American Tree Farm System
The problem
Apt Media subcontracted with the James W. Sewall Company to design a new user interface for the American Tree Farm System’s certification database. The database is used by hundreds of people, from state administrators to forest inspectors. The design had to work for all levels of access. Our first job was to digest and interpret the 24 distinct use cases outlined in the documentation.
Our solution
Databases need to be highly functional, but that doesn’t mean boring and ugly. Apt’s login page creates a space that’s calming and attractive, and that reminds users what the ultimate purpose of the certification program is: healthy, sustainable forests.
Behind the scenes
Based on Sewall’s detailed use cases, we created detailed wireframes for the data entry screens. Our annotated wireframes turned up several content issues that had not been addressed previously, some of which affected the database structure. We met with Sewall and ATFS to present and resolve these issues before the design phase.
Inside the design
Apt’s design keeps most functions to a single screen by dynamically adding fields as new content is required. Users first search for a record they want to update. The selected record appears below the search area, making it easy to add or change multiple records from the same screen. Our final deliverable was front-end code for approximately 18 patterns.
