Recycling Partners Portal

This was a high-stakes rescue project for Product Care Canada, a national organization coordinating environmental recycling operations. After a failed engagement with a previous consultant, they came to us skeptical and unsure. I took full ownership of the project and led it from uncertainty to successful launch—delivering a beautiful, fully functional, and widely adopted system that met both their operational and branding goals.

The Challenge

Product Care needed a complex web portal that would:

• Seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Dynamics and its accounting system

• Support decentralized recycling operations across Canada

• Enable service providers to log materials, manage shipments, and generate compliant documents

• Deliver a visually polished UI that conformed to their strict branding standards

Their prior consultant was unable to meet these needs, and trust was low when the project began.

My Role & Approach

I stepped in as the lead designer and front-end architect, owning both the UX process and the delivery path. Key milestones included:

• Rebuilding trust by scoping clear deliverables and aligning around shared outcomes

• Conducting extensive UX research and producing mutually approved research summaries

• Creating detailed storyboards and interactive paper prototypes to simulate user flows

  • View wireframe document (PDF)

• Leading usability testing across Canada with real-world partners, which validated design decisions and generated widespread excitement

• Working in close tandem with a backend developer—we co-authored a shared API spec and developed in parallel

• Building the front-end as a responsive AngularJS single-page application

• Collaborating on the backend in Python/Flask

• Extending Microsoft Dynamics directly by creating custom tables, fields, and back-office screen designs

Results & Impact

• The final product launched flawlessly—visually aligned with their branding and functionally complete out of the box

  • View prototype document (PDF)

• The client was so impressed with the design-led process that they mandated all future work (with any vendor) follow the same UX-first methodology

• This project stands as a clear, real-world proof case for design-driven development—delivering value, trust, and functionality through intentional discovery and iteration