ToBusiness
Inventa
Tailored for small businesses, offering an all-in-one and adaptable solution to streamline store management processes.
User Journey, Design Goals, Design System, Hi-fi Prototype
Deliverables:
This project was designed and on developing for a family-run retail store in the country of Ecuador. Ecuador’s retail landscape is a blend of tradition and innovation. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), such as family-run stores and market vendors, are the backbone of the economy. However, with the rise of e-commerce and changing consumer behaviors, traditional retailers face growing pressure to modernize and remain competitive.
Challenge:
01 User Journey
The user journey was carefully mapped out to reflect the key touchpoints and tasks the couple interacts with throughout their daily operations. From managing orders and inventory to handling customer data and sales analysis, the design focused on simplifying these tasks. The journey emphasized ease of use, ensuring that the couple could quickly access and act on crucial information without being overwhelmed by complexity.
02 Design Goals
The design goals were derived through a careful analysis of the user journey and the couple's specific needs in managing their small retail store. By understanding their daily tasks and challenges, it became clear that the system needed to streamline several core functions to support the smooth running of the business. These functions were identified as crucial to enhancing the couple’s operational efficiency, ensuring that they could manage orders, inventory, taxes, customers, and sales more effectively.
03 Design Guidelines
The user interface was crafted with the couple's familiarity with technology in mind, using a minimalist approach. The guidelines focus on consistency across the platform, using a clean and intuitive layout to minimize cognitive load. The color scheme, typography, and iconography were chosen to enhance readability and ease of interaction.
04 Display
05 After Thoughts
This UX project has been both rewarding and insightful, but it has also highlighted some areas for improvement.
One of the main challenges I faced was the insufficient user sample. Due to the limited number of users (the couple owning the retail store), the design's applicability might not be as broad as it could be. The small sample size could lead to biases in understanding user needs and pain points. Moving forward, it would be crucial to expand the user base for further usability testing, including more small business owners or people with similar roles in different industries. By gathering more diverse feedback, I can ensure the design works effectively for a wider range of users, making it more adaptable and scalable.
Another challenge was the team structure, which consisted of just myself (the UX designer) and a single developer. This limited our capacity to rapidly iterate and test prototypes, which slowed down the overall progress. Without the ability to conduct frequent usability tests and refine the design based on real user feedback, I found it harder to fine-tune certain aspects of the interface. In future projects, I would recommend expanding the team to include additional designers or testers if possible. This would allow for more collaborative input, faster iterations, and ultimately, a more polished product. Additionally, setting up an agile workflow with clear milestones and regular testing sessions would enable more continuous validation of the design decisions, ensuring that the final product better meets the users' needs.
Despite these challenges, the process has been a valuable learning experience, and these insights will guide me in refining the approach for future projects.