In 2022, I was working at Facilisgroup, a company offering a suite of software solutions to distributors of promotional products. Their e-commerce platform, Commercio Stores, was using outdated technology, and when the project of rebuilding it from the ground up was approved, I supported the development team throughout by providing a user-centered design approach.
Lagging behind
The original platform was lacking key functionality. For instance, store administrators had limited options for integrating with payment providers, and configuring products was a tedious, repetitive process. Customers, on the other hand, were faced with a shopping experience that looked outdated and was not optimized for smaller devices. Our goal was to give administrators more control over the configuration process and reduce the amount of time needed launch a store, while giving customers a shopping experience that was easy to navigate on any device.
Approach
The project lasted a year and was divided into modules, including clients, users, email notifications, products, orders, and reports. As the sole designer on the project, I was involved from discovery through implementation, conducting interviews and usability testing, mapping core workflows, and designing high-fidelity prototypes. I also created a design library to help ensure consistency across the experience.
I also participated in daily stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives, and demos. Either the product owner or I would present new features to the team to gather feedback and time estimates. During implementation, I was regularly in contact with engineers and the QA tester to answer any questions.
Series of prototypes for the storefront (password-protected).
One of the most complex challenges was designing the product configuration flows. Because the platform did not integrate with suppliers catalogs, distributors had to build product listings from scratch, which meant manually inputting sizes, colors, and decoration options. Giving them a mechanism to define product attributes, then generating all combinations on their behalf was key to speed up this process.
Series of prototypes for the products module (password-protected).
Outcome
After a year of design and development, the project was unfortunately paused due to a shift in priorities. Nevertheless, the work done laid a strong foundation for future development, including a robust design library, validated user flows, and a team-wide understanding of key user needs and constraints.
Takeaway
This project helped me grow as a systems thinker and collaborator. I especially enjoyed working closely with the engineering team to discuss trade-offs and explore how best to meet users’ goals. I gained a deeper understanding of the complexities around configurable products and how to surface those decisions meaningfully in the storefront experience. It was a rewarding challenge that sharpened both my design process and communication skills.
