Designing Digital Cultivation
Designing Digital Cultivation
Designing Digital Cultivation
Simplifying Complex Farm Data
Simplifying Complex Farm Data
Simplifying Complex Farm Data
As the lead product designer and product manager, I led the end-to-end development of Digital Cultivation, an AI-powered farm management platform that transforms overwhelming farm data into an intuitive, actionable experience.
As the lead product designer and product manager, I led the end-to-end development of Digital Cultivation, an AI-powered farm management platform that transforms overwhelming farm data into an intuitive, actionable experience.
Scope
UX Design
Data Visualization
Industries
AgTech
Turning Complexity into Clarity
Turning Complexity into Clarity
Digital Cultivation completely rethinks how farm data should be structured and visualized.
Digital Cultivation completely rethinks how farm data should be structured and visualized.
The Brief
The Brief
The Brief
Making Sense of Farm Data
Making Sense of Farm Data
Indoor vertical farms are complex ecosystems with thousands of plants, interconnected environmental controls, and dozens of data streams. Traditionally, this information is scattered across spreadsheets, clipboards, and disjointed systems, making daily tasks overwhelming and error-prone.
One of the biggest challenges was breaking down these complexities into a system that felt effortless to navigate. How could we ensure growers could instantly find what matters most, like crop health or environmental alerts, without getting lost in data overload?
Balancing simplicity with the depth of information was key to every design decision made.
Indoor vertical farms are complex ecosystems with thousands of plants, interconnected environmental controls, and dozens of data streams. Traditionally, this information is scattered across spreadsheets, clipboards, and disjointed systems, making daily tasks overwhelming and error-prone.
One of the biggest challenges was breaking down these complexities into a system that felt effortless to navigate. How could we ensure growers could instantly find what matters most, like crop health or environmental alerts, without getting lost in data overload?
Balancing simplicity with the depth of information was key to every design decision made.
The Solution
The Solution
The Solution
Building A Visual-First Platform
Building A Visual-First Platform
The primary solution was an intutive user experience that mirrored how growers naturally think. I built a dual-view interface that toggles between physical farm layouts and time-based workflows, and crafting visual cues like growth stages of the plants and color-coded health indicators to make data instantly understandable.
Every feature was driven by the idea that complex data should empower, not overwhelm. And we made sure the platform was future-ready, with a flexible design system that could grow alongside the platform.
The primary solution was an intutive user experience that mirrored how growers naturally think. I built a dual-view interface that toggles between physical farm layouts and time-based workflows, and crafting visual cues like growth stages of the plants and color-coded health indicators to make data instantly understandable.
Every feature was driven by the idea that complex data should empower, not overwhelm. And we made sure the platform was future-ready, with a flexible design system that could grow alongside the platform.
The Process
The Process
The Process
The design journey was deeply user-driven and evolved through countless iterations, each cycle informed by direct user insights and farm operations. Every decision was grounded in one principle: the data should work for the user, not the other way around.
The project evolved through three phases:
- from a tablet demo,
- to a mobile-first version
- expanding to a web-based platform.
We learned through these interactions that while mobile was great for task-based workflows, it was the web interface that truly unlocked the ability to handle the immense data scale of these farms.
I introduced a formal sprint workflow that kept us focused on what mattered most, especially in the early stages. We started small, prioritizing core features for immediate deployment, then layered in advanced functionality as the app matured. This incremental, user-centered approach meant growers always had a tool that met them where they were, not a bloated platform that overwhelmed them.
The design journey was deeply user-driven and evolved through countless iterations, each cycle informed by direct user insights and farm operations. Every decision was grounded in one principle: the data should work for the user, not the other way around.
The project evolved through three phases:
- from a tablet demo,
- to a mobile-first version
- expanding to a web-based platform.
We learned through these interactions that while mobile was great for task-based workflows, it was the web interface that truly unlocked the ability to handle the immense data scale of these farms.
I introduced a formal sprint workflow that kept us focused on what mattered most, especially in the early stages. We started small, prioritizing core features for immediate deployment, then layered in advanced functionality as the app matured. This incremental, user-centered approach meant growers always had a tool that met them where they were, not a bloated platform that overwhelmed them.
The Impact
The Impact
The Impact
A Platform That Empowers Growers
A Platform That Empowers Growers
Before Digital Cultivation:
Data scattered across five tools, requiring a lot of searching to find one data point
Growers unsure where to focus first
New staff spending days to learn the system
After Digital Cultivation:
All critical data: plants, environment, tasks unified in a single, intuitive dashboard
Data retrieval in seconds, not minutes
Seamless onboarding: New team members productive within hours
A system built to scale, from research-scale farms to massive commercial operations
The guiding philosophy has been: care for the user first, and let that guide everything else. That's why this project turned farm management into something growers could feel confident about, not frustrated by.
Before Digital Cultivation:
Data scattered across five tools, requiring a lot of searching to find one data point
Growers unsure where to focus first
New staff spending days to learn the system
After Digital Cultivation:
All critical data: plants, environment, tasks unified in a single, intuitive dashboard
Data retrieval in seconds, not minutes
Seamless onboarding: New team members productive within hours
A system built to scale, from research-scale farms to massive commercial operations
The guiding philosophy has been: care for the user first, and let that guide everything else. That's why this project turned farm management into something growers could feel confident about, not frustrated by.
I'm drawn to teams who believe great products are both meticulously crafted and beautifully designed.
If that sounds like you, we should talk.
I'm drawn to teams who believe great products are both meticulously crafted and beautifully designed.
If that sounds like you, we should talk.
