TankMix
— A Global UX Research Program
A global AgriTech mobile application developed by Yara International, used by farmers and agrochemical technicians worldwide to manage spray program decisions in the field. This case study documents the hybrid UX research program I led as Front-to-End Senior UX Researcher — from foundational discovery through evaluative validation — conducted to inform a complete product redesign of the application across global markets.
Overview
& Research Goal
The
engagement originated from a recognition that the product's commercial
performance was being constrained by a research gap — not a design gap.
Identifying what farmers actually needed from the application, in the context
of how they make decisions in the field, was the prerequisite to any design
decision. That framing defined the research mandate from the first alignment
meeting.
Role,
Tools, Team & Timeline
The
20-week parallel structure — qualitative and quantitative phases running
simultaneously rather than sequentially — compressed the insight cycle while
maintaining cross-validation integrity. Atlas.ti and SPSS operated as
complementary analysis environments: qualitative behavioral patterns confirmed
or challenged by statistical modeling, and statistical correlations
contextualized by ethnographic observation. The decision not to run them in
sequence was methodological, not logistical.
The
Legacy Interface: What Wasn't Working
The
country-selector model assumed user intent was exploratory. Field observation
showed the opposite: farmers arrive at the application with a specific product
decision already in mind — they are confirming, not browsing. The interface was
solving the wrong problem. This misalignment was not a design failure; it was a
research failure. The interface had been designed without a behavioral model of
actual field use.
Defining
Research Objectives & Hybrid Research Plan
The
inverse persona construction — building sociodemographic profiles from
statistical clusters in engineering-side usage data rather than from assumed
demographics — was the methodological innovation that distinguished this
program. It produced personas with actual behavioral validity rather than
projected ones. Standard UX research builds personas first and then validates
them. This program reversed that sequence entirely.
Phase
Integration: Qualitative & Quantitative (mixed research)
The
primary statistical finding challenged the default assumption that regional UI
variations would be required per market. The data supported the opposite
conclusion: a unified interface architecture with contextual adaptations — not
separate regional interfaces — was the correct direction. That finding, derived
from inferential modeling at 97% confidence, saved the product team from a
significantly more expensive and operationally complex redesign path.
Project
Execution
Research
operations, stakeholder alignment, and design sprint facilitation ran
concurrently throughout the 20-week engagement. This parallel structure meant
that no finding was held back until a final report — partial findings were
introduced into sprint activities in real time as they emerged from the field.
The design team was not a downstream recipient of research; they were active
participants in the analysis cycle.
Participant
Recruitment Strategy
Recruiting
directly through Yara's sales network eliminated the behavioral artificiality
common in panel-recruited participants. Every user who entered the study had an
active commercial relationship with the product and genuine field usage
context. The result: 10/10 completion rate, zero dropout, zero additional
recruitment cost. The methodological consequence is significant — the
behavioral patterns captured reflect real decision-making, not laboratory
performance.
Conducting
Cross-Cultural Depth Interviews
The
decision to take notes rather than record video was not a compromise — it was a
deliberate choice to reduce participant defensiveness and accelerate the
analysis cycle. In cross-cultural research contexts, recording signals
institutional formality that changes how informants communicate. The note-based
approach produced more honest behavioral disclosure, particularly from
participants at the farm level who were unfamiliar with formal research
protocols.
Data
Analysis & Communicating Results
Progressive
communication of findings — weekly rather than final — is the structural
mechanism that allows research to activate design decisions rather than
document them after the fact. When findings arrive as a final 40-slide deck,
design teams have already made the decisions the research was meant to inform.
In this program, qualitative behavioral patterns were entering the sprint
workspace in the same week they were identified in the field.
Research
Impacts for Redesign
The
before-and-after comparison is the most direct measure of research impact: from
a passive product catalog requiring browsing of an undifferentiated list, to an
active search interface allowing simultaneous mixing of up to 6 products from a
single search action. The 4-step behavioral journey model that produced this
architecture was derived entirely from field observation — it did not exist
before this research program, and it now serves as the cross-platform redesign
blueprint across all TankMix markets.
Results
& Stakeholder Communication
The
bias-reduction workshop conducted before design team members observed
interviews was not a procedural courtesy — it was a necessary methodological
safeguard. Without it, observers tend to generalize individual participant
statements into broad design directives, bypassing the analytical layer that
gives those statements meaning. Managing what the design team understood about
what they were watching was as important as managing the interviews themselves.
Global
Product Manager Recommendations
"Working
with Miguel on the design of Tankmix was a key experience in building a truly
user-centric product. His focus on design research and his ability to extract
relevant insights were essential in the design and validation process. His
ability to structure research helped define a stronger value proposition and
optimize the user experience. Without a doubt, someone I would work with
again."
— Yanire Ramos, Incubation Regional Lead, Yara UK & Ireland
"We
gratefully acknowledge Miguel Palau as a highly competent and compromised UX
Researcher. During its time in Gamma UX, it has demonstrated its ability to
realize high-calibration user studies and make intelligent and rapid decisions.
It is safe to say that it will be a valid asset for your team."
— Oriol Thor, General Manager, Gamma UX, Barcelona
"I
really enjoyed working with Miguel, as I particularly appreciated his
dedication, rigor, attention to detail and methodology, as well as his open
mind and capacity of empathy with the people he interacts with."
— Remi Delcaillau, Incubation Regional Market Lead, Yara France
The
Redesigned of TankMix Digital Mobile Application.
The
redesigned TankMix application — publicly available on the new version the App
Store and Google Play — reflects the direct implementation of research findings
into product architecture. The active search capability, multi-product mixing
functionality, and unified interface structure validated through this research
program are now live features serving a global user base of farmers and
agrochemical technicians worldwide.
This
program demonstrates the core argument of applied mixed research, cross cultural
and UX methods from an anthropology view: that behavioral observation, when
grounded in a theoretical framework rather than just a research protocol,
generates product decisions with structural validity. The foundational lens
applied throughout this work derives from the Dissonant Imagination framework —
a generative research model for cross-cultural design contexts developed as my
Senior Research for UX at Yara Intl.
© 2025 Miguel Palau. All rights reserved.
This case study is an original work produced
by Miguel Palau, Anthropologist, during his role as a UX Senior Researcher for Yara
International. The purpose of this publication is demonstrative as
part of my portfolio, in compliance with applicable legal and confidentiality
requirements.
It is part of an ongoing research initiative specializing in
cross-cultural UX research, hybrid mixed-methods methodologies, behavioral
product strategy, and design research anthropology applied to global digital
products.
Any reproduction, citation, adaptation, or redistribution requires explicit written credit to the author and a direct link to this publication. Commercial use without permission is prohibited.
Citation
© 2025 Miguel Palau. All rights reserved. Citation: Palau, M.
(2025). Designing Across Cultures: A Hybrid UX Research Case for TankMix.
Retrieved from:
https://miguelpalau.blogspot.com/2025/07/an-hybrid-ux-global-research-tankmix.html
Keywords: Hybrid UX Research ·
Cross-Cultural Behavioral Analysis · AgriTech UX · Design Anthropology ·
Mixed-Methods Research · Behavioral Journey Model · Design Sprint · UI Redesign
· Product Strategy · Ethnographic Research · Human-Centered Design · Global UX
· Yara International · TankMix · Principal UX Researcher · Miguel Palau
About Me
Explore more work on design anthropology, cross-cultural UX strategy, and
behavioral product research: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/miguelpalau
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