Role
Lead Designer 

Process + Methods
User Research
Prototyping
User Testing
Figma

Timeframe
3 months

Meepanyar
x Blueprint

Background
Almost 1 billion people around the world lack access to modern reliable forms of electricity. Mee Panyar supports rural communities in Myanmar without electricity by bringing critical renewable energy infrastructure and skills in pursuit of inclusive and equitable energy access. 

To empower local job creation in these communities, MP employs local technicians and trains them through an onboarding process to build and maintain continued support of the electrical infrastructure in the communities. As a tool to help carry out this job, the technicians are onboarded to use a mobile app that supplements their logistics and data tracking.



Problem
Mee Panyar‘s existing app had usability issues, making logistics tracking inefficient. The low connectivity environment of the rural comunities needed offline functionality.

Technicians

Needs

• Know and carry out impending payments, tasks, inventory updates for large customer base
• Low tech literacy 
• Ability to carry out tasks with or without internet connectivity 
• Burmese language translation support

Project Scope

Based on the user needs and the Mee Panyar’s requriements, the MVP solution ask was: 

Engage a mobile app that will help technicians efficiently track logistics in online and offline environments.

Prior to creating initial wireframes for the app, I did an exploration of the already existing app on the Adalo platform, highlighting where the main features were already implemented and where they were absent, as well as noting confusing user flows and visual design choices.

The areas of improvement that I noted were around unclear information hierarchy, lack of structure and organization around data tracking systems, inconsistent UI elements, and readability.

User Flow

Low Fidelity

Based on the explorations, I then created low/mid-fidelity wireframes for all the main features as well as fleshing out unclear visual elements and confusing flow.

Mid Fidelity

Based on the explorations, I then created low/mid-fidelity wireframes for all the main features as well as fleshing out unclear visual elements and confusing flow.

We performed a series of user tests on 5 of the Meepanyar staff. Due to limitations of the app In its preliminary stages without offline capabilities and translations in the local language, we were unable to perform user tests on the local technicians in Myanmar. Instead, we performed a series of user tests on five of the Meepanyar staff. Since they were aware of the contexts in which the technicians would be using the app, they were able to provide insightful feedback for further development.

The main tasks that prioritized for these tests were:

1. Creating a customer
2. Add a Meter Reading for Customer
3. Add Payment for Customer
4. Updating Inventory

Key Takeaways:

• Differentiating usage of visual elements versus text: As a solution to more simply bridging the gap between necessity for switching between languages, universal icon usage was a suggestion to streamlining certain actions instead of words; however, the contexts in which the technicians employed certain actions were confusing with only icons.
• Consistent button states and visualization for better user interaction: because of the extent to all the information and cross referencing that was necessary, consistency needed to be refined (ie: disabled buttons/error states for incomplete forms; cards serve as clickable buttons to direct to different pages; primary orange color prompts clickable action)
• Access and organization for tasks and reports through filter functionality: when technicians are focused on one task for all their customers, a filter function to perform tasks under these contexts needs to be better accessible and more simple

Dashboard &
Financial Reports

Users can view and interact with all relevant information about a specific site including financial summary, site information, payments for financial reports. High priority alerts for important tasks that are needed to be completed are displayed.

Customer &
Payment Management

Users can view and manage customers through a broader overview list of all their customers as well as their associated electricity usage, invoices, and payments. Users are also able to perform tasks quickly by filtering by type of task and accessing these through the overall list view.

Inventory Tracking

Users can track inventory for their sites and customers by recording purchases and update items’ inventories needed. This will also allow admin a cohesive platform to operate their systems by being able to approve user purchases and approve or deny as necessary. 

Translation

translation support for Burmese speaking locals

Offline Support

functionality for low-latency and offline environments in rural communities

Outcomes

While internet access is largely accessible and the backbone for functioning society for a lot of the developed world today, it is important to factor in that a large portion of communities do not have access to the same technological advantages, which further inhibits progress on sustainable development worldwide.

The implementation of this app will make possible to continue the function and upkeep of the solar grid systems without 24/7 connectivity. This tool opens doors to broaden the reach of the organization, allowing further implementation and maintenance for more underserved rural communities in need of a reliable energy source. Furthermore, as a vital tool to supplement training for technicians, this app broadens accessibility of employment for those local to these communities, especially for those without formal education through sustained guidance and education to these local communities.

Learnings

Because of the needs of this specific user that I was designing for, I was able to learn a lot about designing for a unique user group and these specific constraints: designing for accessibility under offline constraints, visual and UI elements catered to switching between a language system: intuition over visual elements (icons) vs words, designing for a language with much longer characters than the English alphabetical system.

Given this was my first project being a solo designer in a team with developers, I was able to learn and develop a lot of my individual design skills, as well as learn what it means to properly engage in the teamwork and communication necessary to seamlessly translate the designs for the developers. I’m reallly grateful for a team + Mee Panyar that remained hardworking, optimistic, and joyful amid a year of remote meetings and other COVID induced circumstances.