The competition

Google Drive, Camcard, and Neat are all cloud applications that business owners use. They use each of them to organize different aspects of their business. Google Drive is an “all-in-one” application that is free and makes collaboration easy. Camcard stores business contacts and posts their companies news. Neat helps organize documents for accounting and tax time.

OCTA needed to create a unique value for our users. We needed to address whatever problems they are facing in their business that our competitors don't already solve.

User surveys

DEMOGRAPHICS:

• 40% of participants were between the age of 35-44.
• 33.3% were between the ages of 45-54.
• 26.7% were between the ages of 55-64.
• 97% of users were from the United States

WHAT I LEARNED:

• What tools our users are currently using. (Pinterest, Instagram, iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive).
• What they felt was missing from these tools. (Lack of customization, overwhelming, hard to learn, not secure).
• What they liked best about these tools. (Easy collaboration, cost-free).
• How they discovered these tools. (Word of mouth, a recommendation from a colleague).
• 80% of users prefer to separate their business and personal communication.

Observation

I visited different showrooms in Manhattan and attended their daily sales appointments. I also attended trade shows in the Jacob Javits Center. This taught me a lot about how retailers and wholesalers work with each other. I visited and shadowed retailers on-location. I learned a lot about how they handle multi-tasking between customer service and logistics.

Interviews

14 users in the survey cohort agreed to take part in an interview. Nine of these users were retailers and five were wholesalers. I learned what frustrates them the most in their business. I also learned what their individual business goals are, and what motivates them.

User personas

These personas are the combined result of the data from user surveys, interviews, and user observation.

Jen

Retail | Age 44 | NJ

Jen is a retailer and serial entrepenuer. She is excessively organized and cares a lot about making her customers happy.

Kew

Wholesale | Age 52 | NY

Kew is a veteran wholesaler. He sells to independent retailers like Jen and small department stores.

I learned that Both Jen and Kew think they’re more tech-savvy than they are. That solidified the need for OCTA to be very intuitive. User research taught me that business owners thrive when in a fast-paced environment. They love the feeling of getting things done. OCTA’s microcopy would need to feed that feeling by providing positive reinforcement.

View Personas

User stories

Items of high importance

As a retailer

• I want to be able to report damages directly to my seller
• I want to report shipping mistakes by referring to the invoice
• I want to generate invoices directly on site with images
• I want to record all business conversations for accountability
• I want to message multiple sellers at once to source an item
• I want to collaborate w/my supplier and share items to source
• I want to check sales history per SKU while ordering

As a wholesaler

• I want to learn how to source better products for my retailers
• I want to organize my business so I can focus on growing it
• I want to find more customers to sell my offerings to

View User Stories

Content Strategy

I learned from user research that business owners thrive when feeling they're getting things done. I used positive images and copy to create positive feedback and a healthy dose of motivation. My plan is that OCTA will improve business owners' mood and confidence all day, even when not using the app. We plan to build our user’s trust by being transparent and not over-promising anything. The tone for OCTA's content was friendly yet highly professional.

Wireframes

OCTA was first designed for iOS. I referenced the Human Interface Guidelines to maximize accessibility. The screens to be accessible for both left and right-handed users. I tested the designs for color-blind users.

I included the developer in the wireframe testing. His insight and ideas proved invaluable before moving on to HiFi.

DASHBOARD / TAB BAR

• Notifications of return requests, payment reminders for invoices, new messages and replies
• After testing - Invoice link directly from tab bar
• Access business-specific information directly on business contact page

INVOICING

• Testing showed the need to clarify where an invoice is in it’s lifecycle. (Purchase order, Backorder, Packing list)
• Show outstanding amount in total and per invoice
• After testing - added shipping cell to clarify who pays & amount

Branding

MIND MAPPING

These mind maps are a combination of user research, observation, and empathy. Each potential function of the app grew into possible directions to explore. It helped me start to identify problems that could arise. For example, being able to message multiple wholesalers at once was a high priority. Retail users had shared their competitive nature with me during interviews and observations. I spotted that this could present a serious privacy problem for them. It could also cause a lot of return spam messages. I needed to design messaging in a way that would solve these problems before they happen.

To name the app, I tried words for commerce in different ancient languages like Latin and Hebrew. I researched the origin of commerce and read up on the historical silk and spice trade routes. I played around with Greek Mythology, such as Atlas. The idea was that the app would take all the weight of running a business off our users' shoulders.

MORE SKETCHING

User research showed that privacy and safety are top priority for a business owner. That is what inspired the potential name “Celll”. for this app. I sketched two possible logo directions for "Celll". One of them was reminiscent of prison or a bank cell. The idea is that the app would hold and guard your information safely until the moment you need it. The other was a cell graph which looks like a business is trending and growing. At the same time, I contemplated "Atlas", I also contemplated "Mercator" with a “superhero” cape. That idea was to make a user feel that someone is swooping in to help them run their business stronger and faster. "Celll" had too negative a connotation and "Mercator" was both taken and too over-the-top.

I did some research on acronyms and explored a few possibilities, before deciding on OCTA. OCTA fit because it made the most sense for what my users' needed. I learned during my interviews that business owners feel like they have to do everything on their own. They don’t want to give up control, but they feel like they need an extra pair (or three!) of hands. An Octopus fits that bill! OCTA also stands for “Organizing Communication for Better Trade and Accountability”. This covers all the problems that OCTA solves, in a nutshell.

MOODBOARD / LOGO

My research showed that business owners are used to using products like Dropbox, LinkedIn, Evernote, and Quickbooks for their business.

OCTA needed to mirror what a user would expect from a big brand like that, but stand out as a unique solution on their own. I used a mixture of blues and greens to create a solid graident that gives OCTA a modern, professional, and approachful personality.

I tried some different Octopus icons on a gradient background before pushing OCTA's logo design back to black and white. I wanted the octopuses "hands" (tentacles) to stand out. But a complete Octopus looked childish and confusing. I decided on testing option 3 in the second sketch below against some of the others. I got excellent feedback from OCTA's users and went ahead with the design.

PREFERENCE TESTING - LOGO MARK

I conducted A/B testing on OCTA’s logo mark on 20 potential users. Opinions split exactly in half, so I paid close attention to the reasoning behind each user’s choice. The testers that liked the closed logo mark said things like, “It’s more clear/complete/defined”. The testers that liked the open mark said it was more “modern, compelling, and professional. Since OCTA is an app looking to modernize the way business owners work, we stuck with the open mark.

PREFERENCE TESTING - BUTTONS

Most users chose the darker blue button for readability. They preferred the rounder shape of the gradient button. They all loved the gradient, though. I found other ways to incorporate the gradient in the Hifi design that did not compromise on readability and function.