My Role

UI/UX designer to create Averecs main dashboard.

I was directly involved in:

UI/UX design, competitive analysis, mood board, user flow chart, and hi-fidelity mockup.

Averecs

Problem

Accounting and bookkeeping softwares are challenging for the everyday amazon seller, and e-commerce seller to understand and navigate. The sellers face unique challenges that complicate their financial management and compliance when using accounting software like Quickbooks, A2X and Xero.

Sketches Provided by Client

Who Are Our Users

E-commerce sellers and Amazon sellers.

Challenge

Creating a user-friendly dashboard for the amazon seller and e-commerce business to understand and navigate easily with no problem. A dashboard that will not complicate the sellers financial management and compliance when using the accounting software Averecs.

Xero: 

Strengths

  •  It has a wide range of accounting features for different businesses.

  • They cater to a broader range of industries and business types. For example: Trade, Construction, E-commerce, Real estate, Health & Social care, and Farming. For businesses; Landlords, Football clubs, and Startups to name a few. 

  • The images of everyday people make the website relatable to customers and new users.

  • It offers a 30 day free trial and 75% off for 3 month.

    Weakness

  • There are a lot of features and it may be overwhelming for a new user to learn.

  • For a new user Xero is complex to understand because it involves sales tax, inventory management, fees and refunds. Which makes it more difficult and less instinctive for users who are not familiar with accounting principles. 

  • Even though Xero offers customization features users may feel that the features are limited compared to other account software.

QuickBooks:

Strengths

  • It has specific tools for small and medium sized businesses.

  • The talk-to-sales chat/call feature is a great way to let users know that they can reach customer service.

  • The sign-in options also covers 3 use cases depending on the type of account a user is subscribed to.


    Weakness

  • Quickbooks may be difficult for new users. Customers have complained about how complex it is to understand. Especially if the user has no background knowledge of accounting software, it makes it that much more difficult.

  • Accounting software like Quickbooks uses language and terminology that make it difficult for sellers to understand. Which makes it hard for them to navigate through the software without proper tutorials or customer support.

  • Quickbooks is expensive. It starts from a monthly fee of $15 and up to $100 monthly.

The first information a user sees on the landing page is the price chart.

A2X
Strengths

  •  They specialise in e-commerce accounting. A2X is tailor-made to cater specifically to the needs of e-commerce businesses, particularly those that sell on platforms like Amazon, Shopify, eBay, and Etsy. Its primary focus is on automating accounting tasks related to online sales transactions, making it an invaluable tool for e-commerce sellers.

  •  Integration with e-commerce platforms, A2X seamlessly integrates with popular e-commerce platforms, allowing users to effortlessly connect their accounts and synchronise sales data. This integration streamlines the accounting process and guarantees the accurate capture of all relevant transaction information.

  •  A2X offers a user-friendly interface through the setup and integration processes, making it easy to get started and navigate the platform. Its intuitive design and straightforward workflows contribute to a positive user experience.
    Weakness
     A2X is more centred around e-commerce businesses only, and may not be good for businesses that are outside of e-commerce.

  • Though A2X offers a free trial.Their pricing plan is expensive. It starts from $19 a month to $99 a month.

  • For new users A2X is difficult to grasp because of its specialised field and complexities of e-commerce accounting. They would need proper tutorials in order to maximise A2X.

  • It is mostly geared towards Amazon sellers.

Business Personas

Low Fidelity Mockup Provided by Client

Color Palette Provided by Client

Imagery Inspiration
—I chose these images to show that Averecs is Innovative and Accessible.

—The red light bulb represents innovation.

—The Averecs logo is sleek and futuristic.

—All the hands on the tree log show that Averecs is accessible to all.

—E-commerce image represents Averecs being futuristic.

UI Inspiration

—The images represent what Averecs dashboard is going to look
like. Which is clean and minimalistic, focusing on the main graphs and tasks at hand.

—My UI inspiration was to have easy to use navigation on the dashboard. For example the side bar on the left side of the dashboard.

High Fidelity Mockup

Feedback From Client

Final Presentation of Hi-Fidelity Mockup of Dashboard

My thought Process in making the High Fidelity mockup

  • With accessibility in mind, we added icons to each card and to the toolbar as well. 

  • The icons were picked from a plugin called Material Design Icons. It follows Google’s Material Design guidelines which Averecs was specific about.

  • The tool bar expands so the user can see all their cards at once.

  • The tool bar also collapses to show only the icons.

  • We added the profile of the user at the bottom of the tool bar, because

  • We wanted it to stand alone from the components at the top.

  • The three dots, an "overflow menu" or "more options" button, indicate that additional actions are available for a specific item or card in the interface. When a user clicks or taps on these dots, a dropdown menu appears, offering ‘View Details’ that would take the user to a more detailed page, and a ‘Close Card’ which allows users to customize their dashboard by removing items they’re not interested in.  By closing or removing cards, users can declutter their dashboard and provide flexibility and control, allowing users to tailor the application to fit their needs and preferences better.

Brand Attributions
Innovative, Accessible, Convenient, Sleek, Futuristic.

Brand Personality
Averecs is reliable and dependable because it puts their customer needs first.

  • 
Balances: We show bank and Averecs balance, and reconciliation status. If it’s not reconciled, we need manual entry and it should be heavily highlighted/emphasized (this is the most important manual feature for the user, and the importance needs to be highlighted when this is not reconciled). We should also be able to open a popup to reconcile the transactions.

  • If not reconciled, show error (with some noticeable UI) and popup showing unreconciled transactions.

  • If reconciled, show success and bank balance line chart.

  • Part 2. Remove current ‘Bank accounts table’ and change to  ‘Feed status’

  • three feed status to check: “Bank integration”, “Amazon Integration”, “Sales reconciliation status”. They could be failed or successful

  • (Apologies for the change of plan here, you inspired our change with your designs, and highlighted an area we had not considered).

  • 4- What's your plan for those three dots?.

Logo provided by client

Mood Board

Reflections and Learnings From The Process

Reflecting on this project, I recognize that initiating a more precise dialogue with our clients, during our initial meeting to discern their exact expectations of our role as designers would have significantly enhanced communication. While our team eventually reached this understanding, it did require some time. My experience with our clients provided me with valuable insights into the importance of active listening and responsiveness to their specific requirements. I learned to navigate the balance between prioritizing the interests of our clients while also addressing the needs of users/sellers. Involving the clients at every stage of the design process and collaborating with their engineers became integral to our success.

Challenges

Collaborating with our clients presented unique challenges due to the geographical distance between our team, based in the USA, and our clients residing across Europe and Canada. Adapting to the varying time zones, I learned to effectively communicate with them at mutually convenient times. Despite residing in the same Eastern time zone as my teammate, I flexibly adjusted my schedule to accommodate her availability, ensuring seamless collaboration to achieve our project goals.

Leasons learnt

Working alongside a teammate taught me invaluable lessons in effective communication and active listening. Collaborating to synthesize ideas as a cohesive team proved both essential and enlightening. We fostered an environment of mutual respect, enabling us to efficiently accomplish tasks while honoring each other's contributions. By leveraging our individual strengths, we successfully delegated tasks and maximized productivity.

Project Details

This is an Industry Design & Capstone Project (Internship).

Tools Used:

  • Figma, Slack, Miro, and Jira.

Time Frame

  • 4 Weeks.

Averecs

Averecs is a new startup company that provides a tailored finance and accounting software platform powered by artificial intelligence to serve Amazon sellers and e-commerce businesses. As part of their launch, they needed to create an all-in-one integrated platform to meet the unique needs of e-commerce sellers.

Solution

Limit or cut down on the amount of features on the dashboard so that the user is not overwhelmed by them and not discouraged to learn them. This can be achieved by:   

  • Simplifying the accounting language and make it easier to ensure it is understandable to users without an accounting background.

  • Make customer support and tutorials a priority. In order for users to understand and be properly educated on Averecs dashboard.

  • Make integration between Averecs, Amazon sellers, and e-commerce businesses user friendly. While adhering to Averecs brand guidelines.

Ideation

To address the issue of sellers facing unique challenges that complicate their financial management and compliance when using accounting software like Quickbooks, A2X and Xero. Our clients came up with their application that is a tailored finance and accounting software platform powered by artificial intelligence to serve Amazon sellers and e-commerce businesses, called Averecs. It would be an all-in-one integrated platform, and our clients asked us to create their dashboard.

Research and Discovery:

 The team lead did the secondary research on Amazon and other e-commerce sellers facing unique challenges that complicate their financial management and compliance when using accounting or bookkeeping software. The common issues were:

  • Managing inventory.

  • Dealing with high transaction volumes.

  • Handling returns.

  • Understanding sales tax liabilities.

  • Navigating Amazon's fee structure.

Competitive Analysis

Our process of making  Averec’s dashboard started by doing our research and competitive analysis. We  looked at the dashboards of their competitors like Quickbooks, A2X , and Xero.