If you walk into any retail outlet in Kenya, the chances are that the shop assistant will be using the software that I helped reimagine. Intentionally designed for retailers serving a market of over 50 million customers annually.
In this game-changing project, I played a significant role in envisioning new concepts for an ePOS (electronic point-of-sale) system, turning the product suite into something way cooler than just a tool for transactions. I didn’t just give it a facelift; I reinvented the entire experience to make it super user-friendly and packed with awesome features and design principles that set it apart from the competition. From revamping the whole e-commerce and commercial site experience to making back-office tasks a breeze, I aimed to blend what users need today with the cool stuff of tomorrow.
🏆 Award Recognition
– The Uzapoint platform was recognised with a Google award for the Most Innovative Solutions in Africa.
– Top retail automation solutions provider in 2023
Uzapoint are a smart alternative to traditional SME management systems, offering a way to streamline operations without the usual hassle. Seeing the potential for significant impact, I embraced the challenge to revitalise their digital presence by immersing myself into the Uzapoint culture for eight months, working closely with the team and senior business stakeholders who are based in Nairobi, Kenya. With a client base of over 1,000 businesses, Uzapoint has become a key player in helping retaillers exceed their goals through enhanced efficiency and productivity.
The objective was straightforward: to elevate Uzapoint and position it as the leading ePOS solution in Africa, characterised by its innovation, efficiency, and driving a commitment to user-centred design. Uzapoint’s legacy was a traditional platform designed for retail automation, and required significant digital transformation to cater to the evolving needs of retailers.
As a product designer, my responsibility was to revamp the user interface and improve the overall user experience significantly. My goal extended beyond creating a mere transactional tool; I envisioned transforming the ePOS system into a vital component of the retail landscape. This vision aimed to not just enhance operational efficiency but also to provide retailers with intuitive and advanced features. This led to a thorough overhaul, focusing on simplifying the e-commerce process and streamlining back-office operations, to position Uzapoint as a sophisticated and user-friendly proposition amidst a fiercely competitive market.
In tackling the Uzapoint project, I adopted the classic Double Diamond process, a methodology that consists of four distinct phases: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.This approach ensured a thorough understanding of both the problem and the user, enabling a solution that was not only well-defined but also user-centric and innovative.
In the Discover phase, I conducted thorough research and discovery to understand the challenges with the existing ePOS system, leading to valuable insights that informed my strategy.
The Define phase refined these insights into key themes, focusing on user needs to pinpoint the core problem. This stage was critical for uncovering and understanding real user frustrations through consistent research.
During the Develop phase, ideation led to numerous potential solutions, refining viable designs vision that balanced creativity with feasibility.
The Deliver phase brought ideas to life through prototyping and testing, utilising feedback to refine the product, ensuring it exceeded user needs, expectations and technical requirements.
Adopting the Double Diamond process allowed for a systematic yet flexible approach, aligning the design with Uzapoint’s strategic goals. This resulted in a standout, user-centric ePOS system.
The project centred not only on large retailers, but also Duka and kiosk owners, who are key to community retail in Africa, offering crucial goods and services and are often run by single women who aspire to support their families. Understanding their pivotal role in local economies and their diverse customer needs, I aimed to improve their business operations and expand their market presence.
Working with a team of researchers based in Kenya, we conducted ethnographic research, including observations and interviews. I contributed by developing discussion guides and preparing the team for these studies. This collaboration revealed the retailers need for a system that’s reliable, easy to use, and tailored to the bustling African market. They needed a solution that could streamline transactions, manage inventory effectively, provide insightful analytics for business decisions, and critically remain affordable and accessible.
I used three key tools in my competitive analysis: the Value Proposition Canvas, Empathy Map, and Business Model Canvas.
The Value Proposition Canvas helped me understand what our competitors offer and their strengths. Through the Empathy Map, I delved into their customers’ experiences, using reviews to shape a more user-centric approach for Uzapoint. The Business Model Canvas showed how competitors operate, highlighting areas where Uzapoint can surpass them.
This analysis helped to sharpen Uzapoint’s competitive edge, enhancing the understanding of the competition, aligning closer with user needs, and identifying ways to stand out in the ePOS market.
Through ethnographic research in Kenya, combined with a comprehensive competitive analysis, I gathered and synthesised crucial insights into user needs and market gaps. This process involved evaluating user feedback and understanding competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
From these insights, I worked closely with Product Owners to develop a clear set of requirements and problem statements for Uzapoint’s ePOS system, focusing on ease of use, efficient transaction management and ensuring the team had access to analytics — features that directly respond to user needs while offering distinct advantages.
The redesign process kicked off with brainstorming sessions, a creative platform for ideation. I facilitated multiple sessions, bringing together designers, product owners, and key stakeholders to explore new possibilities. Drawing on insights from our competitive analysis and the ethnographic research, we aimed to maintain our user-centric approach which influenced our ideas and identify opportunities within the African retail market. These collaborative and engaging workshops provided a rich array of ideas that merged innovation with practicality, laying the groundwork for innovation.
Involving stakeholders along the journey encouraged transparency and adoption of my user-centric approach, significantly building trust and confidence in the project’s direction and outcomes.
During the sketching phase, I turned brainstormed ideas into hand drawn sketches for Uzapoint’s POS, e-commerce site, app, and commercial site. This step was key for visualising concepts to enable stakeholder buy-in, enabling rapid prototyping, and identifying issues early. I focused the POS sketches on simplifying transactions, the e-commerce sketches on enhancing the shopping experience, the app sketches on streamlining business management, and the commercial website sketches on conveying Uzapoint’s brand story. This process allowed for quick iterations and served as a vital reference to align the team’s aligned vision and guide the development of the high fidelity wireframes and digital prototypes.
I enhanced Uzapoint’s design by building upon established industry best practices, specifically tailored to meet the needs of the African retail market. This strategic approach not only avoided common design pitfalls but also expedited the creative process, ensuring Uzapoint’s products are reliable and user-friendly while laying a solid foundation for future innovation.
The creation of Uzapoint’s design system was a key milestone in the project, transforming the brand’s ethos into a visual language delivered seamlessly across all touch points. I chose vibrant colour palettes, clear typography, and intuitive interactive components to ensure a consistent and engaging user experience. This approach not only unified all the touch points but also enhanced user interactions, making them a seamless part of customers daily routines. The design system was built using Figma, which allows for seamless updates and endless iterations. Designed with future scalability in mind, any changes made in the core design system automatically update all related components across the wireframes for each platform. This ensured that any necessary adjustments or enhancements could be efficiently tested and code ready, keeping designs agile and up-to-date with minimal effort.
Open Sans was chosen for its clarity and streamlined look, making it easy and accessible for everyone to use our digital platforms. The style helps to clearly separate headings from regular text and labels, enabling a hierarchy and creating a visual direction which is accessible to users.
When developing the colour palette, I ensured it aligned with the brand and met W3C accessibility standards, guaranteeing usability for our users, including those with visual impairments, interestingly my research showed that this is actually more common in Africa than anywhere else in the world. The chosen colours not only strengthen brand identity but also guide users towards important actions, creating an intuitive and inclusive user interface across Uzapoint’s platforms.
The component library encompasses a variety of elements including buttons, cards, input fields, and navigation menus. Each component was meticulously designed to facilitate specific interactions, promoting consistency and ease of use across different interfaces.
The e-commerce platform enables users to create their own online stores. This is a game changer for small business in Africa, offering a customisable template that makes it unbelievably easy to sell products. The experience allows for personal branding and the flexibility to tailor store settings to specific needs, providing a unique and individualised shopping experience for each user’s customers.
The redesign simplified the site architecture, ensuring ease of use and intuitive navigation. This minimises the learning curve for new users and enhances the overall user experience.
I incorporated responsive design techniques to maintain consistency in functionality and appearance across different devices, providing a reliable experience on desktops, tablets, and mobile.
Strategically placed call-to-actions guide users smoothly through their purchasing journey, reducing transaction steps and simplifying interactions.
The redesign adheres to AA standards for visual impairments, ensuring that the site is accessible to a wider audience, including those with disabilities. This commitment to accessibility expands user inclusivity. A well-defined typographic hierarchy was developed to highlight key information and enhance readability. The use of legible fonts and appropriate spacing ensured that the content is easy to digest.
Uzapoint’s ePOS software is their core proposition and is an essential bit of kit for Dukas and Kiosk owners, helping owners manage their business operations. It’s used for key tasks like sales tracking, inventory management, and in-store customer interactions, which boosts efficiency and profitability. This allows for faster transactions and better stock control, improving service delivery.
The redesign of Uzapoint’s ePOS software was pivotal in helping to establish the company as a market leader, enhancing its core proposition by significantly improving the functionality and efficiency of its primary business tool.
The redesign simplifies navigation in high-paced retail settings. Enhancements like predictive searches, prioritised tasks or jobs to be done, and streamlined workflows minimise cognitive load. Familiar icons and consistent layouts expedite user familiarity, speeding up operations and reducing interaction times.
Size, colour, and contrast improvements guide the user’s focus, making the interface more intuitive. This organised visual approach helps users navigate more efficiently through the system.
The redesign prioritises accessibility, enhancing text legibility and contrast to meet high standards and ensure inclusivity. Light and dark modes adapt to user preferences and varying lighting conditions, optimising visibility across different retail environments such as poorly lit bars or clubs.
The redesign of Uzapoint’s commercial site was essential due to its previously outdated interface, which was not effectively attracting customers. The refresh breathed new life into the site, striking a balance between storytelling, functionality and aesthetic appeal. This transformation was crucial for enhancing the user experience and making the site more inviting, encouraging customers to explore Uzapoint’s product offerings. This strategic update was key in drawing more users to the platform, significantly impacting their market engagement.
The original site was functional but cluttered with text-heavy pages that risked overwhelming users. My task was to enhance the user experience by streamlining the journey and presenting information in a more digestible format, without losing content depth.
The redesign began with a thorough audit of the existing site to identify areas for improvement using techniques such as heuristic evaluations. Efforts focused on decluttering the interface, optimising navigation, and incorporating visual elements that resonate with the brand and user needs.
The redesign of Uzapoint’s commercial site transformed it from a text-heavy platform to an engaging, intuitive interface. By balancing white space with visual elements, it offers a clear, user-friendly journey. Streamlined navigation and visual cues ensure easy exploration, while new interactive features like testimonials and logos boost engagement and brand connection.
Responsive design is crucial, making the site accessible on any device, significantly improving the brand narrative.
The redesigned Uzapoint commercial site aligns perfectly with the brand’s vision, enhancing the user experience and elevating the brand. This transformation has not only improved site usability but also showcased Uzapoint’s commitment to excellence and innovation.
The dashboard was tailored to meet specific user needs identified through our research. Focused solely on enhancing the dashboard within the project scope, the aim was to provide business owners with an intuitive interface that offers real-time data visualisation and sales overviews. This user-centric update is designed to ensure easy access to essential business metrics, facilitating informed decision-making.
The Uzapoint dashboard features streamlined side navigation with collapsible menus for quick access to various back office sections. This layout simplifies product, stock, and sales management.
An interactive sales graph provides immediate financial insights, enabling swift sales trend analysis and decision-making with its clear visual cues.
The dashboard’s responsive design guarantees a consistent experience across all devices, essential for managing business operations from anywhere.
Sections like ‘Today’s Sales’ and account balances offer a financial snapshot, using contrasting colours for ease of reading and instant understanding of financial health. The ‘Top Products’ widget provides users with a quick overview of their best-selling items, enabling them to identify, focus and manage stock on their most successful products efficiently.
Customisable quick actions allow for a tailored dashboard experience to suit individual business needs. Integrated support connects users with help and the Uzapoint community for continuous engagement.
In the project’s final stages, I used Axure to develop detailed prototypes, essential for visualising Uzapoint’s enhancements. These prototypes allowed us to test and refine features interactively. At the time the software was one of the only tools to offer variables, this is now common in other tools such as Figma.
I created thorough usability test discussion guides to steer our Kenyan team’s testing process. This ensured structured, meaningful feedback from users, crucial for targeted design improvements.
Our Kenyan team conducted these usability tests with local users in real world environments. This contextual setting provided rich, relevant insights, ensuring that the prototypes were evaluated in the actual conditions in which they would be used.
Feedback from these tests led to several iterative improvements. I worked closely with the development team to integrate these refinements promptly, maintaining an agile and adaptable development workflow. This collaboration was essential in transforming user feedback into tangible improvements.
My engagement with Uzapoint successfully redefined their touch points, enhancing operational efficiency and usability for retailers in Kenya. This initiative not only improved user interaction but also reinforced Uzapoint’s market leadership in retail automation. The project highlights the significant impact of strategic design on business efficiency and customer experience in dynamic retail environments.