About the Hackathon

With a team consisting of two UX Designers, one Data Scientist, three Software Engineers and two Cybersecurity teammates, we were asked to design a fully functional solution in just 24 hours as part of the real industry challenge organised by BrainStation with Shopify.

The Challenge

Merchants face challenges with excessive time spent on order-related customer support, which detracts from business growth. They aim to enhance customer account experiences and enable customers to manage orders independently, reducing support requests.

Solution

We have introduced an interactive shipment tracking bar, thanks to which the customer can change the shipment address within a limited time. Additionally, we have improved the customer profile, which thanks to our solution allows you to manage orders and returns in an easy and transparent way. The entire user experience is now more seamless and intuitive providing an enhanced experience for every Shopify e-commerce.

Role:

UX/UI Designer, Researcher, Prototyper

Timeline:

24 h, 2024

Tools:

Figma, Slack, Zoom

Team “InnovateX”:

UX: Anna Gutowska, Oriana Macias

Software Engineering: Michael Arnourse, Kurt Euraj, Kameron Seabrook

Cybersecurity: Joao DeGouveia, Marco Labbate

Data Science: Manny Brar

Defining the problem

We discovered that many customer issues are related to order tracking and post-checkout modifications, with a majority of these issues leading to inquiries to customer care within the first few hours after placing an order. This highlights the critical need for a solution that enables customers to manage orders independently and efficiently, reducing the burden on customer support and improving overall customer satisfaction.

We also had to take into account who we were designing this solution for, so we created a persona based on our findings.

To find out how we can help, we answered this question:

To find out how we can help, we also created user stories to get closer to a possible solution and better understand our user's needs.

Ideation

We created many sketches of various solutions. Some of them were to function as a plug-in for saving addresses, other ideas involved creating an address management application, and other solutions focused on more stringent address verification.

Ultimately, we chose a solution that seems simple but would give the consumer a lot of freedom and satisfaction. We decided to design a shipping tracking bar with the "flexible shipment" option with notifications about when the user could change the address for each order. Additionally, we decided to supplement this function with a dashboard-like profile for easy control of orders and returns.

Solution

Profile.png
Orders.png
Manage orders.png

Before and After

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Key Learnings

From the 24-hour Shopify challenge, I learned the critical importance of meticulous planning, effective communication, and role clarity when collaborating between team members working remotely from different time zones. Establishing a clear project idea and principles upfront, along with developing a strategic timeline, proved essential under time pressure.

This experience emphasized the value of collaboration, creativity, and resilience in tackling intense, time-constrained projects with diverse interdisciplinary teams.

    1. Establishing a Clear Project Idea: The most crucial step is defining a clear project idea before diving into solution development. Rushing to solve problems under time pressure can lead to inefficiencies and misunderstandings.

    2. Effective Communication Across Time Zones: Working across continents requires robust communication strategies. Utilizing tools for asynchronous communication and scheduling regular check-ins helped bridge the geographical gap.

    3. Agreeing on Project Principles: Setting project principles upfront ensures everyone is aligned on goals, approach, and expected outcomes.

    4. Establishing Strategy and Timeline: Developing a well-thought-out strategy and timeline early on helps manage expectations and ensures progress stays on track throughout the intense 24-hour period.

    5. Resisting the Urge for Immediate Solutions: While there is pressure to jump straight into solutions, taking time to ideate, strategize, and plan is key to ultimately delivering a more effective and cohesive project outcome.

    6. Emphasizing Collaboration and Adaptability: Embracing a collaborative mindset and staying adaptable in the face of challenges fosters creativity and problem-solving in a dynamic, time-constrained environment.

    7. Embracing Diversity of Expertise: Leveraging the diverse expertise of team members (UX designer, software engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity specialists) enriches problem-solving and promotes holistic solutions.

    8. Flexibility and Adaptation to Unexpected Challenges: Being prepared to pivot and adapt to unforeseen challenges or changes in project scope is essential to maintaining momentum and achieving objectives within the time frame.