROBLEM
Organizations handling temperature-sensitive goods often operate without real-time visibility into environmental conditions during transit or storage. This lack of monitoring makes it difficult to detect temperature excursions early, increasing the risk of spoilage, compliance violations, and financial losses.
Even when monitoring tools exist, they are frequently difficult to interpret, fragmented across systems, or too slow to support timely decision-making. Businesses needed a way to clearly see what was happening to their assets in real time and act before problems escalated.
PROBLEM FRAMING
WHO WE WERE DESIGNING FOR
The platform is primarily used by operations teams responsible for monitoring temperature-sensitive goods across distributed environments.
Primary users included:
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Logistics operators managing shipments
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Healthcare staff managing vaccine or medicine storage
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Food supply chain managers overseeing perishable goods
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Operations managers are responsible for compliance and reporting
These users rely on timely environmental data to prevent product damage, reduce loss, and ensure safety standards are maintained.
WHY THIS PROBLEM MATTERS
Cold-chain failures don’t just affect inventory; they affect public health, operational costs, and regulatory compliance. A delayed response to temperature deviation can render entire shipments unusable. For organizations transporting vaccines, pharmaceuticals, or food products, visibility into environmental conditions is not a convenience; it is a necessity.
The value of monitoring lies not just in collecting data but in presenting that data clearly enough for users to understand risks instantly and take action.
PROJECT GOAL
Design an integrated monitoring experience that allows users to:
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see real-time environmental conditions
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detect risks early
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respond quickly to issues
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monitor assets remotely
DISCOVERY & RESEARCH
EMPATHIZING WITH THE USER
To understand user needs and operational workflows, we gathered insights through usability sessions, stakeholder discussions, and observational testing of real-world monitoring scenarios.
We focused on how teams monitored devices, interpreted alerts, tracked locations, and responded to anomalies. These sessions revealed how users interacted with both the physical device interface and the digital dashboard, allowing us to identify friction points across the full monitoring experience.
“I don’t want to scan dashboards all day. I just need to know when something needs my attention.”
“If temperature changes happen overnight, I only find out in the morning and by then it’s too late.”
“Location matters as much as temperature. If I don’t know where the issue happened, I can’t fix it.”
“Alerts are helpful in critical moments, but if the alert doesn’t tell me what to do next, it will slow us down.”
KEY INSIGHTS FROM RESEARCH
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Operators often discovered temperature breaches too late to intervene.
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Users struggled to quickly interpret raw temperature data.
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Alerts lacked contextual information, increasing response delays.
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Location visibility was critical for determining action plans.
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Hardware interfaces needed to be glanceable and readable in field environments.
Problem Statement
Operators responsible for monitoring temperature-sensitive shipments need a way to quickly understand asset status, location, and risk levels in real time, because delayed or unclear information prevents them from responding before product loss occurs.
How Might We
How might we help operators monitor product shipment conditions in real time and take immediate action before product damage occurs?
DESIGN STRATEGY
To address the problem holistically, I approached the solution as a connected system rather than isolated screens. The platform needed to support three layers of interaction:
Visibility Layer — Monitoring & Status Awareness
Users needed instant clarity about what was happening across all tracked assets. I designed dashboard views that surface key environmental readings, device health, and status summaries so users can understand system conditions at a glance.
Response Layer — Alerts & Intervention
Detecting issues isn’t enough; users must also act quickly. I designed alert states that visually differentiate normal, warning, and critical conditions, making it easier to prioritize actions and respond to risks without scanning through dense information.
Physical Layer — Device Interaction
Since the system includes hardware devices used in the field, I collaborated with embedded engineers to design the on-device interface. This ensured essential readings were visible directly on the device and readable in real-world environments.
SOLUTIONS
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Real-Time Monitoring Dashboard
I designed a dashboard that consolidates environmental readings, asset status, and device data into a single interface. This allowed operators to monitor multiple shipments simultaneously without switching between screens or tools.
Device Monitoring Interface
I designed device-level monitoring screens that show battery level, environmental readings, and device status. This provided users with direct insight into hardware performance and reduced uncertainty about whether issues were caused by the device or the environment.
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Smart Alert System
To reduce response time, I introduced clear alert states that distinguish between normal, warning, and critical conditions. This helped users immediately recognize when intervention was required and prevented important alerts from being overlooked.
Geolocation Tracking
Because many monitored assets are mobile, I designed a live map view that displays device locations alongside environmental data. This gave users spatial context for issues and helped teams coordinate responses faster.
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Hardware Interface Collaboration
I worked closely with embedded engineers to refine the device display interface, ensuring critical readings were legible, interaction states were clear, and the layout supported quick interpretation during field use.
PRODUCT ADOPTION SUPPORT
PRODUCT DISCOVERY SUPPORT
To support hardware adoption, I redesigned the company website to better communicate product capabilities and make it easier for potential customers to explore available devices, understand features, and make informed purchasing decisions. This ensured that the digital touchpoint aligned with the clarity and usability of the product experience itself.
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USABILITY TESTING
TESTING & VALIDATION APPROACH
To ensure the platform supported real operational workflows, usability sessions were conducted with users interacting with monitoring features such as geolocation tracking, alerts, and device status visibility. During these sessions, I observed how quickly users could interpret system states, locate issues, and understand next steps.
Working alongside engineers during hardware testing also allowed me to evaluate how users interacted with the physical device interface, ensuring consistency between device feedback and dashboard information.
This helped identify friction points such as:
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unclear alert hierarchy
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delayed recognition of critical status changes
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confusion between device states
Design iterations focused on improving signal clarity, visual hierarchy, and decision speed.
CONCLUSION
IMPACT
Although formal analytics tracking was not implemented at launch, qualitative feedback from operators and internal teams revealed meaningful improvements across the system.
Enhanced Risk Visibility
Operators were able to identify critical temperature deviations and device status faster through clearer visual hierarchy and alert differentiation.
Improved Alert Clarity
Critical, warning, and stable states were visually distinct, reducing ambiguity and helping teams prioritize faster.
Streamlined Workflow
The redesigned dashboard and live map reduced the time spent navigating across multiple screens to assess device health.
Hardware–Software Alignment
The software and hardware interface were aligned to make readings easier, improving trust in the system.
Reduced Onboarding Friction
New users required less guidance to understand the system structure, device states, and alert behaviors.
KEY TAKEAWAY
Designing for real-world monitoring systems reinforced that visibility only matters when it leads to action. At Figorr, the goal wasn’t just to display environmental data, but to help businesses prevent loss, protect sensitive goods, and make faster operational decisions. This experience strengthened my ability to design products that bridge physical devices and digital platforms, ensuring technology drives real-world outcomes, not just information.