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Pioneering Miner Safety: The Innovative System That Saves Lives Underground
Platform
Tablet & Desktop
My Role
UX (Product) Designer
Responsibility
End-to-end UX/UI design
Company
QSSTUDIO
Context
SCT Operations is a mining technology consultancy committed to advancing safety standards.
Problem
How might we use digital technology to prevent fatal work incidents, like roof falls, by providing real-time monitoring of the mining site?
Goal
Create a system, RockSHIELD, that integrates with displacement sensor hardware to set up and monitor the onsite mining environment.
Project duration
49
weeks
50+
App Screens
75+
Web Screens
Impact
I led the end-to-end design process for the RockSHIELD software system, which was approved by stakeholders and has been shipped.
Team
QSSTUDIO
Mandy - UX Designer
Robin - Full Stack Developer
Prince - Full Stack Developer
Kinzey - Frontend Developer
Irene - Project Coordinator
SCT Operations
Stuart - Principal Geotechnical Engineer
Paul - Senior Instrumentation Engineer
Adrian - Director Geotechnical Engineer
Unbound Designs
David - Hardware Engineer
Tom - Hardware Engineer
Process
01
Empathise
Stakeholder Interviews
Secondary Research
02
Conceptualise
Journey Map
Information Architecture
Workflows
Wireframes
Design Guide
Visual Design
03
Validate
Usability Testing
Implementing Feedback
Empathise
Research approaches
Embarking on my inaugural project within the mining industry, I recognised the need for thorough research to gain comprehensive insights and expertise in this domain.
Key insight 1
Harsh environment to read in the underground mine site
The underground environment is dark, humid, dusty and hot (56-60°C). People at the mine site wear masks and safety goggles with a dim ambience.
Key insight 2
A system that talks to sensor hardware with different scenarios
Based on different use case scenarios and target users, we divided the system into two parts for different purposes.
Key insight 3
Understand hardware infrastructure
The hardware hierarchy is one of the key things to understand when designing for an IoT project. Understand how it works and how it communicates.
Design principles
01
Accessible
Enhance the readability under harsh reading conditions.
02
Simple
Focus on the functionality. Making it easy to navigate is the first priority.
03
Consistent
Make sure users have a consistent experience across the system.
Conceptualise
Define App framework
I designed an information architecture to organise the information in a clear and intuitive structure.
Then, I created workflows to break down complex tasks and visualise the process to make it more transparent about how it should be done.
Design guide for consistency
After the wireframes got approved by the clients, I followed the atomic design and defined the buttons, navigation bar, text fields, ... etc. from smaller components, to make the design more consistent.
Validate
User testing to validate the design and ensure its usability
I created clickable prototypes on Figma and facilitated the user testing workshop online with 3 geotech engineers.
Goal of the validation
Tested the overall navigation and workflows and identified if there were any usability issues.
Key Learning 1 - Optimising Navigation
Prioritise quicker access to frequently used features.
Key Learning 2 - Enhancing User Experience
Isolate an action button from the editing page to minimise false installation settings.
Provide contextual information before entering the Setup page
Key Learning 3 - Improving User Guidance
Final Design
Follow the design principles: Accessible, Clear, Consistent
Having considered the app's use case scenario, I crafted a dark theme that significantly reduced eye strain for underground users and elevated their overall experience.
Design highlights
-
Tree hierarchy
-
Informative properties box
Result
RockSHEILD won a pitch at IMARC (International Mining and Resources Conference) and is now piloting installations in hard rock mines in Australia and New Zealand.
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