Our client, Aura Vault, a burgeoning indie band with a dedicated fan base, approached us to create a dynamic and engaging website. They sought to establish a digital hub that not only showcased their music, upcoming events, and merchandise but also fostered a deeper connection with their fans.
Role:
UI/UX & Graphic Designer
Industry:
Ecommerce
Duration:
In Progress
Challenges
Designing Complex eCommerce Interactions: Creating an intuitive interface that supports advanced product configurations, multi-variant management, flexible payment plans, and supplier moderation—while maintaining simplicity and clarity.
Balancing Buyer and Seller Experiences: Designing a platform that seamlessly caters to two distinct user types: buyers looking for affordability and ease of use, and sellers needing detailed product control and efficient management tools.
Visualizing Flexible Payment Logic: Translating a unique payment model (cash, installment, daily) into a user-friendly interface where users clearly understand their payment options, schedules, and remaining balance—without being overwhelmed.
My Approach
Discovery Phase
User & Market Research: Analyzed purchasing behaviors in emerging markets with limited access to credit. Studied local buying habits, compared similar models (like Djamo for finance or PayLater models), and explored friction points in conventional eCommerce experiences.
Persona & Journey Mapping: Built separate journey maps for both buyers and sellers, detailing interactions such as adding a product with multiple attributes, selecting payment terms, and tracking deliveries.
UI/UX Design
Information Architecture: Structured the platform around two major flows—seller onboarding/product setup and buyer shopping/checkout. Designed a dashboard experience tailored to each role, with minimal friction.
Wireframing & Prototyping: Developed low- and mid-fidelity wireframes to explore layout logic for flexible payment configuration, stock and variant management, and checkout flow with conditional logic based on payment type.
Visual Design: Created a visual identity that conveys trust, clarity, and modernity:
A warm, dynamic color palette reflecting accessibility and growth
Clean typography and card-based layouts to simplify dense data (e.g. variant trees, payment breakdowns)
Interactive visual cues to help users understand payment timelines and order readiness
Payment Flexibility UX: Designed UI components that adapt based on product price, allowing users to select number of days or tranches, view total cost transparently (with commission included), and track payment progress until fulfillment.
Seller-side Clarity: For suppliers, emphasized clarity around product status (draft, pending approval, published), inventory per variant, and moderation feedback to streamline compliance and validation.
Testing and Iteration
User Testing: Tested clickable prototypes with early users from both buyer and seller pools. Gathered feedback on checkout clarity, variant creation workflows, and supplier onboarding steps.
Design Refinement: Simplified the user interface for payment selection and added contextual tooltips to explain price differences between payment modes. Refined seller workflows for managing drafts, approvals, and inventory updates.
Results
Ufami’s intuitive design enabled faster onboarding for new sellers and improved conversion rates at checkout. Buyers reported feeling more confident and informed when selecting payment options. The clear structure around payment progress and delivery readiness helped reduce confusion and improve transparency.
Future Plans
Performance & AI Enhancements: Refine interface performance for low-bandwidth environments and integrate smart recommendations to assist users with installment planning and product discovery.
Responsive Seller Tools: Enhance the mobile experience for sellers to manage stock, track sales, and respond to moderation alerts in real time.
Conclusion
Ufami is more than a marketplace—it's a flexible eCommerce solution crafted through deep market understanding and user-centered design. This project demonstrates my ability to simplify complex financial interactions into intuitive, scalable user experiences that meet the needs of emerging markets.
