TRICK Project Partner Domina Becomes University Training Vehicle

The circular economy is a current hot topic that has an impact on numerous activities in which tangible results are also expected in the long run. Given the relevance of preparing today's students for tomorrow's challenges by including them in the research and initiatives relating to a more sustainable growth now, the matter heavily concerns education.

European projects play a role in the learning experience actions connected, for example, with responsible approaches to production and markets: the decision of Domina to incorporate interns from the University of Turin in TRICK is evidence of that. Among them, Alessia Casagrande, stands out with the conclusion of a brilliant graduation thesis on the application of UI design in the development of TRICK platform for product traceability.

The role of Domina in TRICK

The subject topic UI solution for the creation of a data collection and traceability platform supporting the conversion of the Textile-Clothing and Food industrial sectors into a sustainable business takes inspiration from the activities carried out by Domina in TRICK ecosystem. The Italian IT provider as Technical Manager and Technical Responsible of the project platform development, and thanks to its knowledge of manufacturers’ IT system, contributes to the project’s challenging aims with wide-ranging actions. Among them, Domina leads the Work Package 2 “Development of Trick Platform” also dealing with the design and development of the front-end dashboards of the traceability platform (Task 2.5). The task is expected to design and implement the dashboards on the basis of the feedbacks gathered by all the end-users in order to improve and update the usability of the tool. This was the scenario for the research work, which sized the scope of T2.5 by identifying the possible users of the main interaction flows. 

The use of UI design in TRICK platform implementation

Domina’s trainee Alessia Casagrande joined a team of multidisciplinary experts in UX and UI as junior UX designer. During this time she laid the foundations and developed the arguments behind the thesis that earned her a bachelor's degree in Social Innovation, Communication and New Technologies. The paper aims to present the different phases of User Interface ideation and development of a platform for product traceability, in the context of circular economy and within TRICK project activities. 

The thesis starts from the analysis and collection of requirements and goes through the study of trends in UI design to create a preliminary wireframe, investigating the various stages and processes involved in the design and creation of the UI platform: 

• Identification of needs and collection of requirements on the basis of the analytical documents already produced within the project; 
• Creation of Personas representing the typical users of the solution with their needs; 
• Creation of scenarios that explain how a Persona completes a task using the designed solution; 
• Study of trends in UI design;
• Production of wireframes to illustrate the ideated interaction concept. 

Background and methodological framework: how to design and develop a thesis in a EU project context

The thesis builds on TRICK project objective to contribute to moving industrial processes of Textile Clothing and Food sectors from a linear to a circular flow. An aim strictly connected with traceability and transparency of all the supply chain steps, that the project pursues through the use of blockchain technology, supporting all the traceability solutions offered by the TRICK platform. The thesis foundation was based on applying these concepts to an initial wireframe for desktop solution, in constant exchange and guidance of a UX design expert. The proposed draft includes all the action an end-user can take making use of the platform, but as TRICK project has a very long duration, the solution presented in the thesis does not represent the final version: it can be assumed as a first proposal which will be subject to future changes as the project develops and progresses.

(Image credits: Domina)