Astraea
Evolving Design for Earth AI
Evolving Design for Earth AI
Astraea is the Greek goddess of innocence and an AI platform that combines cutting-edge technologies and analytics-ready satellite imagery.Astraea makes satellite data accessible and understandable for everyone who needs it: businesses, NGOs, government institutions, energy, and ecology initiatives.
Services
Web App design
UI/UX design
Earth OnDemand allows you to see detailed information about the selected zone, combining data from different sources of satellite imagery. You can choose which datasets you want to use: public or private.
EarthAI Notebook is a cloud-based code editor. You can take an image from Earth OnDemand and copy it to the notebook, thus transferring it to code. After that, an algorithm can be applied to analyze the image. For example, to find out the percentage of crops that have flourished on the field.
The clients wanted to simplify the interface of Earth OnDemand and make it more usable. We suggested a series of big changes that would revamp the design to fit it to the best standards of modern UX.
So, we focused on the little things that require little effort, but make a lot of difference. We didn’t touch visual style and went on with what was already there.
One of the first things was to simplify the search process. We added filters for fast sorting of information at the right.
To manage the overwhelming amount of information, the navigation menu is categorized, each category hiding behind an icon at the right side of the screen. By clicking on the icon, another menu can be opened or closed, such as Filters, Favorite, Downloads, and others.
Dark elements help to establish a visual hierarchy and highlight the key elements of the interface.
Monitoring can be done by choosing shots on the right side of the screen or by choosing the time period on the timeline at the bottom.
However, the client needed to have faster results.
Clean minimalist look is the basis of modern UX. How could we do it without starting all over from the wireframes? We decided to add an option of hiding the side menu when the user wants to focus on the map.
Such an elegant solution helped to visually “declutter” the interface in an instant.Initial designs were left on hold until Astraea has enough time and resources to implement a full-scale redesign of Earth OnDemand. We hope we will soon get to this point.
We were involved in the design process from the very start. In the beginning, we wanted to embed the product in the Earth OnDemand, but after some iterations decided to make it a separate unit.On the monitoring page, a user can see a long list of datasets available, from the newest ones to the old ones. On the right side, these datasets are shown as cards, with more detailed information.
It is the place where every product, however serious it is, gets to insert a little playful note. For Astraea, we did over 10 different options, with photos and custom illustrations. Here are some of them:
Apart from constant work on the development of Astraea products, we also got to work on a custom product for their client: Earth AI — Blackbear.
Blackbear analyzes locations and finds the best placing for solar panels. EarthAI makes such analysis as automated as possible. With the help of Earth AI — Blackbear people can see how much profit their solar panels will bring and how to reach maximum efficiency.
While designing, we had to be thinking of the future: the design should be available for usage in other products of Astraea as well as in the custom versions of the software made for their clients like Blackbear.
With high-resolution images provided by Satellite logic, it helps to plan logistics, taking into consideration the location of the armed forces.
In the times when all the world was #standingwithukraine, we were happy that our clients supported us in such a meaningful way.
One designer from Eleken was working on Astraea for over a year, adapting the design to new tasks and iterating a lot. That is a true startup spirit with all the challenges associated.
This is not the final version of the product design. It is yet to go through a number of iterations until it gets the shape of the real product.
Notebook AI is a product that connects code, satellite imagery, and artificial intelligence. However, we don’t think it has to be boring and complicated. Our suggestion for its design includes little fun elements, such as rocket illustrations in the place of the loading bar. Here are two versions of the same screen:
Astraea is a business with a strong feeling of purpose. Their product is available for the free use of public data. It is useful not only for businesses, but for NGOs as well. For example, ecologists could monitor the process of deforestation.
In 2022, Earth OnDemand came to an unexpected use. Together with our designers from Ukraine, they have launched a platform that provided precise satellite info for NGOs working on providing humanitarian help for the civil population of locations in Ukraine that suffered from the devastating shelling of the Russian army.
Updates of the datasets selected to monitor are shown in the menu on the right. Users can also leave their comments on the timeline to be able to better navigate through all the information.
The price tag is highlighted with accent orange so that a user can see how much the map will cost right away.
Need an MVP design for your product? Schedule a call with the Eleken team so we can negotiate all the details.
Design solutions depended on the developers’ capacities. That is why we were trying to reuse the elements of the old interface as much as possible: this made the work of developers faster and easier.
