Designing with Retail Frontliners
Researching, co-creating, and defining a unified staff experience.
PROJECT TYPE
Design Discovery
ROLE
Service designer
TIMELINE
Oct 2023 - Mar 2024
TEAM
3 designers
Building on the first year of engagement, we shifted our focus from customers to the people running the retailer. As the only designer involved across both projects, I carried our customer insights into this next phase, helping connect customer needs and staff workflows. Our goal was to understand how existing tools and processes supported their work, and where they created friction instead.
01 Challenge
On-ground staff relied on fragmented tools, manual processes, and existing knowledge to get work done.
Having looked at the broader picture of customer and staff interactions in year one, we began year two with a head start. We mapped an end-to-end staff journey using our existing insights to identify gaps and areas of opportunity, which formed the basis of our research plan for the months ahead.
Over several months, the team conducted site visits, in-depth interviews, and focus group sessions to build a thorough understanding of staff work processes at every level of detail. Concurrently, we examined existing data points that could be leveraged to better support staff across different stages of their work.
on-ground research activities
in-depth interviews
02 Synthesis & Design
We didn't design for on-ground staff, we designed with them.
We then mapped the end-to-end staff journey and brought it into a co-creation workshop with over 40 operational staff. We brought together sales, cashiers, and customer service staff in mixed groups to validate our findings, build on existing ideas, and co-create future concepts. By designing alongside the people who would ultimately use the tools, we ensured our solutions were grounded in the realities of their day-to-day work.
co-creation workshop
As-is journey shareback
co-creation activity
Together, we identified six critical staff moments and co-created solutions spanning promotions, customer and membership details, inventory visibility, task management, and product knowledge. These became the foundation for everything that followed.
Post-workshop, we iteratively refined and validated concepts, balancing user needs, business priorities, and technical feasibility. Working closely with stakeholders and development teams, we defined the features that would form the first release of the product.
03 outcomes
What we delivered...
Research and co-creation pointed toward a unified staff app
The discovery concluded with a prioritised feature list and future-state staff experience that became the foundation for the Sales Staff App.
04 reflection
What stayed with me...
Making the methods my own
While the first project taught me a wide range of research methods and ways of working, this project was where I learned to make those methods my own. Rather than following a particular process, I realized that effective research requires adapting approaches to the people, context, and challenges at hand.
Research is about uncovering what people can't easily articulate
Working with operational staff taught me that some of the most valuable insights are often the hardest for participants to explain. I learned that good research is not about asking better questions, but about creating the right conditions for people to share their experiences.
There isn’t always a right answer, so trust your judgement.
This project gave me the confidence to experiment, trust my judgement, and grow into a more independent designer.