From January to December 2023, I worked as a UX/UI designer at Retail Business Services, an Ahold Delhaize USA company that provides IT services to grocery retailers that include Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop. Under the cooperative learning assignment, I was placed on the team working on mobile applications for retail associates with a senior designer. The focus for our team was to modernize a suite of legacy applications in preparation for sunsetting outdated technology that was no longer supported. This case study contains a summary of the most impactful work I contributed to the team. The content provided for each project has been left intentionally vague, so as not to breach non-disclosure agreements.
Computer Aided Ordering software with outdated hardware and user interface design was identified to be difficult to use and time-consuming to train up new employees. The lack of documentation and subject matter experts for the information architecture of the software presented a challenge for future modernization efforts. The legacy software comprised multiple systems, and was to be ported to modern mobile devices due to discontinued support on legacy devices.
Interview retail associates and their managers to find out which systems are relevant
Contextual inquiries: meet with retail associates in their work environment to observe and understand how they are using the software. Use the resulting data and test devices to construct user flows.
Co-create a design system, leading the components and design patterns sections. Lead regular meetings for handoff to development team.
At the time of my involvement, the Hazard Tracking App user interface had mostly completed redesign by the previous designer. However, existing design files were found to be difficult to utilize and information architecture was absent, leading to confusion amongst team members. These circumstances lead to rework and bug fixes.
Contextual inquiries: meet with retail associates in their work environment to observe and understand how they are using the legacy software. Identify areas for improvement, if any.
Create organized user screen flows, component library, and hand-off files within Figma.
Share and present updated files to the internal time that included product manager and software developers.
In preparation for porting the iOS application to an Android device, the design team was asked to identify areas of improvement that were considered "low-hanging fruit". The application was to be replaced by another system in the near-term, so it was decided that a full redesign was not necessary.
Utilize a test application to create an initial draft of user flows. Meet with subject matter experts to verify and update user flows as-needed.
Conduct UX Heuristics evaluation individually, and process the results into a final heuristics report with grading scale. Present and share the report to stakeholders.
Business stakeholders propose a Find My Device project to track retail associate mobile devices used for daily operations. The mobile applications team needs to understand the problem "Find My Device" would solve and whether the impact justifies utilization of internal resources.
Interview store managers of test device locations to understand lost device history and circumstances surrounding a lost device event.
During my one-year cooperative learning experience, I had the opportunity to develop my UX research skills through interviews and contextual inquiries. I learned about the importance of information architecture while working on legacy applications, and was able to contribute to a design system that needed to adhere to brand and technical requirements. In addition, I practiced my communication and time management skills through working on multiple presentations and projects with a team.
(c) 2024 HoMei Leung
HoMei Leung