The Problem
Design and build an operating system for vertical farms - a greenfield industry with hundreds of unknown unknowns. A technical prototype needed to become a production-ready system serving plant scientists, engineers, and farm staff across multiple countries and languages, all managing complex growing environments in real-time.
Two interconnected challenges emerged: GTMS (Growth Tower Management System) needed to surface critical operational data without overwhelming users, and a design system (Eco) was needed to provide consistent, accessible components that could scale across the entire platform, adapt to diverse user needs and meet developers where they were.
My Approach
A dual-track approach: building Eco as the design system foundation while simultaneously designing and implementing GTMS as its first major application.
- Research & validation
- Design system first
- Iterative development
- Progressive disclosure
My Role
- Lead Product Designer - Sole designer responsible for all UI/UX decisions across the platform
- Design System Architect - Created and maintained Eco from concept through implementation, documented in Storybook
- Frontend Developer - Authored nearly 50% of the production frontend code, translating designs directly into functional interfaces
- Cross-functional collaborator - Worked directly with 3 product owners and developers across product, data, and research teams
Impact & Results
- Adoption: Eco became the standard design system across IGS, used by multiple teams and apps.
- Velocity: Reusable components significantly reduced development time for new features - teams could build consistent interfaces without starting from scratch
- Satisfaction: GTMS successfully served plant scientists and farm operators across multiple countries, providing clear visibility into complex growing operations
- Scale: System managed real vertical farming operations with 50+ towers, processing thousands of environmental readings and growth jobs daily
- Accessibility: Eco enforced consistent interaction patterns, color contrast ratios, and keyboard navigation across the entire platform