Lumi helps businesses produce custom packaging and handle supply chain logistics.

Product designer and UI/UX developer transforming Lumi from an e-commerce platform into a B2B marketplace connecting businesses to packaging manufacturers. Providing users with custom packaging & improved efficiency in supply chain logistics, as well as the creation of a design system & modular UI component library to maintain cohesiveness across Lumi's various app user interfaces and visual design

Skills:

Product Design

User research

Design System

Component Library

UI/UX Development

Product:

B2B marketplace

SaSS

Industry:

Packaging design

Supply chain logistics

Where we started

Originally Lumi operated as an e-commerce catalog of predefined packaging materials that businesses could apply branded designs to. However, if users wanted customized designs or unique packaging options, their requests had to be handled manually by customer experience representatives & packaging design experts. And users were limited to Lumi's preselected packaging suppliers with little transparency around who would be manufacturing their packaging or the ability to compare quotes from different suppliers.

The problem

Because many business users required a high level of specificity for their branded packaging requirements and our in-house CX team managed the flow of information between businesses & packaging manufacturers, as Lumi scaled with more users this resulted in communication bottlenecks & production errors. And to better serve users' diverse packaging needs we wanted to allow businesses to compare across a network of packaging suppliers by cost or turn around times.

UX research was performed to map out the workflows for a business's custom packaging needs from creation, to submitting out for quoting to either a specific manufacturer or to a marketplace of manufacturers for comparison.
Additionally we conducted an analysis on how packaging manufacturers' review potential orders from clients, and the process to respond & bid on these opportunities.

The solution

Based on this research, the app interface was redesigned from a catalog UI to a dashboard interface optimized for business users to create detailed customizable packaging & allowing them to select their best suited packaging supplier.
To aid brands in creating their custom specifications, a guided workflow UI was designed that provided step-by-step instructions for users to add custom specifications, design files & proofs, and then submit into a B2B marketplace of manufacturers for comparative quoting.

Comparing quotes

Manufacturers' responses to packaging needs were displayed in a high-density data UI reflecting the nuances of producing each custom product, essential information about projected quotes (quantity, price & turnaround times), as well as linking to detailed profiles about the manufacturer themselves, allowing brands to easily compare across different possible manufacturing resources.

Picking the right supplier

To assist businesses in comparing across an ecosystem of many manufacturers, a marketplace reference UI was created for displaying rich data regarding each manufacturer's production capabilities, location & shipping times, sustainability efforts, and reviews from other clients.

A dashboard for suppliers

Manufacturers could respond to each custom packaging request from their own focused dashboard interface, supporting a marketplace of potential opportunities, buyers' direct requests for custom packaging, and to track & manage potential orders.
The manufacturer dashboard utilizes the same UI component library to standardize visual cohesiveness, but with a UX focus on the manufacture's need to respond to client requests, provide quotes, feedback, status updates, and tracking order fulfillment.

Modular component library & design system

As Lumi scaled into a B2B marketplace with multiple product dashboards, we designed & built a reusable modular component library based on atomic design principles to establish a scalable design system.
This allowed our team to maintain branded consistency & improve turnaround efficiency for new features in each of the B2B marketplace's product touch points.

The results

With the transition to a B2B marketplace application from the prior iteration as an e-commerce catalog interface with predefined packaging options, our team reduced average quote request response time by 85% and increased sales per client by 30%. Thus allowing Lumi to scale up in numbers of users, improving the custom packaging experience, adding transparency for our users, and increasing sales.

Product Design

User research

Design System

Component Library

UI/UX Development