Global search
Enhancing information discovery across modules
Time: Oct 2025
2 Designer, 1 Product Manager, Engineer team
Background
GoFreight is a multi-module logistics management system covering ocean, air, trucking, accounting, and more. OPs often need to find information that could exist in several different modules, but the original search only worked inside each module.
Users had to choose a category first, and if they picked the wrong one, they would get no results.
Two primary user types in the system
#1
Users with a known target
Exact-match type
These users already know the exact shipment number.
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For freight forwarder OPs, the search behavior is different from how people typically use consumer search engines.
In most cases, OPs receive shipment updates directly via email, which already include the full shipment number. As a result, they simply copy the exact number and paste it into GoFreight to continue their work.
#2
Users with an uncertain target
Exploratory type
These users are not sure of the full shipment number and need to locate the correct one among similar records.
These users are typically non-OP roles, such as accounting, managers, or cross-functional stakeholders.
Their goal is not to update shipment records, but to look up information for review, confirmation, or decision-making. As a result, they often do not have the full shipment number and need to locate the correct record using partial information or contextual clues.
Although both user types rely on search,
they do so with different goals and levels of information,
which the original search experience did not fully support
Pain point
Needing to identify the correct module before searching
Because the previous data structure separated each module, users had to choose the right module first before they could paste their copied shipment number.
This forced them to stop keyboard navigation and switch to mouse interaction to pick the correct category. If they guessed the wrong module, the system returned zero results, and they had to restart the entire workflow, switching back, choosing a different module, and pasting the keyword again.
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Users must load a full list-view page before seeing any results
Instead of seeing suggestions instantly, users are redirected to a module list page and must wait for the page to load before confirming whether the shipment exists.
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Users still need to navigate through the list view to open the record
Even when they know the exact shipment number, they are forced to locate and click it inside the list page before they can begin work. This adds friction and breaks their workflow.
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Frequent switching between keyboard and mouse slows down OP workflow
The old design forces users to alternate between keyboard shortcuts (switch window, paste number) and mouse interactions (select module, click record), which adds micro-frictions in a high-frequency task.
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