Real-time event notifications, located all in one place

The system has two central dashboards: Quotes (for sending and receiving price quotes) and Loads (for communication, document sharing, and tracking). Each dashboard shows multiple loads with private chats and sends quote requests to carriers for direct negotiations. Dispatchers had to monitor updates like messages or changes in quotes or loads — but the current interface only provided simple notifications, forcing dispatchers to switch between dashboard pages to check for updates indicated by a small blue icon.

A system that promptly alerts users about essential events — accessible throughout the application. We added a filtering feature allowing users to customize and receive only the notifications relevant to them.

Brokers, shippers, and carriers in this industry need to constantly communicate — particularly during price negotiations for lanes (start and end points of a journey). A shipper might request quotes from 100 carriers and chat with 20 at once. Prices vary by mile and depend on route difficulty, weather, load type, and fuel surcharges. Missing a notification can cost real money.

• Reduce dispatcher stress by building trust in the system
• Ensure timely and accurate notifications for load updates
• Cut down the time dispatchers spend on resolving issues
• Prevent delays and misunderstandings among involved parties
• Provide a centralized overview of all events

I gained insight into essential needs through unstructured interviews with experts, stakeholders, customers, and dispatchers.

Exploring iconography, colors, the information needed for each event, and the position of elements in each card. Early on, users could not distinguish between seen and unseen events — a signal I needed to improve read/unread affordances.

Based on feedback from initial concepts, I realized the necessity of tailoring the platform to meet the diverse needs of users. Dispatchers focus on managing exceptions and messages tied to loads. Accountants review account balances for completed loads. Other users are involved in quoting and sending RFQs. Each had different filtering priorities.

• Centralized real-time event notifications
• Simplified issue resolution — directly impacted the business
• Dispatchers could multitask without losing context
• Significantly reduced miscommunications
• Personalized filtering reduced information overload