2025
Product design
UI/UX design
Animation
Project manager: Jildemarie Brower
Design: Egor Gerasimov
Additional designs: Atom studio
IDH (The Sustainable Trade Initiative) is a global organization that works with businesses, governments, and civil society to drive sustainable development in agricultural and commodity supply chains. Their mission is to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and promote more inclusive, resilient, and environmentally responsible trade practices.
Smallholder farmers produce a third of the world’s food but often live below the poverty line. While companies acknowledge the need to support them, many lack tools to make informed, data-driven decisions. The original Income Driver Calculator (IDC) had strong data potential but fell short in usability and clarity. As a designer, the challenge was to turn a technically sound but underused tool into an intuitive platform that supports strategic decision-making.
In partnership with IDH and Akvo, we redesigned the IDC to be intuitive, scenario-driven, and insight-focused. We simplified the user flow, built a clear visual language for data interpretation, and created interactive dashboards that allow users to model different income strategies. The result was a clean, accessible interface that enables users to navigate complex information and take confident, informed actions.
Product design, UI/UX design, Animation
As a designer, my role in developing the Income Driver Calculator (IDC) was to translate a complex socioeconomic challenge into a clear, actionable, and visually intuitive tool. In collaboration with IDH and Akvo, we created a web-based platform aimed at helping companies address the living income gap among smallholder farmers - a critical issue in global agriculture.
The design process began with deep research and stakeholder engagement to understand the needs of both smallholder farmers and the companies supporting them. I focused on identifying key user goals and pain points in the existing tool, then developed user flows and wireframes that prioritized simplicity and clarity. Iterative prototyping and user testing allowed us to refine the interface, ensuring that complex data could be explored intuitively through interactive visualisations and scenario-building features.
Collaboration with data experts and developers throughout the process ensured the final design was both visually engaging and technically feasible, resulting in a tool that empowers users to make data-driven decisions with confidence.
At the core of the Income Driver Calculator is a clear, data-driven framework designed to break down and analyse the components that influence household income for smallholder farmers. The model is built around five key drivers: land area, production volume, price, cost of production, and diversified income.
The calculation starts with the primary commodity, where household income is estimated by multiplying the land area under cultivation by the volume of production per hectare and then by the market price. From this gross income, the cost of production is subtracted to determine net earnings from the primary commodity.
to reflect the full income picture, any additional or diversified income streams such as secondary crops or non-farming activities are added to this result. The outcome is a comprehensive estimate of a household's total income, which can then be compared against living income benchmarks to assess gaps and model effective interventions.
In addition to designing the Income Driver Calculator platform, we also developed a dedicated landing page to serve as a central hub for IDH’s suite of income measurement tools. This landing page not only showcases the IDC but also features five other complementary tools designed to support companies and stakeholders in assessing and improving smallholder farmers’ incomes. The goal was to create a cohesive and user-friendly gateway that makes it easy for users to explore, compare, and access the full range of resources available from IDH, enhancing the overall impact and visibility of their income measurement initiatives.
The redesigned IDC now helps companies better understand and address income gaps in their supply chains. With clearer visualisation, improved navigation, and tailored insights, it supports more effective interventions for smallholder farmers. From a design standpoint, this project demonstrates how strong UX and data storytelling can drive both engagement and social impact.
