Burris Logistics

Before you read...

I want to start off this section by saying the work done in this role is covered under multiple NDAs.  I can only enclose certain details without getting too specific. I apologize for the lack of images, I am not authorized to show them to the public.

While in the midst of the  BusOps and R&D contracts, I was asked by my manager at Dynamo  if I had more bandwidth to take on another project that shouldn't take up much time. In retrospect I was very busy, but I wanted to prove myself as someone Dynamo can reach out to for new work - and this was my opportunity.   So I accepted to take on this new work that ended up being quick but interesting nonetheless. 

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Burris Logistics handles the distribution of freight and  food service redistribution. They were a client of Dynamo's back when Dynamo began and the CEO at Dynamo has kept in touch with them in case of situations like this where they have tech requests. They have their own team of developers and designers, but they wanted to reach out for a consult on a new idea they had. Dynamo's CEO reached out to me to assist this request as he knew I have been doing well with BusOps and R&D. 

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Burris's team consisted of mostly stakeholders but did also have a few developers as well. We met and after introductions went through their design request. The request was to come up with potential enhancements to their Item Management Portal. This portal managed product information that is associated with distributors. They needed a clean way to be able to navigate through thousands of products while also being able to  mass-edit products so they do not have to duplicate work. 

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This was a seemingly simple  request, however after the demo of the current Item Management Portal this proved the request to be much more complex. One item could contain a plethora of information in regards to things like Vendor Location, Temperature Zones,  UOM Conversions, Food Safety Categories, etc. All of this information proved tough to display to the user in a clear UI upfront. 

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I created multiple lo-fi mockups to share with the stakeholders to see if my concepts of how the portal could look is actually viable. I had to go back and start from scratch one time  since the UI was not the right direction they wanted to go. After learning from my mistakes I was able to create a lo-fi mockup they wanted to expand more on. 

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Creating a hi-fi mockup of the portal required me to go through their old portal and replicate information in the mockup so they could fully understand my design approach. The mockups that I created were based on Material UI which utilized tabs heavily to organize multiple vendor's information within a singular item. I also was able to clearly indicate the actions a user could take by tweaking the color of buttons with certain states such as  making a "New Item" button pop out with a brighter green than what they were using before.

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After I created the hi-fi mockups there was no reason to create a prototype as they were able to come to an agreement internally that they designs in there current state were enough for developers to take action on. I  made sure with my CEO that this was ok and he said they were a  self-sufficient team and he is ok with them taking the reins from there.

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Overall I can confidentially say that even though I did not spend longer than 4 months working with them, I was able to create a mockup that suggested improvements to their current Item Management Portal as requested. The improvements  included items such as button visibility, button organization, use of iconography to save space, multi-select, color coding, modals, and introducing collapsible sections.

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TLDR: 

While juggling BusOps and R&D, I took on a short-term consulting project with Burris Logistics to enhance their Item Management Portal. Despite my packed schedule, I saw this as a chance to prove my reliability. The portal was complex, handling massive product data, and needed better usability for bulk edits and navigation. I iterated through lo-fi mockups, learning from early feedback, then delivered hi-fi designs based on Material UI with improvements like collapsible sections, better button visibility, and space-saving iconography. The client was happy with the final mockups and took them directly to development.

Lessons Learned

• What was pitched as a small effort turned out to be more complex due to the dense and layered nature of the data. Always dig deeper during initial scoping, especially when product complexity is involved.

• The first round of mockups missed the mark, but having the flexibility to pivot was key. I learned the value of approaching early mockups as explorations rather than near-final drafts.

• Understanding exactly how the client wanted to interact with complex data (e.g., multi-vendor views, bulk editing workflows) was crucial. Clarifying user pain points upfront could have helped avoid the first UI misstep.

• Using Material UI and breaking the interface into clear, repeatable patterns (like tabs and collapsible sections) helped simplify a very info-heavy portal. It was a good reminder that modular design is powerful for managing complexity.

• The high-fidelity mockups were detailed enough that the client’s dev team didn’t need a clickable prototype. This reinforced the importance of tailoring deliverables to the client’s needs and team maturity.

• Small tweaks like using color strategically, improving button hierarchy, and leveraging icons made a big difference in usability. It was a great reminder that even subtle UI choices can drastically improve user experience.