Product Design, UI/UX Design, Secondary Research, User Interviews, Art Direction, Design Workshops
When approached by one of New York’s leading POS system providers, who expressed their intention to revamp their product, I recognized an incredible opportunity to shape the future of point-of-sale technology. This provider’s systems are the backbone of countless Bodegas in the city, playing a crucial role in daily operations. I had the chance to impact not just my client, but numerous other businesses by revolutionizing their operations and enhancing their overall success. My mission was clear: to give the product a modern look and feel while providing an intuitive user experience.
To achieve this ambitious goal, I embraced the power of the design thinking framework, a problem-solving approach that empowers collaboration, emphasizes user empathy, and promotes rapid prototyping and iteration to drive meaningful transformation. I immersed myself in the world of Bodega owners and employees, conducting thorough user research to gain insights into their needs, workflows, and challenges in the context of a POS system redesign. This empathy-driven approach allowed me to envision a POS system that would truly resonate with their needs and exceed their expectations. Leaving no stone unturned, our design team meticulously ideated every aspect of the product, ranging from visual aesthetics to its underlying functionality. My aim was to create a seamless fusion of modern design principles and user-centered experience, leveraging insights and findings obtained from extensive UX Research. The result is a truly transformative POS system.
Through my redesign, I have successfully elevated this provider’s product to deliver an experience that goes above and beyond. My redesign prioritized intuitive interactions, streamlined processes, and an aesthetic appeal that resonates with New York store owners’ evolving needs. We eliminated unnecessary complexities, ensuring that every interaction feels seamless and efficient for all user types. We created an interface that enables store owners to focus on what matters most – running their businesses effectively and with confidence.
I am a firm believer that stakeholders hold the key to deeper insights into the business aspects of a product. Involving stakeholders is essential to gain a holistic understanding of their needsand align our strategy with their vision. That’s why comprehensive stakeholder interviews werea fundamental component of my pursuit in delivering the best possible solution.
Embracing the Design Thinking framework, I approached stakeholder interviews as an opportunity to empathize with their perspectives and further immerse myself in their business. I engaged with individuals from the product team to top level executives through in-depth interviews. Through actively involving stakeholders into my design process, I not only acquired a trove of insights but also ensured that their vision shaped the trajectory of our redesign.
In these interviews, I actively listened to the stakeholders’ perspectives, goals, and challenges. Each stakeholder held a unique perspective and possessed valuable insights into the business objectives, user needs, and market dynamics. The collaboration between me and the client’s team fostered trust and alignment. The insights gathered from the stakeholder interviews allowed me to identify the core pain points and prioritize opportunities for improvement that would have the most significant impact on both the user experience and driving business objectives.
In the highly competitive technological market, the user experience provided is essential to the success of any product. Competitive analysis plays a pivotal role in crafting a strategic approach to product design. I have experienced the benefits of conducting thorough competitor analysis to stay up to date in the constantly evolving market landscape for every product. To set myself up for success, we embarked on a comprehensive exploration of the POS system’s competitive landscape. We conducted research to meticulously examine the offerings, strengths, and weaknesses of key competitors not only in New York but also in broader markets. Competitor analysis included interacting with products, deconstructing their marketing strategies, comparing their pricing models, and analyzing qualitative customer feedback. The data collected and subsequent analysis revealed a holistic view of the competitive landscape. This analysis allowed us to identify untapped opportunities, avoidcommon pitfalls, and strategically position the product to provide the best experience to the target audience, thus driving towards business growth.
We recognized the significance of optimizing the product for all user segments. Meeting the needs of both customers and cashiers is crucial for the success of a POS system. Through the research I conducted with stakeholder interviews and competitive analysis, I was armed with insights into the needs and expectations of both user groups, and we strategically incorporated these findings into our redesign process. I identified the key needs of each group through our analysis:
In our pursuit of a revolutionary user-centered POS system, and prepared with my insights and strategic direction, I delved into wireframing. Crafting the skeletal framework of the system, mapping out user flows, interactions, and information hierarchy for the wireframing phase. Wireframes are a vital tool for continuous alignment between stakeholders, designers, and developers. Creating wireframes allowed stakeholders to visualize the layout and flow of the product in a state that focuses on the overall user experience and encourages feedback and iteration. Collaboratively reviewing wireframes pushes the entire team to remain focused on ensuring the design is meeting the identified user needs. Wireframes also serve as a reference for developers, guiding them in implementing the desired functionalities and ensuring consistency across the product.
Usability testing does more than validate design decisions- it empowers us to challenge assumptions and continuously iterate to create a superior user experience. Usability testing is an essential step before the final product launch for me. Rooted in the principles of design thinking, usability testing is a process of observing real users as they interact with a product. These observations allow me to analyze data to determine ease of use, efficiency, learnability, error prevention and recovery, and users’ emotional reaction. For the redesign of the POS system, I created scenarios to test with real users in the target user groups- customers and cashiers. This iterative process of observing, analyzing, and refining constantly served the goal of providing a redesign that would surpass expectations and provide store owners and customers with a seamless and delightful point-of-sale interaction.
In my endeavor to craft a cohesive and scalable user experience, the design system was an important part of the design team’s toolkit. A design system serves many purposes that lay a foundation for a product’s long-term success. Investing in building a design system upfront improves workflow efficiency and collaboration between designers and developers, ensures consistent implementation, and enables a consistent experience for the product’s users.
After extensive preparation and dedicated effort invested in the right processes, I am thrilledto present the main result: the product screens. While it can be challenging to convey the fullimpact through screens alone, we assure you that the product has significantly enhanced theefficiency of the company’s business operations and provided both cashiers and customerswith increased convenience and a pleasant experience.
Through the redesigned product screens, I have focused on optimizing the user experience,ensuring intuitive navigation, and incorporating modern visual elements. My ultimate goal wasto streamline business processes and create an interface that facilitates smooth interactions forboth cashiers and customers. By leveraging user-centered design principles, I have carefullyconsidered the needs and pain points of all stakeholders involved. The result is a product thatnot only simplifies daily tasks for cashiers but also provides a delightful experience forcustomers during their interactions with the system. I am confident that the product screens,in conjunction with the underlying functionality and features, have brought tangible benefits tothe company. From increased operational efficiency to improved customer satisfaction, theimpact of our redesigned product extends across the entire business landscape.
