CenterEdge makes point-of-sale software for the family entertainment center industry. Their legacy product, Advantage, is installed locally on clients' servers and is written in outdated programming languages. I was tasked with designing a next-generation version that would be browser-based, modern, and easy to use.
The Existing Interface
At left is an inventory maintenance screen in Advantage. The strength of the legacy software is its comprehensiveness; options abound thanks to years of adding features to accommodate customers' individual and very specific needs. But the interface was cluttered and unintuitive, and many features were not even used or supported anymore.
Process & Tactics
- Audited existing software to understand functionality and to identify which features were needed and which were not
- Researched similar products to analyze best practices
- Ran a card sort exercise to improve information architecture in navigation
- Developed proto-personas to understand and empathize with users
- Surveyed users to understand what was working and what wasn't
- Led workshops to brainstorm and ideate
- Wireframed and prototyped solutions using whiteboards, Sketch, InVision
- Collected feedback and tested hypotheses with internal stakeholders and external users
- Developed a cohesive look & feel
- Documented styles and components using InVision's Design System Manager
The Result:
The new Admin Portal that I designed is a simplified and user-friendly system that consolidates fractured, complicated tasks into straightforward processes. I designed these processes and rewrote or added instructional text in an effort to eliminate errors and reduce reliance on CenterEdge's customer support team.
Development of this product is ongoing, and it has not yet been deployed to users. Once it is, we will continue to evaluate and iterate.
Shown below is a portion of the process of adding an inventory item. See more at InVision.
Design System
Once I developed a look and feel for Admin Portal, I built and maintained a design system of reusable components, shown below. I used InVision's Design System Manager to document this system for developers. See the living DSM here.
