Rose Keimig

Challenge

Petite Salon, a chair-rental salon, wanted to design a point-of-sale tool that could perform streamlined multi-merchant transactions.

Solution

I created an interactive prototype for a point-of-sale tool that was quick and responsive enough to meet the client’s high standards for efficient workflow.

Methods

• Cognitive Walkthrough

• Contextual Inquiry & Ethnography

• Affinity Diagramming

• Interactive Prototype

Tools

• Sketch

• InVision

• Keynote

deliverables

• Interactive Prototype

petite salon: Challenges and opportunities

Our client, Petite Salon, is a hair salon that operates on a chair-rental model, accommodating a number of different beauty professionals in a shared physical space. However, the point-of-sale (POS) tool they use is not optimized for multi-merchant transactions, requiring unique card swipes for each service provided, and causing a disjointed experience for staff and customers. In response, Petite Salon business owners are developing their own proprietary point-of-sale solution, Salon Collective, which can accommodate multiple transactions with a single card swipe.

To find out how this prototype is performing and fits into the current workflow, we completed a cognitive walkthrough with the existing Salon Collective prototype. The Salon Collective program is still in an early prototype phase, so many flows and interactions were not fully developed. However, we were able to identify some issues around hierarchy, feedback, and visibility, leading us to hypothesize that perhaps the complexity of the transaction process may be causing usability issues. With these ideas in mind, we drove to Petite Salon to evaluate the POS system in context.

observing the action

At Petite Salon, our five-member team spent two hours observing the customer and client experience, paying special attention to the POS transaction. We also interviewed the manager, a stylist, and a receptionist, about their daily transactions and observed as they used the current POS systems.

As soon as Sharon, the receptionist, began demonstrating her work processes, it became clear that we were wrong about complexity being a significant barrier for tool use. Sharon was a master at managing complexity. She could answer the phone, fold laundry, and manage a complicated scheduling tool without missing a beat. However, as soon as she started interacting with the POS system, a major pain point emerged: forced waiting. After she entered each ticket item, the activity indicator would start spinning as the system slowly responded to her request. For a user like Sharon, who is a master multitasker and prides herself in efficient work flows, this imposed waiting period was not only a waste of valuable time, but a professional embarrassment:

Making note of this pain point, we then asked Sharon to show us what she did like about the scheduling tool that she used alongside the POS system. Though it appeared complex and unwieldy to our research team, Sharon asserted it was very easy to use. As she walked us through the process, she pointed at the screen to show how appointments visibly updating in real time. We took these observations, along with data from interviews with the manager and a stylist and returned to the white board to analyze and synthesize what we had learned.

inquiry insights

speed and control

Based on the information gathered from the contextual inquiry, it became clear that a good POS system for this user group would need to be controllable, quick, and require only a single swipe no matter how complicated the customer’s ticket. Furthermore, the transaction processes should be visible to the users in order to increase confidence.

error handling

Another pain point that emerged in interviews was the high cost of errors with the current POS system. The most frequent error was assigning services to the wrong stylist due to the confusing design process of the current POS system, and once the transaction was complete, this was a very difficult error to correct.

design inspiration

Based on these observations, I began work on a prototype for a new POS system.

The visual design was inspired by Petite Salon’s sleek and modern aesthetic while the structure of the POS system was inspired by Sharon’s preferred workflow. Knowing that the intended user would likely be performing multiple tasks at the same time, I tried to keep decisions to one per page. This was intended to provide a feeling of speed and flow as the ticket order was compiled. I also included ample opportunities to edit orders and move through screens without fear of losing information.

To give users an increased sense of confidence and control, I included a real-time updating shopping cart panel that is static and visible throughout the transaction process. In order to decrease errors and increase speed of use, I also included pictures along with stylist, customer, and product names.

In an effort to better serve the Petite Salon’s shared service provider model, I made each client profile linked to their orders so that multiple users (such as stylist and receptionist) could update and save orders. As a bonus feature, I also included a client gallery page that allows stylists to document past haircuts and make notes about color formulas and other client preferences.

Hopefully the new POS system is quick and responsive enough to satisfy Petite Salon’s (and Sharon's) high standards for efficient workflow, professionalism, and a streamlined customer experience.