PROJECT OVERVIEW
In Context
1. WHAT
Monitora Milho SC — corn pest monitoring app
A mobile app that enables corn farmers in Santa Catarina, Brazil, to track and log sightings of the corn leafhopper (Dalbulus maidis), feeding that data into a monitoring system used by researchers and scientists.
2. USERS
Small and Medium Corn Farmers living in Santa Catarina.
3. CONSTRAINS
No direct access to target users. Budget and timeline ruled out in-depth interviews, participatory design, or usability testing in the field. Management skipped the wireframing phase for faster delivery.
4. OUTCOMES
Delivered within a 3-week sprint: a complete interactive prototype built on secondary research, UX persona, and informal user interviews, despite limited research access.
5. IMPACT
Puts actionable pest control intelligence in farmers' hands, helping them make timely decisions to protect the local crops from stunting disease. Accessibility-led design, using larger fonts, in-app tutorials, and shape-based map indicators, making the app user-friendly for senior users.
6. OWNERSHIP
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Secondary research (Brazilian census data)
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Defined UX persona
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Conducted unstructured interviews
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Created experience map / journey map
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Designed user flow
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Built high-fidelity mockups
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Developed interactive prototype
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Built a handoff-ready design system with Figma tokens
The Best of Our Features
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Feature Title
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Share your feature information here to attract new clients. Provide a brief summary to help visitors understand the context and background, and add details about what makes this feature significant.
Feature Title
Share your feature information here to attract new clients. Provide a brief summary to help visitors understand the context and background, and add details about what makes this feature significant.
Feature Title
Share your feature information here to attract new clients. Provide a brief summary to help visitors understand the context and background, and add details about what makes this feature significant.
THE PROJECT
Bridging the field
and the lab
The Monitora Milho SC app was created to help the corn production sector in Santa Catarina access information about corn stunting. With the app, users can track the presence of the corn leafhopper (Dalbulus maids) in areas where the insect is being monitored and report it to scientists.
The leafhopper transmits diseases that cause stunting in corn. The app can also show whether the leafhopper is infected with the pathogens responsible for stunting, such as the phytoplasma that causes red stunting, the spiroplasma that causes pale stunting, and the maize stripe virus.
THE CHALLENGE
How to design
for users
you can't reach?
Designing a pest-monitoring app for rural corn farmers in Brazil, with no budget for field research, no access to real users, and only 3 weeks to deliver.
AGILE RESEARCH STRATEGY
Understanding
The Users
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Understand the Users: Brazilian Census
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Unstructured interview with the client who has direct access to the user.
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Unstructured Interview with a farmer family member who fits the demographics of the main user (authorised by the company), who informed the persona creation and experience map.
DESIGNED FOR KIDS
Research Tools
Research Plan
For this study, we used a mixed-methods design to collect qualitative and quantitative data during focus groups with children, the robot, and the teacher in a controlled environment. We designed self-report assessments and planned video and audio recordings of interactions with Haru through the activities we created for the focus groups, as well as field notes.
This session highlights the process of designing the child-centred self-report assessments and the ideation of focus group activities.
Corn Pest Monitoring App
Empowering Corn Farmers with Real-Time Data Monitoring
ROLE
UX/UI Designer
TOOLS
Figma, Microsoft 365 & llustrator
TIMELINE
3 weeks agile sprint - 2022
TEAM
1 UX/UI Designer, 2 Devs, 1 Product Manager
CLIENT
EPAGRI - Agricultural Research and Rural Extension
Company of Santa Catarina
1.0 Brazilian Censu
This was one of the most important pieces of information I collected during my brief research. Because of it, I understood which accessibility strategies to take since it showed some characteristics of the people who would most likely use the app.
This graph shows the demographic information about small and medium farmers in that region.
2.0 PERSONA
The census pointed out that most farmers in Brazil were middle-aged men who had studied only through the fifth grade of elementary school.
To complement my learning, I talked to my father and my uncle, who are small corn farmers in another part of Brazil, and asked specific questions that encompassed pain points and core needs.
3.0 EXPERIENCE MAP
With the information I collected from the data above through secondary research and unstractured interviews, I put together a small experience map of the life of this general user before designing the monitoring app, to visualize what would be the role's and opportunities of the app in this existing journey.
IMPACT
By committing to research even within tight constraints, desk research, census data, and informal interviews drove important accessibility and user-centred design decisions.
UX/UI DESIGN
Outcomes
With no wireframing phase and a 3-week timeline, the process moved directly from research insights to user flow to high-fidelity prototype. Every design decision was grounded in what the data revealed about the user. An informal usability test was also conducted on the prototype with a participant who matched the target demographic.
1.0 User Flow
1- Designing for poor connectivity
In rural Brazil, internet access in crop fields can be unreliable. An offline save state lets farmers fill in their report on the spot and submit when they're back in range — no data lost, no frustration.
2- Minimising manual input
Coordinates auto-populate during reporting, reducing the cognitive overload. The form was designed to require as little typing as possible.
3- Embedded tutorials for clarity
The action is familiar, the interaction pattern is not. Drawing on informal testing, secondary research, and lived experience, it was observed that elderly users needed explicit step-by-step guidance through the photo-taking and upload flow, not because they lack technical skill, but because the interaction pattern differs from their phone's native camera.
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2.o PROTOTYPE
Accessibility over aesthetics:
The map uses shapes alongside colours to represent pest density, ensuring data is readable for users with colour blindness.
Larger font sizes and a persistent bottom navigation bar were applied consistently
These decisions were grounded in the demographic insights and accessibility best practices identified during desk research.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Data Resource
Research drew on Brazil's 2017 national census — the most recent available — broad in scope, covering all agricultural activities rather than focus corn farmers specifically.
Priorisation
Given time and budget constraints, focus was placed on the primary demographic — middle-aged men, the largest segment, allowing for more targeted insights into the core audience.
Recommendations
With more resources, the research would have benefited from targeted surveys, in-depth interviews, and participatory design workshops.
Future phases should validate findings with underrepresented groups — women and younger farmers — to ensure the design scales inclusively.
