LEMONADE STAND
BACK STORY:
I was hired by a small business owner to create a point of sale app. My client had just gotten a business of the ground and found that one of the most expensive costs to factor into their business plan was finding a point of sale that worked for them. There are several big names out there as far as point of sale systems go (ex: Squarespace) that are unsuited for a very new business that is just getting off the ground. Together we sought out to build a simple point of sale app that was customizable, simple, and efficient.
THE GOAL:
My client wanted me to create something that was so simple to use, even a bunch of little kids running a lemonade stand could figure it out, hence the name “Lemonade Stand.” They sought to create something that was customizable enough to be useful for a five year old selling candy on the side of the street to a small restaurant that just opened its doors. It needed to be fast, it needed to be easy, and it needed to WORK!
MY PROCESS:
My UX process was challenged here as I tried to find a way to satisfy my client and create a useable product that was research based. I tweaked the traditional UX process here, and went with only the bare necessities in order to decrease our timeline.
DEFINE:
Here is where communication with my client was key. What were they looking for? I realized that the personal experiences and struggles my customer had been through were similar to that of lots of small businesses. I spoke with my client as well as several small business owners in my area and was able to create a persona. I like to call this small business owner Mona. Mona…
- Runs a small business.
- Has less than 10 employees.
- Is on site majority running her business majority of the time
- Has a small number of inventory/services she offers
- Takes both cash and credit cards
- Needs a way to track her numbers
- Desires to grow as a business
IDEATE:
From here the most important thing was to not limit ourselves, while at the same time find a way to stick to our goals. Here is where I asked myself some key questions:
What were the most important features?
What does my client not like about the current point of sale systems?
How can I best help “Mona” meet her small business needs with this point of sale app?
To better help me define what my client wanted exactly I sat down with the business owners and had each of them run through a current point of sale app and show me exactly what they loved and exactly what they hated about it.
This competitive research was very valuable in helping me understand the value of Lemonade Stand and the pain current business owners were experiencing while trying to get a business off the ground. I felt for them, and had a strong desire to create an intuitive design that could ease the stress of a small business owner.
I was able to identify some key pain points my customers had and work that into my first iteration of wireframes.
WIREFRAME:
My client originally expressed that he wanted my designs to be childlike, and as “simple as a calculator.” He wanted these design to accomplish three main purposes: He wanted the interface to be…
- Customizable, he wanted the business owner to be able to add and drop items off their list easily.
- Trackable, he wanted to be able to see his sales for the day as quick as possible, and have an easy way to look up past orders and see the sales for the day.
- Simple, he wanted this to be easy to use, that his “5 year old daughter could use it.”
Here is what I came up with…..
I made my design…
- Colorful to that even a little kid could follow the colors and how they correlated with different items they were selling.
- With a simple navigation so that one could easily swipe through and see everything they needed to in order to be satisfied.
FEEDBACK:
My client was happy with the function of the app, but felt un easy about the branding/look, but wanted the visuals to be larger, and the navigation to be on the bottom.
From here I ditched color as a means of simplicity and moved on to focus on visuals as a powerful means to influence my users. I moved the navigation to the bottom, and cleaned up the design.
From here I went back and forth with my client, as we continued to tweak the designs. The key take aways I got from my client were….
- There needed to be more room to see products/services on one page. So I made each icon smaller.
- Our navigation needed to be simpler.
- Users needed to identify a way to know they had clicked on something, and to know it was essentially “in their cart.”
- There needed to be some sort of visual where the user could see exactly how the order was adding up in real time.
My and my client continue to sort out business needs, user test, and re work designs.
Here are some of my most current iterations…
TAKE AWAYS:
As I continue to work on this project, I continue to find ways to be able to work with my design skills to create a better user experience for my customers, while at the same time find a way to fulfill client needs. I have really pushed myself with visual design throughout this project and have continued to learn and grow as a designer. I look forward to the coming phases of this project!
