Industry
Logistics
Company
Transfix
What is Transfix?
Transfix is a logistics intelligence and marketplace platform, combining AI-powered freight matching, easy-to-use software, and expert support. It helps organizations deliver reliably, plan strategically, reduce empty miles, and optimize their networks efficiently.
My role
Product Designer
Responsibilities
Building and maintaining the Transfix design system
Define visual design guidelines across the org
Work with frontend counterpart to align design and code
Brand and marketing design
Impact
Helped secure Series B and
C through design efforts
Created a design system
for 4 designers
Decreased time between
design and code by 2x
Style guidelines for the wrong use case
The existing interface was using patterns that were designed for editorial content, not data heavy, interactive content
Fundraising efforts that prioritized design as a key criterion
A rapid overhaul of the user interface was essential for successful fundraising
No source of truth for product and engineering teams
Engineers and designers were not unified on what design patterns to use
When I inherited brand guidelines originally designed for editorial content, it quickly became clear they couldn’t support the needs of a data-driven product. To address this, I had to start from scratch, rethinking every element to prioritize legibility, accessibility, and functionality. The shipments list was a core part of the product that was used by the ops team as a decision making factor. From this list they could see everything about a shipment at a glance and be able to determine if something required critical attention.
At Transfix, design played a pivotal role in showcasing our vision and reliability to investors.
By evolving the visual design from version 1.0 to 1.5, I increased the usability of the product and proved to investors that our interface supported business goals, which resulted in a successful Series B. Version 2.0 of the design system contributed to a successful Series C.
A continuous effort of improving the design system during Version 3.0 was to create documentation, and to apply new branding styles.
Accessibility should be addressed early
I’ve learned that spending time upfront to define clear and scalable color guidelines in a design system is crucial. A lot of confusion could have been avoided.
Simpler is better
Distributing the design system was a challenge because Sketch did not have an easy way to share a library of components at the time. I spent a lot of time trying to engineer a bunch of janky solutions when emailing a file would've done the job.
Ask for help
I took a lot of pride in my work and did not ask for help. My ego ended up costing the team time when someone else with the expertise could have solved the problem faster.