AGCO Tractor Mobile Interfaces
Communication with customers is a difficult task, especially when those customers speak multiple languages and include multiple cultures. AGCO teamed with User Insight to conduct contextual interviews in over 10 countries, resulting in the creation of a standardized design guide that communicated properly to all users.
AGCO, an agricultural equipment manufacturer with global presence, asked User Insight to develop a set of interface design guidelines that would create a common look and feel across brands for their in-cab computer terminals. To design a system that would meet user needs across regions and agricultural infrastructures, User Insight conducted research to determine best practices and interface requirements. Contextual interviews with 49 end-users in 5 countries revealed distinct user types and desired features and functionality. These findings informed design recommendations that AGCO developers implemented for their new product launch in order to effectively communicate with their customers on a global scale.
Client Goals
- Determine best practices for navigation, data entry, and information display across client and competitor brands.
- Gather insight regarding purchasing behavior and brand loyalty.
- Uncover desired features, functionality, and new product opportunities.
- Establish set of design guidelines for developers that create a common look and feel across brands and geographical regions.
- Develop a common icon library based on user feedback and design guidelines to reduce translation requirements.
Insights Gained
Through User Insight’s research, AGCO learned that
- Interface requirements were consistent within geographic regions but varied widely between regions.
- Interest, not age, determined how users employ technology.
- Users often received no training before use, so an intuitive interface design with a short learning curve was essential.
- Varying user needs were best met by an interface that emphasized simple, common tasks while making more complex features available.
Our Approach
- 49 interviews conducted simultaneously in 5 countries with multiple User Insight teams.
- User feedback was collected across brands (client and competitor), user types, and geographical regions to provide a representative cross section of customers.
- Stakeholder interviews with developers, marketing representatives, and equipment dealers to determine technical constraints and client goals.
- Performance of domestic interviews first to ensure the interview guide worked well before we translated it into other languages.
- Contextual interviews with owners and tractor operators on their farms to reveal how users interacted with terminals, common use cases, and opportunities to make them easier to use.
- Development of design guidelines and an HTML prototype.
- Testing of the prototype with users to confirm the design guidelines before AGCO developers used them.
Who we talked to
- Farm owners, tractor operators, and equipment dealers in:
- United States (Midwest and California)
- France
- Germany
- England
- Denmark
- Terminal interface developers, client marketing representatives in:
- United States (Midwest)
- France
- Germany