PROJECT B2B: USER LOGO MANAGER TOOL
ROLE
ROLE
B2B
UX
Design Systems
MVP
DESCRIPTION
The Unmade User Logo Manager (ULM) is a tool that helps businesses manage this vast array of logos. For the MVP, the ULM is looking at the flow from an order being placed by an end-customer, to getting it in a printable quality to a factory.
Within the Unmade Teamwear configurators, users are presented with options to be able to design and customize teamwear garments. Teamwear garments will always display a team's logo, and often contain multiple sponsor logos. Different team sports have varying requirements regarding how many logos need to be placed on a garment to make them adhere to sponsorship and tournament deals. Cycling for example can have up to XXX logos, whereas a sport like Lacrosse only has XXX logos.
THE CHALLENGE
“Create a simple tool that allows bitmap replacement, at scale.”
Logos can be uploaded in a variety of formats from vector, to bitmaps. For some of our clients, almost 95% of logo uploads are in bitmap formats by the end-customer. The quality of these bitmap logos varies, with XXX percentage being unprintable by the factory due to their poor quality.
To unblock the end-customer being able to place an order, our clients choose not to limit the artwork to be vector only uploads. Most of our clients' end-customers are unaware of the difference in file formats. Therefore, our clients will vectorize poor quality bitmaps to allow them to flow into the factory.
The Unmade User Logo Manager (ULM) is a tool that helps businesses manage this vast array of logos. For the MVP, the ULM is looking at the flow from an order being placed by an end-customer, to getting it in a printable quality to a factory.
Within the Unmade Teamwear configurators, users are presented with options to be able to design and customize teamwear garments. Teamwear garments will always display a team's logo, and often contain multiple sponsor logos. Different team sports have varying requirements regarding how many logos need to be placed on a garment to make them adhere to sponsorship and tournament deals. Cycling for example can have up to XXX logos, whereas a sport like Lacrosse only has XXX logos.
THE CHALLENGE
“Create a simple tool that allows bitmap replacement, at scale.”
Logos can be uploaded in a variety of formats from vector, to bitmaps. For some of our clients, almost 95% of logo uploads are in bitmap formats by the end-customer. The quality of these bitmap logos varies, with XXX percentage being unprintable by the factory due to their poor quality.
To unblock the end-customer being able to place an order, our clients choose not to limit the artwork to be vector only uploads. Most of our clients' end-customers are unaware of the difference in file formats. Therefore, our clients will vectorize poor quality bitmaps to allow them to flow into the factory.
Screenshot from discovery workshop with users. Showing real examples of different quality logos.
Initially, our brand clients were dealing with this by downloading their customers bitmap logos from within the configurator one by one, and communicating to factories and the customer with spreadsheets and emails. The brand clients outsource the vectorization of logos to a third party vectorization service, and absorb the cost themselves. Most of these vectorization services are based in India or Bangladesh and require separate onboarding. This is a costly and hidden process, with vectorization costing $15 per logo, making it an expensive proposition for garments with multiple logos.
Within our brand clients sea of communication, poor quality bitmap logos are stored locally on users' machines. There is no centralized system for brands to be able to find the end-customer uploaded bitmaps, inspect their quality, download them to be able to re-artwork them into a vector format, and then re-upload them and release them to a factory for production.
Essentially, there is no clear process flow or “moving assembly line”, which involves various users each with different requirements relating to these logos.
Most importantly, teamwear orders which contain a bitmap are put “on hold” until that bitmaps quality can be inspected by the brand to see if it’s a suitable resolution to print, and check the customer has IP rights. A User Logo Manager is essential in unblocking orders in an organized manner, to keep product flowing through the factories and on to the end-customer.
THE SOLUTION
The Unmade User Logo Manager identifies orders which contain bitmap files, and places them into a table where bitmaps can be quality assured, downloaded, vectorized (externally) and reuploaded. The ULM is designed to be accessible to brand, third party vectorisation services, and factories. Each user has a different vested interest in using the product, which makes it a powerful process as communication tool, adding real business value.
The main users for this product are:
Brands Clients:
The are responsible for quality assurance for resolution and if they want white backgrounds removed from a bitmap, checking if the customer has IP rights and general communication with the customer. They are also responsible for sending re-artworked products to production at the Factory.
Third Party Vectorization Users
These users are contracted by the brand clients to download download logos which need artworking and re-upload vectorized logos.
Factory Users
These users need general access to understand any decisions which may have been made around a logos artworking by the third party (such as if a white background has been left on a logo, was this the requirement of the customer) and they may further inspect logos for quality purposes.
Within our brand clients sea of communication, poor quality bitmap logos are stored locally on users' machines. There is no centralized system for brands to be able to find the end-customer uploaded bitmaps, inspect their quality, download them to be able to re-artwork them into a vector format, and then re-upload them and release them to a factory for production.
Essentially, there is no clear process flow or “moving assembly line”, which involves various users each with different requirements relating to these logos.
Most importantly, teamwear orders which contain a bitmap are put “on hold” until that bitmaps quality can be inspected by the brand to see if it’s a suitable resolution to print, and check the customer has IP rights. A User Logo Manager is essential in unblocking orders in an organized manner, to keep product flowing through the factories and on to the end-customer.
THE SOLUTION
The Unmade User Logo Manager identifies orders which contain bitmap files, and places them into a table where bitmaps can be quality assured, downloaded, vectorized (externally) and reuploaded. The ULM is designed to be accessible to brand, third party vectorisation services, and factories. Each user has a different vested interest in using the product, which makes it a powerful process as communication tool, adding real business value.
The main users for this product are:
Brands Clients:
The are responsible for quality assurance for resolution and if they want white backgrounds removed from a bitmap, checking if the customer has IP rights and general communication with the customer. They are also responsible for sending re-artworked products to production at the Factory.
Third Party Vectorization Users
These users are contracted by the brand clients to download download logos which need artworking and re-upload vectorized logos.
Factory Users
These users need general access to understand any decisions which may have been made around a logos artworking by the third party (such as if a white background has been left on a logo, was this the requirement of the customer) and they may further inspect logos for quality purposes.
Screenshot from discovery workshop with users. Understanding their painpoints and comms.
WORKSHOPPING FOR INSIGHTS
We began workshopping with the different users together to start examining their pain points and help them diagram any current flows which they’ve found especially problematic.
This happened with all the user groups at the same time, and then again asynchronously if clarification of any points was needed. The advantage of having all users together as we start discussing pain points is that both shared and unfamiliar perspectives can be understood by the different user groups. The main outcome was a clear understand of the process flow currently being undertaken, with the various users and systems plugging into it. The following image shows this flow, but has been censored due to client confidentiality.
Early stage journey mapping, identifying key pain points from the current flows and facilitating discussions between the different users.
INSIGHTS TO USER STORIES
“Highly time consuming to be able to reach logo assets through the configurator”
“Have to download them one by one - risk missing logos from a users design”
“After vectorization we have to replace logos one by one”
“We cannot scale with our business with the current processes”
We then worked with these users to write user stories to articulate how we could add value through our future solutions and shape future success criteria:
Brand Clients
As… the brand, I want... our suppliers to access and replace bitmap logo assets in bulk, quickly and efficiently, so that... we can allow our users to upload bitmaps at scale.
Third Party Vectorisation Users
As… the brand, I want... our suppliers to access and replace bitmap logo assets in bulk, quickly and efficiently, so that... we can allow our users to upload bitmaps at scale.
Factory Users
As… the brand, I want... our suppliers to access and replace bitmap logo assets in bulk, quickly and efficiently, so that... we can allow our users to upload bitmaps at scale.
FURTHER INSIGHTS
Let’s MVP and Iterate
The key brand stakeholder from our brand client was especially understanding of software development and SaaS, being excited to receive a minimal viable product, and iterate on it over time: “I am happy to receive anything, and we work together to iterate on it and make it stronger.”
Process Flow Communication
We discovered that amongst all the users, there was a particular concern around communicating who was doing what, when. A key concept was emerging that whatever the solution was to be delivered, communication was to be an important component.