We designed an IoT solution to support supply chain and warehousing needs yet simple enough for the keen amateur.
Zebra Technologies provide tracking solutions for warehousing and supply chain management. Historically, they are know for barcode printers but they were interested in expanding their NFC technology offer.
Zebra and IDEO collaborated to create Zatar, a user-friendly IoT platform designed with business enterprises and the supply chain in mind.
We encouraged Zebra to approach the project with the spirit of a startup. They set up shop a few doors down from IDEO’s Chicago office, and we got to work building a new brand and the user experience.
Zatar is a simple, intuitive interface can be accessed from any smartphone, tablet or computer. Each connected device has its own profile page, and every profile page has the same layout.
Zatar allows business operation managers to easily prototype their own IoT solutions and then scale them across their entire company.
The platform allows users to spend more time on innovating rather than maintaining as it means that more maintenance can be done proactively, rather than reactively.
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• Create a user-friendly IoT platform designed with business enterprises and the supply chain in mind
• A Project Lead (mechanical engineer), a writer and me
• A 12 week project
• A follow-on project was initiated to refine our design, produce final visuals and make the design production ready
This was one of the most interesting projects I've been on in terms of research and inspiration. We got a chance to talk to experts at MIT and people doing some cutting edge stuff out in Silicon Valley. It felt like a chance to design something in a space that was—and in my opinion still is—very much in the process of being defined. Since this project I've done some more thinking about IoT and I'm currently working on a small side project focused and reflecting on the next step of IoT.