BEESI APP DESIGN
Designing for Small Businesses
✱ UX/UI ✱ Product Design
Context
Beesi was a product of an informatic course where my team aimed to create a design system that addressed the online market crisis of small business owners and their customers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses had to adapt to the new normal and move their operations online to stay afloat. However, this was not an easy feat as the industry was already monopolized by big tech corporations and companies, making it challenging for small businesses to establish themselves online.
TIMELINE
Jan - Mar 2023
TOOLS
Figma, Miro Board, Google Drive, Pen and paper
DESIGN ROLE
UX/UI Design , User Interview
TEAM
Renusree Chittella, An Dao, Stephanie Liu, Hannah Wee
Existing ecommerce and social media platforms are failing small businesses. But it doesn’t have to.
Problem
Small Businesses' Struggle with Social Media Promotion and Visibility
Small businesses grapple with limited resources and exposure, making it challenging to compete in a crowded market. At the same time, potential customers looking to support local businesses struggle to discover them.
“How might we enable small businesses to effectively boost their social media visibility in order to overcome marketing challenges and connect with their target audience?”
Solution
Mobile App Design
Beesi redefines business owners’ online interactions with their customers. It offers a unique solution to small business owners who struggle to promote themselves on popular social media platforms. It provides a space for owners to engage with customers in their local community, making it easier for them to promote their business online.
Research
Diving deeper into the problem by analyzing common tools small businesses use to promote themselves.
These platforms place larger and smaller businesses in the same realm, creating a competitive disadvantage for the latter.
We found that almost all of them struggle with ensuring authenticity and reliability of user-generated content. Each platform faces challenges concerning recommended reviews, misinformation, spam, and overall user experience.
Insights + Analysis
Interviews to identify users’ needs and struggles
I conducted interviews with students and small business owners. I’ve asked business owners questions to find trends on why they struggle to promote their businesses and customers why they struggle with discovering businesses.
01
02
Small businesses predominantly grapple with limited budgets for digital marketing, pressing time constraints, difficulties in achieving digital visibility (especially in competing with large corporations), and the complexities involved in effectively navigating e-commerce platforms.
Customers, especially those keen on supporting small businesses. The main challenge for these customers is finding and discovering new small businesses to support, which is often obscured in the crowded online space.
What I learned
Equity
We want to ensure that all small businesses, regardless of their size or marketing budget, have equal opportunities for visibility. This equitable approach is aimed at countering the biases inherent in many current social media algorithms and market structures.
Simplicity
Our design prioritized creating a platform that is not only intuitive but also remarkably simple to use. The goal was to craft an interface that small business owners could navigate effortlessly, minimizing the time and effort spent in managing their online presence.
Project Goals
Leveling the playing field
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Goals for Customers
Fostering direct engagement with their customers
Provide quick and straightforward marketing tools, streamlining promotional effort
Offering comprehensive insights into their current operations and customer interactions
Goals for Small Businesses
Primary focus is to elevate the experience of discovering local businesses, putting this exploration at the forefront of the user journey.
Provide customers with extensive customization options, ensuring a tailored and personalized search experience when seeking out businesses.
Integrate existing technologies, focusing on simplicity and ensuring users find the experience familiar.
Incorporating the user-friendly style of Instagram's home feed, with supplementary filtering features
Implementing map functionalities that leverage users' locations for an intuitive discovery experience.
User Persona
Utilizing our research, to create two user personas based on the idea of the customer and a small business owner
Alice the Adventurer
“As a busy student on a quest for unique local shops, I often find myself yearning for a hassle-free way to uncover hidden gems that resonate with my student lifestyle.”
Struggles: limited time, decision overload
Needs: personalized suggestions, trusted reviews
Wesley the Workaholic
“As a small business owner constantly immersed in my work, I struggle to find the time and resources to effectively manage and promote my business.”
Struggles: limited Resources, marketing overwhelm
Needs: comprehensive analytics, simple and easy interface
Information Architecture
Grouping of Information
It is essential to group information together in order to prevent any confusion. Our first step was to categorize and reorganize our main features together to visualize how the app could fit into a customer’s and a small business owner's routine.
Visual Design
Focused on creating a warm and positive emotional connection
We decided to integrate yellow as our main color partnered with a neutral black, gray, and white color palette.
The color yellow was chosen because it conveys warmth and positivity. It’s visually attention-grabbing and symbolizes exploration and discovery, which aligns well with the goals of an app focused on helping users find local businesses or services.
Final Solution: Customer Side
Explore local, discover variety with personalization
Encourage local discovery
Integrate a map feature that allows customers to explore businesses based on their precise location. This feature provides a visually enriching representation but also elevates user engagement through an interactive and customizable experience through the filtering options.
User-Friendly Home Feed
Our platform offers a home feed that feels effortlessly familiar to users, minimizing any learning curve. The thoughtful inclusion of filtering and sorting features brings a touch of personalization, allowing users to tailor their experience with ease.
Final Solution: Business Side
One place for everything business
Comprehensive Business Insights
Provide business owners with in-depth audience insights, unveiling analysis of user engagement with their establishments on the app. Additionally, our platform provides detailed sales insights, offering a comprehensive overview of transactions facilitated through the application.
Enhanced Community Engagement
Our platform offers a direct channel for business owners to cultivate connections within their community. This includes seamless communication with both valued customers and fellow entrepreneurs, fostering a network within the local ecosystem.
Effortless Promotional Management
Our platform simplifies promotional efforts for business owners by consolidating posts and products in a unified location. The inclusion of draft and tagging features further enhances organizational efficiency, providing an intuitive system for seamless content categorization and management.
Conclusion
Key Takeaways
1. Test Early and Often
We recognized that conducting testing throughout the design and development phases would have been beneficial. This iterative approach would’ve allows us to gather valuable insights and refine our design more effectively.
2. Consistency as a Design Principle
Having navigated the learning curve of my initial project, I've gained an understanding of the importance of adhering to consistent design elements and patterns. This not only secures an intuitive user experience but also adds to the overall unity and sophistication of the design.
Up Next: VietQ - website design ↗