Concept

The Sourcery envisioned the Connect App as a transformative tool to empower farmers, merchants, and brands by simplifying trade while ensuring traceability of goods. This app is designed to enable users to trade, collect, and verify extensive commercial, environmental, social, and transactional data in real time, creating new opportunities for farmers to generate revenue by selling their data. With a focus on certified organic products, the app captures granular data—including timestamps, geolocation, and transaction details—to support transparency and ethical trading practices.

Execution

The development of the Connect App involved addressing complex requirements for traceability, security, and usability under varying data accessibility conditions:

• Data Traceability and Blockchain Integration: Given the client’s need to capture highly granular data for traceability, the trading flow was designed to log transactions on the blockchain via the Bluenumber (B#) ecosystem. Each user is assigned a unique B# ID, ensuring that all transactions can be securely tracked back to origin. This blockchain integration adds a layer of verifiability critical for organic certification standards.

• Offline Functionality and Synchronization: Many app users, especially farmers, may not have consistent internet access. To address this, the app supports offline data entry, allowing users to log transactions and other activities even without connectivity. Once online, the app synchronizes this data to ensure complete, up-to-date records. For added security, authentication integrates OTP and restricts each phone number to a single Bluenumber ID.

• Design System and UI Development: I crafted the entire UI, including a design system featuring a component library, color tokens aligned with The Sourcery’s branding, and text styles. Custom icons and graphic elements were created to maintain a cohesive and intuitive user interface. This design system facilitated a smooth developer hand-off, ensuring consistency and efficiency throughout the development process.

• UX Research and Secure Trading Flow: The app’s trading flow was designed to empower users while protecting farmers from exploitation. The UX design allows farmers to connect and trade only with verified users by scanning QR codes, which restricts contact between farmers and brands to avoid potential exploitation. Additionally, the Trust Line feature connects farmers directly with a Sourcery representative if issues arise.

Results

With the Connect App soon to launch, The Sourcery is positioned to securely collect, verify, anonymize, and sell data on behalf of farmers who opt in for data sales. The app’s design enables The Sourcery to gather collective data from thousands of farmers, providing valuable insights on real-time market prices and crop details, which can support predictive market modeling and ethical pricing.

Farmers will have control over their data and transactions, with protections in place to ensure fair trade. Through the app’s secure and traceable trading flow, they will be able to negotiate, offer, and sell produce with confidence, connecting only to trusted users. The app’s design fosters a trusted and transparent ecosystem, transforming The Sourcery’s vision of ethical trade into a user-centered experience.