Caltec · 2017
I led product design for the mobile app and the web applications, covering experience and interface, from kick-off and initial research through to the final interfaces and validation. I worked across research with drivers and managers, service mapping with stakeholders, information architecture, wireframes, product visual identity and prototyping. Three products at once: mobile app, admin dashboard and client feedback dashboard.
The clash was between the scale of the operation and the total absence of information infrastructure: a logistics business with 80 years of history run entirely through informal channels. Communication with drivers happened with no record, freight status was invisible to managers and clients, and nothing guaranteed the correct procedure was followed. Just trust and improvisation.
A tracking app would only solve the tip of the problem. The real scope was redesigning the entire logistics service as a system: clear information flows between drivers, internal managers and end clients, and incentives that aligned driver behavior with company goals.
I worked with Lean UX, in short cycles of design and validation together with Caltec’s stakeholders. I started by immersing in the real context of drivers (who they are, how they work, what pressures and needs they have) before any product decision.
Service mapping was done together with the company’s stakeholders, identifying features essential to the solution’s efficiency. Benchmarking similar apps (direct competitors like TruckPad, Sontra and FreteBras; indirect ones like Uber and 99Taxi) guided interface pattern decisions.
Question: Who are the drivers providing services to Caltec, and what are their real needs and pressures?
What was done: Quantitative and qualitative questionnaires with drivers providing services to Caltec. Focus on understanding the work context, the main stress points, and communication and support needs during shipments.
Key finding: High stress tied to the dangers of the road and the need for financial return. The driver needs to speak directly with the company when something goes wrong, and needs to know when and how much they’ll be paid.
Artifact: Research-based user profile, with driver behaviors, needs and motivations.
Question: Which interface patterns are already familiar to drivers, and which work best for this use context?
What was done: Analysis of direct apps (TruckPad, Sontra, FreteBras) and indirect ones (Uber, 99Taxi, Cabify), looking at interface patterns, freight-acceptance flows, map visualization and status communication.
Key finding: Preference for objective interfaces, focused on map, routes and freight value. Truck drivers use the app in difficult conditions, so a complex interface simply doesn’t work.
Artifact: Interface pattern references applied to the +Fretes Caltec design.
Question: How does the limestone transport process work today, end to end, and what features are essential for the solution’s efficiency?
What was done: Service mapping workshop with Caltec stakeholders, covering the complete transport flow (from origin to delivery) and identifying the communication, control and decision points along the way.
Key finding: Several communication points happened through informal channels, with no record. With no real-time tracking, managers and clients were left in the dark about freight status. And drivers had no formal channel to report unexpected events.
Artifact: Service map with the information flows between drivers, managers and clients, pointing out gaps and essential features.
Problem: Drivers needed to quickly grasp the app’s value, and sign-up had to be smooth so it didn’t become a barrier to entry.
Design decision: I designed the onboarding to communicate the core proposition (a fast, easy and safe way to earn money hauling freight), with a smooth, segmented sign-up. The reward system was already visible on first contact with the product.
Problem: Drivers needed a clear incentive to follow Caltec’s correct procedures. Rules with no visible consequence get low adherence.
Design decision: Reward for completing a shipment following all procedures, something tangible to encourage the right behavior. The app also works as roadside support: direct communication with the company in case of an unexpected event (accident, delay, mechanical issue), so drivers have somewhere to ask for help without having to improvise.
Problem: Drivers, managers and clients needed to see shipment status, and that information had to reach all three profiles at the same time.
Design decision: Map as the central feature for viewing routes and status, with notifications for relevant alerts during the shipment. The interface stays focused on the most critical information (position, status and communication), with no noise.
Problem: Managers had no real-time visibility into the position and status of shipments in progress.
Design decision: Web panel to monitor the fleet: truck position, status of each shipment, and operational indicators. The interface is built for decision-making, with information organized so managers can glance and immediately see what requires action.
Problem: The product needed its own identity, grounded in the Caltec brand but without falling into the generic, communicating the “digital renewal” positioning and the concept “More freight, made easier, all across Brazil.”
Design decision: Logo with a ”+” formed by two directional arrows, a reference to the product name and to the idea of movement and growth. I built the identity on Caltec’s institutional colors, adapted for digital and mobile.
Mobile app, management dashboard and client dashboard, with information shared in real time across all three profiles. Before the project, these flows didn’t exist at all.
Drivers gained a formal channel to report unexpected events. Dependence on informal channels ended, and events throughout shipments started being recorded.
The project positioned Caltec as a company investing in technology and innovation, a real differentiator in a market where logistics management is still almost entirely analog.
The deliverable was a mobile app, but the problem called for service design. The app was the most visible layer of a bigger effort: mapping how information needed to flow between drivers, managers and clients for the whole system to work. Immersion in the drivers’ context is what made the product relevant. The research pointed to a very specific use, one that called for an objective interface, direct communication, and screens that hold up under difficult conditions. Without that diagnosis, the product would have come out generic.
Mapping information flows between all actors before designing any interface became part of how I approach projects with multiple user profiles. When a product serves B2B and B2C at the same time, looking only at each profile’s interface isn’t enough: you can get it badly wrong without understanding the entire value chain. The mapping method that stuck pays off more over time than the screens I delivered back then.
I’d define success metrics right at the start of the diagnosis, even if only estimated. The lack of clear KPIs got in the way of properly evaluating the product’s real impact after launch. When a client has no metrics culture, helping define what to measure is also a design decision, and it should be part of Discovery from day one.