Overview
Italy's 'Made in Italy' food brands are among the most counterfeited in the world. Qualitalia is the government's answer: a web portal that allows food producers to officially certify the quality and origin of their products, giving consumers a trusted guarantee and giving producers a tool to protect their reputation.
The result
A government certification tool that doesn't feel like one. Complex workflows made navigable. Status awareness built into the fabric of the interface, so neither producers nor agents ever have to wonder where things stand.
The problem
Designing for a certification workflow means designing for complexity. Producers need to submit a wide range of information: product details, supporting documents, images, and prior certifications. All as part of a multi-step process that involves both the producer and a customs agent on the other side.
Two problems stood out immediately:
Information overload during submission. The sheer volume of data required made it easy for users to feel lost, make mistakes, or abandon the process midway.
Lack of status visibility. Both producers and agents can have dozens of open cases running at the same time. Without a clear overview, tracking what needs attention and what's moving forward becomes a source of constant friction and anxiety.
The approach
I started by mapping the full submission flow from the producer's perspective, identifying where drop-off and confusion were most likely to occur. I then looked at the agent's side — understanding how they navigate, review, and update multiple open cases simultaneously.
This dual-perspective approach shaped every design decision that followed.
Solutions
To tame the complexity of data entry, the interface has been structured around a strong vertical information hierarchy. Rather than presenting all fields at once, the submission flow is broken into logical stages, guiding users step by step, surfacing only what's needed at each moment, and making it clear what comes next.
For status visibility, I developed a unified visual language built on badges, color coding, and iconography. At a glance, any user, whether a producer checking in or an agent managing a backlog , can instantly understand the state of every certification: pending, under review, approved, or flagged. This system is most visible in the Dashboard and Certifications screen, which serve as the operational hub for both user types.
